Our September meeting was to have read The Lying Life of Adults by Elana Ferrante. This book is about two years in the life of a teenage girl growing up in a middle-class family that has secrets. Her aunt Vittoria is shunned by her parents who have successfully risen out of their humble origins, while Vittoria still lives in a desperately poor part of Naples. Giovanna wants to get to know her aunt and with her parents’ consent starts a series of visits that shatter her views of her father and the comfortable life they lead. Her parents’ marriage breaks up and Giovanna’s life becomes increasingly turbulent as she navigates her way through the many lies her family conceals as well as trying to get through the frustrations of adolescence.
Both books are good reads with an emphasis on complex relationships by authors who are very close observers of the human condition.
Meg Dillon, Convenor.