Our narrator, made omniscient from her place in the current day, reflects on her history with equal parts affection and mild horror.

The storytelling moves quickly, with emotion effectively separating what mattered and what didn’t (there are three deaths in as many minutes, but we can spend more time than that reflecting on a single isolated night after feeling betrayed). This device works well for young women navigating their intelligence and education, but largely without anyone they trust to advise them.

The loneliness and fragility of social (im)mobility are depicted over and over again through new lenses, and again we are left with a powerful final image to haunt us until the next book in the series. 6/10 ( )

When reading the first installment of this series I immediately got behind both Elana & Lila, two young girls coming of age in the slums of Naples. In this installment they are in their early 20'ies and, again and again, I found myself dismayed by the life changing mistakes they made. Most of these mistakes involved men. Sorry to all you Italians out there, but let's face it. Most of these men were creeps. And while Elana and Lila had there differences, they always stood behind each other ; and so do I. Making mistakes is part of the process of growing up, and i'm counting on both of these strong & determined women to learn from their mistakes and make the best out of their lives. To be continued... ( )

J’avais beaucoup aimé l’adaptation du tome 1, au point d’acheter les quatre livres de la série d’un coup (mais sans les avoir lus pour l’instant). Je me suis donc précipitée sur cette adaptation du tome 2. Je l’ai trouvé peut-être un peu moins bien que le premier. Les personnages ont l’air de faire du sur place, de ne pas avancer. Peut-être est-ce voulu et ce tome-là serait alors le tome du temps des hésitations et des décisions difficiles à prendre, mais cela fait un livre au final un livre longuet qui ne donne qu’envie de passer au suivant en espérant retrouver la vivacité du premier tome.

It took me a long time to read this, but it was not a slog. Rather, it is such a densely detailed story of two women growing up with entwined lives, it was almost like I physically couldn't read it quickly. So the story of Elena and Lila continues, with Elena continuing on the path to education and the intellectual life, and Lila settling into the life of a married woman. Sometimes I had to pause and remind myself that these are the lives of teenagers! Neither Elena nor Lila has an easy path. Elena is constantly wracked with self doubt, and Lila's pervasive and somehow seemingly misplaced arrogance, maybe a sense of entitlement, sets her ultimately down a path that leads somewhere other than into happiness. By the end of the volume each woman seems to have found an uneasy peace, yet if history serves, their lives and their relationship will hold many more twists and turns in the future. ( )

I managed to finish this. It was hard to get through some of it but once past some of the duller points it was a breeze.

Got to say reading some parts really induced anxiety ( )