An amazing (and accurate) portrayal of that point in a young person's life when they discover that a lot of the things their parents had told them about everything from sex, love, family, relationships, politics and religion are not entirely true. Told through the eyes of Giovanna, Ferrante beautifully describes the coming-of-age experience, the class divide in Naples (and Italy) in the 90s and the status of women. Like descriptions in Ferrante's other works, I am horrified by the levels of sexual harassment (cat-calling, propositioning, mauling etc) experienced by girls as young as 12. A wonderful read. ( )

There is a certain sense of a solemn ritual when one first opens a Ferrante book. The initiated are familiar with her style, the visceral and the uncomfortable, but very real. In this novel, Ferrante stays in her charted territory, in a geographical sense as we are still in Napoli, and also because the protagonist is an adolescent. That age is the one that in my opinion she writes most convincingly about - in the Neapolitan quartet, the second book dealing with that part of growing up of the main characters was my favourite.

In this book, the protagonist comes from the middle class, but her working-class roots are inescapable and potentially empowering, embodied in the character of her aunt Vittoria.

Ferrante did not disappoint in describing the painful way in which teenagers come to terms with reality after the childhood illusions disappear. Giovanna, the main character, goes through different phases of her world dissolving around her, and it is not a comfortable transformation. For me, it was overly negative and very difficult to read. It is a difficult time in life and I my would never want to go back to that age, but I felt as if Ferrante focused only on the negative to the point that not only I couldn't suspend my disbelief, but I also didn't care about Giovanna or any other character at all.

Some things I found interesting - the novel felt too constructed. There was a shadow of the Neapolitan Quartet in this one - characters that corresponded to the ones from the previous books a little bit too much which was uninspired. I also sensed similarities to another great Italian writer Elsa Morante and her novel Menzogna e Sortilegio and the character of Vittoria echoed Emerence from Magda Szabo's excellent novel [b: The Door|497499|The Door|Magda Szabó|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1175252169l/497499._SY75_.jpg|485644].

While I can see value in this book and always enjoy Ferrante's writing style, I didn't like it as much as her previous work. She is always great at describing the inner world of a woman, especially a woman who is frustrated and unhappy. But, I'm starting to get tired of Ferrante's negative depiction of men who always end up ruining women and the loop in which her characters always seem to end up stuck, bound by their environment. ( )

The Lying Life of Adults is a true and compelling insight into adolescence regardless of setting. The story is hung on the multiple threads of a chance remark, a bracelet and the sense of betrayal of trust that inevitably arises from following your heart. Elena Ferrante somehow fills this story with unflinching honesty. Inexorably, the children become the adults even as they try to be the opposite.

...and just because I had no intention of being stopped by anyone, my face could only be a copy of Vittoria's. Betraying Giuliana's trust, I would in fact become like my aunt when she destroyed Margherita's life, and, why not, like her brother, my father, when he destroyed my mother's. I felt guilty. I was a virgin and that night I wanted to lose my virginity with the only person who had given me, thanks to his enormous authority as a male, a new beauty. It seemed my right, that was how I would enter adulthood. But...

( )

Gaaaah. I tried to like this, but it was so not what I wanted it to be. Couldn't finish. ( )

Actual rating 3.5/5 ( )