On Reviews: The Days of Abandonment
Recently, in our teeny tiny book club, we finished reading something that had quite a profound effect on me. Profound enough, in fact, that I wanted to try something I haven’t done since probably 7th grade: a book report (or I guess a review since adults don’t do book reports)! So, without further ado… the Will’s Dumb Brain Review of “The Days of Abandonment” by Elena Ferrante:
Bro. Broo. BROOOOOOO. In the parlance of today’s youth, this book had me feeling some type of way!Elena Ferrante’s 2005 novel is the most Italian thing I’ve ever experienced and I spent a week in Rome back in 2013. It’s the story of Olga, a married mother of two, whose husband of 15-some-odd-years, immediately leaves her to begin the book (like literally the first sentence is “One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me.”). What follows is one of the most harrowing tales of trauma, depression, mania, and possible recovery I’ve ever read.
This book weighs in at a spritely 188 pages in the edition I read and THANK GOD IT DID. The tension in this work builds and builds like one of those NBA halftime shows where someone spins more and more plates while riding a unicycle and tossing bowls from their feet and catching them on their head. I feel like if you had watched me read this book, I would have been panting like a dog half the time.
Without spoiling too much, Olga’s separation from her former husband throws not only her world into chaos but her entire concept of self. She routinely describes herself as attempting to hold her reality together in a way I can only compare to Spiderman holding two halves of a boat that’s been torn asunder. The way Ferrante crafts a world that feels alive but somehow only outside of the psychological fishbowl that our protagonist exits in honestly made me feel like I was going a little mad myself.
This sense of paranoia and anxiety only grows as the book continues and Olga’s grip on reality loosens. Not only does her mixture of panic and detachment destroy her friendships, it starts to take a toll on her relationship with her two young children. I don’t have kids, I have no concept of what a fucking nightmare it must be to constantly be trying to keep children alive when all they want to do is fall off stuff and drink detergent and play with knives but this novel instilled in me a sense of parental anxiety that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shake…you’ve been warned.
There have been many times in our book club’s history when I’ve had to read a book that is far outside of my comfort zone. I’m not in school so I don’t usually have to spend my time reading or watching things that I’m not immediately interested in. So, when a book about a sad Italian woman with no magic and no orcs and no intergalactic travel and no murder and no cosmic horror was suggested…I wasn’t super pumped. But GOD DAMN am I glad that I read this book! I’ll tell you that it’s not for everyone, especially if any of your triggers include child endangerment, but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who can stomach it.
9/10 (and only because it made me so god damn anxious)
This was an excellent review. You captured the vibe of the book perfectly - without giving away too much. I have to admit I’m so relieved that you liked it, I was quite nervous for us all.
I can’t wait to read more of her books. Her writing style is one that makes me crave the world she builds.
That review was the equivalent of sitting in the first row of an Imax showing a roller coaster. I wasn't on the actual ride, but I definitely got a vivid sense of what it was like. Bravo!