The Story of a New Name: Neapolitan Novels, Book Two

Personagens envolventes, muito bem escrito, amei!

This is the second book of a quadrilogy the author wrote about the friendship of two women that lasted all their lives. In the first book - "My Brilliant Friend" - the author narrates their childhood in the slums of Naples, Italy, soon after the II W.W. In this book she follows them in their adolescence and precocious young years; the story will continue in the last two with their adoolthood and old age. It is the friendship between Lina and the narrator Lenù. For deep psychological reasons, Lenù falls under the spell of her friend Lina, in spite of her unpleasant character. And so it happened to me, and after the first book I had to go on, and I bought the four of them. It's a frienship made of love and hatred, of jealousy and envie. The two girls grow up in a world of misery, filled with anger and frustration; entangled in a net of violence and ingnorance.The only way to escape is through money or education. Some merchants have become rich through the black market of their parents practiced during the war. Now it is their choice to make. So the two teenagers soon learn to desperately grab their moment of happiness, even risking their lives. It's a powerful portrait of the two main characters, through the intelligent self analysis of the narrator, and a deep psychological insight into her friends'demons. Lenù narrates their story following the details of their every day life. These facts seem to be banal, instead they are poignant in building the extraordinary character of Lina, and every event is charged with a powerful tension. The narration flows easily, never boring. The reader is captivated and feels like never putting down the book. While giving us the portrait of Lina, who seems to embody Good and Evil, the narrator paints also her neiborhood and its many characters which form a portrait of human existence itself and an excellent study of the human soul. An amazing story of an amazing frienship, where one, the narrator, tries desperately to be like her savage friend, and feeling inferior, she sacrifices herself and her choices to live her life through Lina. At the same time, Lina realizes that is Lenù who has made the right choice. Two desperate human beings who try to find a balance, try to reach beauty, a moment of happiness and the fullness of life among the frears, the banalities and the entanglements of their existence.

My book arrived sooner than expected and was as described. Very good.

Beautifully written and an excellent translation which keeps all the emotions of the original text.

Ich habe diesen und den dritten (bald auch den vierten) Band in der englischen Übersetzung gelesen, nachdem der erste Band in deutscher Übersetzung mich so stark in diese Geschichte hineingezogen hatte. Hätte ich auf die deutschen Ausgaben warten müssen, wäre ich quasi verhungert oder hätte all die Nebenfiguren und ihre Namen vergessen. Ob Rino, Gino, Dino oder Gigliola und Pinucchia, sie bleiben für mich lange, teils durchgängig, konturlos und austauschbar. Gefesselt haben mich vor allem die beiden Frauenfiguren, und vielleicht brauche ich einen zweiten Lesedurchgang, um das ganze Zeitgemälde drumherum noch mehr zu schätzen und zu genießen. Der Sog dieser packenden Geschichte, auch sprachlich, kommt mir in der englischen Übersetzung mindestens genauso stark vor wie in der deutschen.