The Days of Abandonment

I had been warned by some reviews and by friends that had read "The Days of Abandonment" to realize that it may be hard to read and a little weird. I had just finished lounging in the pure ecstasy that only prolific readers know, of reading Ferrante's "The Neapolitan Series". Basking in the afterglow of that intense literary experience I immediately downloaded "Frantamaglia: A Writer's Journey" which is Ferrante's musings on writing her amazing books. It quickly became apparent that I would not be able to enjoy the full impact of the journal without reading "The Days of Abandonment". I should have known that Elena Ferrante is not capable of letting her readers down. I languished on every sentence of 32 year old Olga, attempting to navigate the first month of being suddenly abandoned by her beloved husband, Mario and their two children for a younger woman. Olga quickly finds herself behaving irrationally. The worst thing possible has occurred as far as she is concerned and she has no choice but to continue with the mundane duties of everyday life....caring for her children, managing everything in her home and trying to regain her sense of femininity and autonomy after being nothing but Mario's wife and loving mother to his children after 15 years. She loses it. Completely. Her life becomes literally a stream of consciousness. She is just not writing in this style....this is the way her life is unfolding. I have never experienced a writer put this kind of feeling down in words so very powerful and succinctly. Yes, it is weird. Because she is feeling exceedingly weird and the reader soaks up every bit of it. I have experienced this state of mind when I was very young and have often wondered how to verbalize it, let alone put words to describe it down on paper. The house, the children, the grocery shopping, the laundry, and every other ordinary life event become distorted and that is the way Olga tells us what she is experiencing. Before reading this book I would have told you that it was impossible to express these feelings the way that Ferrante manages to do. She does it and it is absolutely mesmerizing. If you are a Elena Ferrante fan, you cannot miss the "The Days of Abandonment". If you are new to this author, start with the Neapolitan series. You will get to know the author first and understand her extraordinary writing skills before you begin. This book takes you on Olga's emotional journey. It will become real to you, not just a literary experience. This author has captured a feeling, a mania, a phenomena, that before reading this book I would have thought that no one could do. This is painting with words. It is a rare, carefully written work, that deserves to be carefully read.

Lately, I've found myself returning to authors that I've enjoyed in the past. Elena Ferrant is one of these authors. Here is my review of her book, The Lost Daughter, in case you missed it previously. In The Days of Abandonment, the title pretty much says it all. A short novel (188 pages but, with a story, and an intro that packs a wallop. "One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me. He did it while we were clearing the table; the children were quarreling as usual in the next room, the dog was dreaming, growling beside the radiator. He told me that he was confused, that he was having terrible moments of weariness, of dissatisfaction, perhaps of cowardice. He talked for a long time about our fifteen years of marriage, about the children, and he admitted he had nothing to reproach with us, neither them nor me, He was composed, as always, apart from an extravagant gesture of his right hand when he explained to me, with a childish frown, that soft voices, a sort of whispering, were urging him elsewhere. Then he assumed the blame for everything that was happening and closed the front door carefully behind him, leaving me turned to stone beside the sink." What follows is the story of a 38 year-old wife and mother with two young child who begins to unravel, losing all sense of normalcy in life with this unexpected announcement by her husband Mario. Of course, Mario's confusion is just an excuse, as there is a 20 year-old woman in the picture which is revealed early on. The new woman is actually a student Mario had once tutored, and then began to see on the side. He told his wife the affair was over, when in fact it was still going on. Olga was once a writer, but she traded her dreams of becoming famous for marriage and motherhood, and after 15 years of comfortable routines, she finds herself totally helpless with what has just happened. Once Olga kept a spotless house, cooked gourmet meals, her home is now in shambles, her children and even the family dog , Otto are neglected. She spends her time in desperation, writing letters to her husband - not even knowing where he is staying. She spends a lot of time analyzing what and when things started to go wrong in their marriage. She experiences, many of the stages of "death and dying" -denial, anger and rage, a bottomless pit of depression before she moves on to the final stage of acceptance. She has a hot and heavy sexual encounter with an older man, Carrano, who lives in her building, which could shock some readers. It's descriptive, complete with foul language and some remorse afterward. A sad incident involving the family dog occurs, and there is incident when Mario comes over to see the children and she invites him to stay for a meal that really left me chuckling. After several months of watching her own life spiral downward, Olga gradually begins to accept the fact that life as she one day new if will never be the same. This sparse book was so well written. It was translated from Italian, and the words just flowed so well. It's an additive read, told from Olga's point of view, which worked perfectly; she was a believable protagonist The story's ending was hopeful . I invite you read this book, and to go inside the mind of, "a woman scorned. "

Beautiful writer very good translation, but unfortunately not my style. This book is not for the faint of heart. I couldn’t finish it which is very unusual.

Il libro l'ho letto in italiano ed e bellissimo. Volevo regalarlo ad un amico che vive a Londra e non conosce l'italiano.

Trembling Love by Ferrante spoke of loss through death (suicide). The Days of Abandonment tells of the disintegration and reintegration were loss remains visual and tangible. The book reveals how even the best of people, the main character was a writer, can lose all aspects of normality in their distress. Ferrante reveals that even an intelligent and cultural person can descend into the most basic of behaviours and imaginations where the loss is a love betrayed. Also, the recovery towards normality is real and tangible.

Sometimes difficult to read, but as always Elena Ferrante's writing is insightful, colourful, sucks you in and makes you feel things every emotion her characters feel.

Ausgezeichnete Geschichte, realistische Beschreibung von einer hoffnungslosen Frau nach der Trennung von ihrem Mann, an dem sie sehr abhängig war.

Definitely one of the toughest books I have read recently. It's Travel Blog of Olga - from Sanity to Insanity. I have no idea how Elena was able to describe a degrading mental health and the depression so vividly - as if she has experienced it somehow. 70% of the book is taking you through the mental degradation of Olga. But I really appreciate how Elena has penned the whole saga - so well. Throughout the book I kept thinking - what is she going to do? Are her kids going to be OK? Will her Dog be OK? When will she care? When will she snap out of this torrential depression. Amazing book!!