Coming-of-age novels narrated by teenagers are nothing new. What is fresh is Elena Ferrante’s take—as presented in “The Lying Life of Adults,” her 2019 masterpiece.
Giovanna, the protagonist, is a privileged only child growing up in Naples’ upscale Vomero neighborhood. One day she overhears her parents compare her to Vittoria, the father’s ungainly impoverished sister from whom he is estranged. Curiosity gets the best of her and she eventually finds a way to meet her aunt.
An initial visit takes place in the Neapolitan slums that Vittoria has never left. The aunt, Giovanna discovers, is crude, nasty and unfiltered. But over subsequent visits, Vittorio connects Giovanna with a whole slew of her father’s relatives who are worlds away from her precious Vomero upbringing. This exposure to another side of Naples changes the young girl: she becomes more direct and contentious, consciously aping her newly discovered family’s working-class behavior and dialect. More importantly, she becomes impatient with her parents, who she discovers have been lying about their own lives for years.
Giovanna transforms into a young female Holden Caulfield, calling out “phoniness” at every turn. Her cynicism is tempered by the appearance of Roberto, a handsome young man who has escaped his humble Neapolitan roots and become an intellectual in Milan. In a world of liars, Roberto appears godlike and truth-telling. He sees through her veneer of crudeness and recognizes her intellectual gifts as well. Is it something more? Are “all men after one thing,” as her aunt cynically asserts?
This is a tale that I can confirm as an Italian-American seems quintessentially Italian. The prose is intense. The plotting is operatic. And the characters hold grudges. Tony Soprano would not be out of place in this family.
TLLOA concludes that everyone is telling a lie of some sort—not only to others but to themselves. How fitting a subject: Ferrante herself (or maybe it’s himself?) shields her real identity from the world. Too bad. A writer of such gifts needs to be lionized properly. And that’s no lie.
I’ve tried one of her other books, the one made into series and couldn’t. Lying to oneself is something that interests me. Maybe this book is a story rather than a saga. Thanks for the terrific review. Going to reserve a copy right now.