The Lost Daughter Paperback – April 1, 2008

I have to say, first off, that I am not the overly literal-minded American. Sorry if that’s insulting, but at least we are allowed to say our minds in this country. What I mean is, by way of example, I love incandescent lighting and always have. I don’t care if LEDs give you all the light in the world for free. That matter not. So that Bizzarre preamble is to say no, I do not look at novels only for how they end; that would be utter stupidity.Next thing for background, I am a male. And I suppose the one other thing I should add is yes the culture in the novel is far different than what we have in America. Given all that I want to speak of the ending, but don’t worry I’m not gonna give away the ending. It’s only a few sentences really, but I won’t give it away. What I will say is it’s wonderful poignancy is done in such elegant simplicity; it brings tears to your eyes. And of course you’re not supposed to cheat and look at the ending but as well you won’t see its poignancy without the context of the book. I guess we could say it’s kind of a litmus test for whether you got the main character – it’s all in her mind that you’re understanding everything by the way, so first-person close as the litterary people would say – that she is a woman, she is a mother and she does do dialecticism on these facts especially about being a mother. But she does it, that is the dialecticism, not in an analytical philosophers way which I am really by amateur standards with six philosophy courses etc. etc. but she she does the dialecticism in an emotional way. Admittedly that may be of more interest to females and indeed mothers but still you might find it interesting to connect somewhat phenomenologically with her because the writing is amenable to that, even for males. And then, like I said, the litmus test could be did you get the poignancy of the ending.Well that was a rather bizarre review I admit but there is a lot of dialectic turmoil that I think anybody can relate to. Even if it’s not about motherhood we probably all have had similar dialectical phenomenological turmoils or ambivalencies if you want to put it in what is meant to be a strong word (we don’t have a weak word for ‘ambivalent’, we only have ‘wishy-washy’ as the weak form) but you do get to be inside somebody’s head and going through their phenomenological psychological dialectical musings and the book is really not all that long if you want that consolation.

Leda is a 47 year-old divorced woman, and mother to daughters, Bianca and Marta, now 22 and 24. The girls have recently moved from Italy to Toronto, Canada to live with their father. Leda is well educated and teaches at the university in Florence, Italy. Leda was not upset when her daughters moved away, in fact it was quite the opposite: "When my daughters moved to Toronto, where their father had lived and worked for years, I was embarrassed and amazed to discover that I wasn't upset; rather, I felt light, as if only then had I definitively brought them into the world. For the first time in almost twenty-five years I was not aware of the anxiety of having to take care of them. The house was neat, as if no one lived there, I no longer had the constant bother of shopping and doing the laundry, the woman who for years had helped with the household chores found a better paying job, and I felt no need to replace her."It's summer and since she is feeling happy about her new freedom, Leda decides to rent a beach house for six weeks, on the Ionian coast, near Naples. She packs her books and lesson plans for the coming school year and is planning to relax by lounging on the beach by day.Early on she becomes fascinated by the interactions of an attractive young mother named Nina, and her young daughter, Elena. She also intently watches little Elena's interactions with her doll, which the girl calls by several different names. Several other family members visit the family on the beach as well. One day Leda notices the child by the waters edge, so she returns her to her mother who was lying on the beach blanket and hadn't noticed the child had wandered to the water. Another day when the family leaves the beach for the day, Leda notices that Elena's beloved doll was left buried in the sand. This incident upsets Leda, and suddenly this event, along with the interactions of mother and child, opens a floodgate of memories for Leda of her own days as a young mother. Some of the incidents which she recalls of things she did, and ways she reacted to her own daughters --were cringe-worthy.This brief novella, just 124 pages, is sure to evoke emotions among readers, especially mothers. Narrated in the first person, this deep journey into a mother's psyche, gives the reader plenty to think about. Marriage, motherhood, personal freedom, sacrifice and career fulfillment are some of the conflicting issues that surface in this work.Initially, I thought I might have a problem with the flow of the story due to the translation, but that was not the case. Once I got into the rhythm and into what was going on in Leda's head, I was hooked. I liked this one a lot, and would definitely recommend it.

It kept reminding me of other stories and generally, I did not like it.IF the doll element was the unifying thread, the story needed to be shorter. I got tired and pushed past the perfectly worthy fullness of the story, to get to the resolution of the doll element, which would be silly except for the power of that element to direct the lives of the real people in the tale.Beautiful Italy - but the descriptions are iconic to the point of repetitiveness. This century has been a blockbuster in evolution of quality family life. Hopefully, people will get better at not making a family until they have worked out the details. - happily accepting that family life varies - but it works better if we simply cut the melodrama grow up and love our children and show them by example how important it is to accept the diversity of life scripts. If that acceptance is there the details are just that - details - and all the members of the family can rejoice that all are being genuine human beings finding their way on the journey of life. Togetherness is not always right or desirable. But that should not ever create a goodguy / badguy dynamic, since that is not truth. If the family created itself, there is that goodness and if life’s details change that, it is only important to respect and love the new reality, as it unfolds. I can’t say more without spoilers.It is not a long book - and I am glad I read it.

It's an interesting book - barely any actual dialogue (lots of reported conversations). Lots of lovely description and atmosphere. Leda is a complex character who expresses a viewpoint on what it feels like to be a mother (and a daughter) which might not sit well with the disney-esque-view of motherhood, but I liked it's truthfulness and rawness. The ending is totally bizarre - I felt strangely impressed by the confidence of the author to end the book in this way. Hat's off to her. Confident piece of writing.

Having finished the Neapolitan novels I felt a bit bereft and dived straight into this. Many of the themes will be familiar to those who have read Elena Ferrante's novels, but this short, disturbing book distils many of those ideas. What is being a 'good mother', is it possible to be one, and keep a sense of self? Ferrante manages to evoke that sense of inadequacy mingled with frustration and resentment that so many mothers feel when trying to have it all, of advancing a career, looking after young, and not so young children. I loved the circular narrative of this book, and the inexplicable mindless act of cruelty that seemed so random and pointless but underscored everything.

The Lost Daughter is a story about a troubled lady set in a secluded Italian holiday beach resort, crafted by Elena Ferrante in her characteristic reflective prose style.It describes contrasting features of Leda’s problematic and questionable life: mother and academic, husband and lover, her “now” and her “then”. The author dissects her conflicts, the dialogue being catalysed by the theft of a small child, Lena’s, doll.There is much more that could be said, but it would be a spoiler. Suffice to say, the story flows back and forth, and the outcome is more an awareness, rather than a conclusion.Did I enjoy the book? Well, I finished reading it, and it made me write this analytical reflective review. So the answer has to be ’yes’.

Ok - I think I liked it. I read it all so I guess I did. I didn’t like the main character- but she was an honest character - not perfect. I don’t think I really liked anyone in the book. But I still finished it - so it had something to keep me reading.

High price for a 2cm thick book of 103 pages Which I still don’t get the point of the books story Still bemused by it Read it in two hours Totally bored but kept going waiting for it too get going