Lažljivi život odraslih
The Lying Life of Adults (2019), a stand-alone novel by Elena Ferrante, takes us to Naples in the 1990s through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Giovanna Trade, a bright, middle-class girl whose world falls apart with the discovery of her family's lies.
It all begins by chance: Giovanna overhears her father comparing her nose to that of her aunt Vittoria – a woman despised by her family as vulgar, a liar and a destroyer of life. Desperate for identity, Giovanna flees into Vittoria’s world: poor neighborhoods, passionate love, political intrigue and raw sexuality – all that parents, intellectuals and “acceptable” adults hide behind a facade of respectability.
Ferrante mercilessly exposes the “life of lies” of adults: Giovanna discovers that her father, a professor, cheated on her mother; her mother hides her ambitions; her friends and lovers dance in a web of hypocrisy. The girl struggles with bodily changes, first loves and class barriers – from elite circles to street chaos – where women pay the price for the truth. “Adults are liars who love each other”, Giovanna thinks, getting to the point: growing up is not linear, but a labyrinth where you get lost and find yourself in the lies of others and your own.
One copy is available
