The Days of Abandonment

One of the most brutal and raw books in the world, one of my favorites. Some of the imagery feels so visceral years after reading it, it still filters into my brain. Ferrante's writing style is my favorite writing in the world. It both deeply submerses you in the emotion and reality of another human being, it's like being in your own head. It moves as effortlessly as though it's unfolding in your own unconscious. The movement of emotions and rationalizations as one moves through heartbreak, the dissolution and reconstitution of reality, it's so beautiful and painful. Ferrante is so good at saying things that I have never heard named