nastya ’s Reviews > The Story of the Lost Child > Status Update

nastya
nastya is on page 80 of 473
This book is extremely basic so far, like a level of basic I'm not used to, not to sound like a snob or anything. Plain, basic, banal. Where the hell is all that beautiful writing people keep raving about in the reviews? Why the hell am I 1500 pages into this mess? Can someone please explain me to myself?
Jul 06, 2025 10:03PM
The Story of the Lost Child (Neapolitan Novels, #4)

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nastya
nastya is on page 330 of 473
Some talked about a brutal realism, some extolled my baroque imagination, some admired a female narrative that was gentle and embracing. In other words there were many positive judgments, but often in sharp contrast to one another, as if the reviewers hadn’t read the book that was in the bookstores but, rather, each had evoked a fantasy book fabricated from his own biases.

wait, did she suddenly go meta?
Jul 13, 2025 07:23AM
The Story of the Lost Child (Neapolitan Novels, #4)


nastya
nastya is on page 300 of 473
There's something admirable in Nino's ability to get it up for any woman in the world, don't you find? He is not predating on young school girls, he is schtupping the oldest, the ugliest women and gives them happiness, I just can't be mad at him. Like you don't try to capture this wild bird, you let it be free and bring happiness to the most undesired women, Elena!
Jul 11, 2025 09:21AM
The Story of the Lost Child (Neapolitan Novels, #4)


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Jennifer nyc Did you start with book 4???


nastya Jennifer wrote: "Did you start with book 4???"

why would I?


message 3: by Adina (new)

Adina Damn, I remember enjoying the first volume, bought the 2nd but I actually do not feel any urge. Probably it wasn’t as good as I initially thought and your status confirmed it.


message 4: by nastya (last edited Jul 07, 2025 01:01PM) (new) - rated it 2 stars

nastya In hindsight book 1 was the strongest, getting through book 2 was painful, book 3 I enjoyed just because it was not book 2, and book 4 is crap so far. 80 pages spent on nothing, her running away to have sex with her lover, going somewhere, being praised for nothing, coming back to her children, leaving to have sex with her lover, traveling to give some speech and be praised for nothing, returning to her hurt children, going to fuck her lover...


nastya all this is written in the most basic prose and she gives us the most surface level insights, everything is just so weak, there's no wit, no humor, nothing. wtf, people, how is this the best there is in contemporary literature


Left Coast Justin We need to find you a hobby, Nastya, other than reading books that just irritate you!

-Repairing porch swings
-Soap carving
-Creating an ant farm
-Bonsai photography
-etc.


nastya I already stopped writing reviews, should I stop sharing my progress too? You think I love this??

no idea what creating an ant farm entails but sounds cute


message 8: by Ken (new)

Ken Book FOUR? You are in deep. I can't even stick my toe in the waters of Book One. Something about it is... off-putting.


message 9: by Nataliya (new)

Nataliya I’m assuming all the suffering from the bad books is filling some karma bank in anticipation of a future truly amazing read.


nastya At this point, this just sounds like a dumb idea and obviously a sunk cost thing. I should’ve stopped two books ago. The weirdest thing is that I enjoyed everything else I've read by ferrante, brevity is her friend.


Jennifer nyc nastya wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Did you start with book 4???"

why would I?"


So, you're saying you found this more basic than the first 3?


nastya the writing? I think i mentioned it was basic in my review of the first book if I remember correctly.


message 13: by Mwanamali (new)

Mwanamali You found the first book basic and continued the series? 😂😂😂😂😂


nastya Mwanamali wrote: "You found the first book basic and continued the series? 😂😂😂😂😂"

of course, both book 4 and book 1 are in the best 100 books of this century according to nyt!


message 15: by Mwanamali (new)

Mwanamali nastya wrote: "Mwanamali wrote: "You found the first book basic and continued the series? 😂😂😂😂😂"

of course, both book 4 and book 1 are in the best 100 books of this century according to nyt!"


So you set yourself up for misery? 😂 Godspeed to you


nastya well not really. these books are so beloved and hyped, I have been waiting for them to finally click, so I kept going. and they are basically one long story so I am kinda curious how it will all end. also I bought them already. and I want to see what is the hype about, so nobody will tell me that I didn’t wait long enough for it to pay off. so many reasons 🙂 also obviously sunk cost


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