When I finished Ferrante's Neapolitan series in 2016, I knew I had to seek out all of her other novels. TROUBLING LOVE is the Italian author's debut novel, and (once again) I'm reading it last. I was a little nervous to read it, to afterward have no more Ferrante fiction unread.

"Childhood is a tissue of lies that endures in the past tense: at least, mine was like that."

It's fascinating to me how Ferrante's works seem to converse with each other across time. How a small detail in one book is a much bigger issue in another. How this novel, THE DAYS OF ABANDONMENT, and THE LOST DAUGHTER all seem to hint toward scenes and emotions that would make up her masterpiece in the Neapolitan quartet. Like all of her works, TROUBLING LOVE's protagonist, Delia, is a woman in Naples whose anger at the world is brimming to a rage. I'd say Delia's is the least subtle of Ferrante's women, as she narrates feverishly and at times in a way that seems meant to confuse the reader. As in, there's no time to explain: my mother is dead, her body was found in suspicious circumstances, and I have to deal with the mysteries she left behind in her death and my childhood—just follow my despairing journey. Though she would never invite you. I found the novel hypnotic and depressing, and I loved it. There were points that made me cringe, that made me angry, that made me think of the wisps of family secrets never revealed.