I’m starting to get ‘the dread’ every time I think of picking this up, so will be putting it down for now. 

Maybe I’ll come back to it at another time, but right now I’m kinda sick of Elena and Lila’s dynamic, and was hoping for a bit more growth in them in this instalment. 

Ferrante really does write so well, but the realism is getting a bit much for me. The whole story just feels like broken and horrible people going through the same cycles ad nauseum, in only slightly different formats - which is exactly what life is, but is maybe a bit much to read.