Elena Ferrante’s The Story Of A New Name

The Story Of A New Name, the second book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series, picks up almost immediately where the first one let off, thrusting readers back into the drama of post-World War II Italy and the strained friendship of Elena Greco and Raffaella “Lina” Cerullo. From this point onward, I will be discussing the plot in some detail, so new readers of the series should beware.

The penultimate dramatic moment of the first book in the series involved Lina’s marriage to Stefano Carracci, the son of a notorious black market dealer and loan shark. The match enriches Lina’s family, as the Cerullos and the Caraccis join forces in marketing high-end shoes originally designed by Lina, but tensions, only hinted at the first book, quickly shatter the marriage. Here, for example, is Elena’s description of Lina on her honeymoon:

What have I done, she thought, dazed by wine, and what is this gold circle, this glittering zero I’ve stuck my finger in. Stefano had one, too, and it shone amid the black hairs, hairy fingers, as the books said. She remembered him in his bathing suit, as she had seen him at the beach. The broad chest, the large kneecaps, like overturned pots. There was not the smallest detail that, once recalled, revealed to her any charm. He was a being, now, with whom she felt she could share nothing and yet there he was.

 

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A Rose by Any Other Name

Entering a new epoch in your life can be challenging, particularly as you try to define yourself. There is a balance to be found between you defining yourself and others defining you, as demonstrated in The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante.

As Elena and Lina enter their twenties, their lives take very divergent paths. Elena goes to study at university at Pisa, applying her studious mind toward intellectual endeavors, including writing a well-received novel in one draft. Lina’s domestic life suffers from turmoil surrounding the propagation of children and her provoking her husband’s temper. As each young woman experiences the world around her, she finds new ways of defining herself within that world, as well as in comparison with each other.

Written in the beautifully elegant nature that captivated readers in the first novel of the series, this second installment continues to capture your attention and focus on the psychological intricacies driving each woman. While the pacing of this chapter was slower toward the beginning, it picked up pace dramatically after Elena and Lina summer at the beach. I greatly appreciated how Ferrante didn’t fall prey to the rapid summation of what occurred during the first book, which commonly happens in series, and instead continues on, assuming you were diligent enough to keep up with the events presented.

Overall, I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Reflections – The Story of a New Name

The Story of a New Name is the second of the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante. It continues to follow the friendship of Lenù and Lila that started in My Brilliant Friend.

Book cover – The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

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Natalie Gadbois: The coming-of-age power of Elena Ferrante

‘THE STORY OF A NEW NAME’ BY ELENA FERRANTE

‘It seemed to me the just conclusion to that day. If nothing could save us, not money, not a male body, and not even studying, we might as well destroy everything immediately’.

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, Pg.19

Carrying on almost seamlessly from where My Brilliant Friend left off, Elena Ferrante dazzles again with the second instalment of her Neapolitan series. As soon as I open the book, I am catapulted back to 1960s Naples as it is brought teeming to life with characters that are so real and relatable, so full of contradictory emotions, so human and so flawed. Elena is still torn between trying to keep up with her friend whilst at the same time trying to establish a future that is irreconcilably different. Lila is hurtling towards the inevitable failure of her marriage, but just how serious and damaging this will be, only time will tell.

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The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

Following directly after the events of My Brilliant Friendcomes the next novel in the Neapolitan series. Lila is now married and Elena’s own attempts of romance are a little more complicated. Although Elena is also focusing on her academic and literary career.The Story of a New Namecontinues the story of the two friends living in Naples from the age of about sixteen to their mid-twenties.

I was enjoying being in the world of Lila and Elena that I picked up The Story of a New Name as soon as I had finished My Brilliant Friend. A novel that I found far more enjoyable than the first one. The two woman are now adults, thinking about their lives and planning for a future. I found that their world had opened up a lot more, with more details about Naples and the political tensions of Italy. I like how Elena Ferrante wrote these books with the world expanding to the reader in the same way it would to the characters.

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The Best Book I Read This Year

Book I’m hoping to read before 2016 arrives: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

—Alana Semuels, staff writer

Ferrante fever

SUNEETHA BALAKRISHNAN

Elena Ferrante is the buzzword. Jhumpa Lahiri, Mona Simpson and Zadie Smith rave over her work and critics like James Wood dish out high praise. For a writer who steers clear of publicity, Ferrante’s work has been piled high with praise of the top order. Her work has been called: ‘women on the verge’, ‘angry Jane Austen’, ‘the best contemporary novelist you have never heard of’, ‘a celebration of anger’, ‘without limits and beyond genre’, ‘nothing like this has ever been published’ and much more.

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