The second sex

摘要

FIFTEEN MILLION readers have waited five years for a new novel by the pseudonymous Italian writer Elena Ferrante, author of a riveting quartet of stories set in Naples that shot her to global fame. "The Lying Life of Adults", a dark tale, does not disappoint. Yet it also demands more of Ms Ferrante's many fans by probing even more painfully the oppression of women that drove her explosive Neapolitan saga.Like "My Brilliant Friend", the first in that series, this is a story of growing up: the universal struggle to separate from the family and establish a self. Ms Ferrante's genius lies in the laser focus she brings to bear on female experience. In often lacerating detail, she portrays their protracted battle to define themselves independently of men.