Ferrante's forthcoming novel, excerpted in the NYTimes, looks to be definitely worth reading

Definitely worth reading the long excerpt from Elena Ferrante's forthcoming novel, The Lying Life of Adults, which ran as a special section in the Sunday NYTimes. I'm not always a fan of published novel excerpts, which can sometimes feel like a glorified advertisement for a forthcoming publication - but the Times over the past year or so that they've been running occasional excerpts has done a good job in selecting fiction that is in some sense newsworthy - selections for well-known writers who really don't need the publicity boost - and topically relevant (see for ex. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad). Ferrante now has such a vast following around the world thanks to her Brilliant Friend series that a forthcoming book from her is an event; I have to say that the Times team has done a great job in editing this piece - trimming where appropriate and keeping the narrative line clear and coherent: Good for them! (Though points lost for the ridiculous typography for the title of this work, which is almost impossible to recognize and cogitate.) This excerpt, from the POV of a woman looking back on her early teenage years in Naples, tells of a time in her youth when she begins to learn of her father's complex family history and in particular when she meets, against her parents' wishes, her aunt, who has been at odds, perhaps at war, with the narrator's father for many years. The aunt, whom the parents have described as mean and ugly (the plot gets into gear when the young woman overhears her father compare her w/ the ostracized aunt) turns out to be beautiful, though unconventionally so. She's also quite outspoken, blunt, vulgar at times, and embittered - and it's obvious that the novel, as it unfolds, will be about a struggle for the soul and the allegiance of the young woman. I am one of the few who wasn't crazy about the Brilliant Friend series - though I could see why it meant so much to so many readers - but this novel comes forth with a lot of promise and what I expect will be a more tightly controlled plot and sharper character delineation.