I have a real affinity for this story. After watching the film, I had a slow-burning appreciation that turned into a real fascination with the themes and moral disjunctures analysed in the novel.
Leda is an obviously prickly character, with an extremely contentious past and present but I grew a real affection for her. She seems engaged always in a series of arduous lessons in learning how to love. Elena Ferrante does a great job of positioning her reader into Leda's disconcerted psyche. The book, as the blurb reviews affirms, is a strong mediation on motherhood and has much to say.
Wolfed this down during a long journey, and it is a story I have an urge to reccomend to people. The pace is quick, the transitioning in timelines at times could've been a little more seamless, but nevertheless the book delivers one hell of a gut-punch in 140 pages.