"Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay" by Elena Ferrante

This is Book 3 in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet. After reading the first book in paper format, I switched to audiobooks for the rest of this series. The narrator is wonderful and I will be listening to the final book on audio as well.

In Book 3, we continue to follow the lives of Elena and her friend Lila as the two women grow even further apart. Elena gets married and moves to Florence, where she falls into the routine of being a full-time wife and mother of two little girls. While Lila's life continues to be messy as ever.

The themes that I particularly appreciated in this book deal with feminism and social inequality. Ferrante continues to be very frank about Elena's sexual experiences and disappointments. She also lays bare all of her insecurities and questions about life, being a woman, a mother, a writer. Elena constantly questions her own intelligence and education and feels the need for validation which she cannot find in her husband or her best friend Lila. Her story continues to sounds very genuine and real, and I cannot wait to read the conclusion of the series. 5 out of 5 stars for Book 3.