“Each of us is a book, Elenao, each of us is a book, and a library of books.”
— Lila reflects on individual lives and experiences.
Archivist's Choice
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
Elena Ferrante (2019)
Genre
Literary Fiction / Historical Fiction
Reading Time
500 min
Key Themes
See below
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In the 1970s, two intelligent women, a writer and a factory worker, navigate class, ambition, and societal expectations, linked by their lifelong Neapolitan friendship.
Synopsis
In the third Neapolitan Novel, Elena Greco, now a successful author, deals with her new intellectual life and marriage. Lila Cerullo faces hardships working in a meat factory, fighting exploitation and a declining neighborhood. Elena, having left her poor Neapolitan roots, finds herself in political and feminist groups in Florence. However, her intellectual pursuits and personal life are often challenged by her past and the ongoing influence of men like Nino Sarratore. Meanwhile, Lila, despite her difficult situation, shows resilience and a sharp grasp of power dynamics, especially concerning the increasingly powerful Solara family. As Elena's marriage falls apart and she starts an affair with Nino, Lila's health worsens. A tragic earthquake leads to the disappearance of her daughter, Tina, leaving a void that affects both women. Their intense, unbreakable bond continues through their different lives, shaping their identities and decisions as they live through the turbulent 1970s in Italy, always connected by their shared history and their impact on each other.
Reading time
500 min
Difficulty
Medium
Pacing
Moderate
Mood
Introspective, Melancholy, Intense, Realistic, Socially Critical
✓ Read this if...
You enjoy deep character studies, complex female friendships, and a vivid portrayal of post-war Italian society with strong feminist undertones.
✗ Skip this if...
You prefer fast-paced plots with clear resolutions or shy away from emotionally intense narratives and moral ambiguity.
Plot Summary
Elena's New Life and Lila's Hardship
Elena Greco (Lenù) has found literary success with her first novel and lives in Florence. She is engaged to Pietro Airota, a professor from a prominent intellectual family. Despite her new life, she often thinks about her childhood friend, Raffaella Cerullo (Lila), who works in a sausage factory, IMES, under harsh conditions. Lila left her husband Stefano Carracci and her lover Nino Sarratore. She lives in a poor, rat-infested basement apartment with her young son, Gennaro. Elena visits Lila in Naples and is upset by the squalor and how much the factory work has aged Lila. Lila's experiences at IMES, including harassment, show the realities faced by working-class women in 1970s Naples.
The Factory Struggle and Political Awakening
Lila, despite her initial hesitation, becomes a key figure in the workers' fight at IMES. She is driven by the terrible conditions and the need to protect her son and co-workers. She documents the abuses and exploitation, eventually working with Pasquale Peluso and Michele Solara, who own the factory and are involved in local politics. This involvement connects her to the growing communist and feminist movements, though her reasons are more personal than political. Elena sees Lila's change, noting her friend's intelligence and resilience, even in difficult situations. Lila's activism draws attention from various political groups, making her already unstable life more complicated.
Elena's Marriage and Intellectual Discontent
Elena marries Pietro Airota in a high-profile ceremony. She enjoys the security and intellectual stimulation of her new family, but she feels restless. Her in-laws, especially Pietro's mother, Adele, are supportive but also subtly critical, and Elena struggles with the expectations of being a professor's wife and a published author. She has two daughters, Adele and Dede, but finds motherhood isolating, feeling her intellectual life stifled by home duties. Despite her success, Elena feels a constant sense of not being enough and a desire for something more real, often comparing her comfortable but unfulfilling life to Lila's raw existence.
Lila's Photography Studio and Marcello Solara's Influence
After the factory struggles, Lila leaves IMES and, with Michele Solara's help, opens a photography studio with Enzo Scanno, a childhood friend and admirer who has always been loyal to her. Enzo provides stability and a quiet presence in Lila's life, helping her raise Gennaro. However, her connection to the Solara family, particularly Michele, remains strong and unclear. Michele Solara, a powerful and dangerous figure linked to organized crime, influences Lila's new business and her life, offering protection but also demanding loyalty. This new professional life gives Lila a different kind of independence but keeps her within the neighborhood's darker influences.
Elena's Political Engagement and Feminist Circles
Elena becomes more involved in the feminist movement, attending meetings and trying to express her experiences as a woman and an author. She publishes articles and takes part in public discussions, trying to balance her intellectual goals with her home life and working-class background. However, she often feels like an outsider among the more radical feminists, struggling to find her voice and feeling a gap between her theoretical understanding and her actual life. Her political involvement is often tied to her ongoing fascination with Lila, whose unfiltered experiences seem to embody the struggles Elena tries to intellectualize.
The Solaras' Growing Power and Neighborhood Dynamics
The Solara brothers, Michele and Marcello, continue to grow their influence and wealth, becoming powerful figures in the neighborhood and beyond. Their businesses, including the photography studio and various real estate projects, give them control over many parts of the residents' lives. The Solaras show how legal business and crime are intertwined in Naples, and their presence affects both Elena and Lila. Their power impacts everyone, from small shopkeepers to factory workers, and their actions often determine the opportunities and limits available to the characters, reminding Elena of her origins' inescapable hold.
Lila's Deteriorating Health and Elena's Visit
Lila gets seriously ill with hepatitis, a result of her harsh living and working conditions. Elena, hearing of her friend's critical state, returns to Naples, leaving her family in Florence. This visit highlights the deep and lasting bond between the two women. Elena sees Lila's vulnerability, a contrast to her usual independence. She helps care for Lila and Gennaro, providing much-needed support. During this time, Elena thinks deeply about their complex friendship, recognizing how Lila has always been both an inspiration and a source of pain, a constant reminder of the life Elena escaped and the parts of herself she cannot abandon.
The Earthquake and the Disappearance of Tina
Naples is hit by a devastating earthquake, causing widespread damage and fear. Afterward, a terrible event happens: Lila's young daughter, Tina, mysteriously disappears. Tina, a quiet and intelligent child, vanishes without a trace, leaving Lila and Enzo heartbroken. This tragedy shatters Lila, pushing her to despair and emphasizing the novel's themes of loss, vulnerability, and the unpredictable nature of life in their neighborhood. Tina's disappearance becomes a central, unsolved mystery that deeply affects Lila's future actions and thoughts, casting a long shadow over her efforts to find stability and happiness.
Elena's Affair with Nino Sarratore
Elena meets Nino Sarratore, Lila's former lover and Elena's childhood crush, at a literary conference. Nino, now a successful and charming academic, captivates Elena. Despite being married with children, Elena feels a strong attraction to him, reigniting old desires. They begin an affair, which Elena initially sees as an escape from her suffocating marriage and a validation of her intellectual and emotional needs. This affair represents Elena's search for a passionate, idealized love, a contrast to the stability of her marriage to Pietro. It also reflects Lila's past involvement with Nino, showing the recurring nature of their shared experiences and desires.
The Collapse of Elena's Marriage
Elena's affair with Nino grows, consuming her thoughts and actions. She becomes more distant from Pietro and her daughters. The emotional stress and her growing desire to be with Nino lead to a confrontation with Pietro, who eventually finds out about her infidelity. The marriage breaks down painfully, resulting in Elena leaving Pietro and her children to be with Nino. This decision is a radical change from her carefully built life, marking a major turning point in her personal journey. She gives up the security and intellectual respectability she had for a chance at a passionate, though uncertain, future with Nino, echoing Lila's own impulsive choices in love.
Lila's Resignation and Tina's Absence
After Tina's disappearance, Lila withdraws further, though she continues to run the photography studio with Enzo. The unsolved mystery of her daughter's fate leaves a lasting mark on her. She seems to accept her sorrow with a quiet, almost resigned attitude. Enzo remains her steady companion, providing unwavering support and love. Lila's life becomes less chaotic, marked by a deep internal pain rather than external struggles. Tina's absence is a constant presence, shaping Lila's worldview and her interactions with others, leaving her with a lasting sense of loss that even her resilience cannot fully overcome.
Elena and Nino's New Beginning and Doubts
Elena and Nino start their new life together, initially filled with their rediscovered love. Elena moves to Naples to be with him, leaving her Florentine life behind. However, the initial happiness soon gives way to familiar patterns of instability and Nino's unreliability. Elena begins to see the same flaws in Nino that Lila had experienced – his self-centeredness, his infidelity, and his inability to fully commit. She realizes that her idealized view of Nino may have been an illusion, and that her radical choice might lead to a different kind of unhappiness. This realization marks the beginning of Elena's disappointment with Nino and a deep re-evaluation of her choices.
The Unbreakable Bond
Throughout their separate lives, Elena and Lila remain linked. Elena often thinks of Lila, using her as a reference for her own experiences, a muse, and a warning. Lila, in turn, subtly influences Elena's writing and her understanding of the world. Their friendship, though often marked by jealousy, competition, and long periods apart, is the most important relationship in their lives. It is a bond formed in their poor Neapolitan neighborhood, a shared history that no distance or personal change can truly break, continuing to shape their identities and life choices.
Principal Figures
Elena Greco (Lenù)
The Protagonist
Elena transforms from a dutiful wife and intellectual into a woman willing to abandon societal expectations for an elusive passion, only to find new forms of disillusionment.
Raffaella Cerullo (Lila)
The Co-Protagonist
Lila moves from being a factory worker fighting for rights to a photography studio owner, enduring immense personal tragedy while maintaining her fierce independence and enigmatic nature.
Pietro Airota
The Supporting
Pietro remains largely static, representing stability that Elena outgrows, ultimately becoming a victim of her pursuit of passion.
Nino Sarratore
The Supporting
Nino maintains his charming yet unreliable nature, serving as a catalyst for Elena's marital breakdown but ultimately failing to provide her with lasting happiness.
Enzo Scanno
The Supporting
Enzo remains a steadfast, loyal presence in Lila's life, offering unwavering support and love through her many trials.
Michele Solara
The Antagonist/Supporting
Michele's power and influence grow, further entrenching the Solara family's control over the neighborhood and its residents.
Adele Airota
The Supporting
Adele remains a consistent, influential figure in Elena's life, representing the intellectual establishment and its expectations.
Gennaro Cerullo
The Supporting
Gennaro grows up amidst hardship, but with the steadfast love of Lila and Enzo, he develops a quiet resilience.
Tina Cerullo
The Mentioned
Her tragic disappearance serves as a catalyst for Lila's profound resignation and shapes her remaining life.
Themes & Insights
The Nature of Friendship and Rivalry
The lasting friendship between Elena and Lila is the novel's core, marked by love, admiration, envy, and competition. Elena constantly compares her life to Lila's, seeing her as both an inspiration and a source of inadequacy. Lila often influences Elena's decisions and creative work. Their bond crosses class and intellectual divides, proving to be the most consistent relationship in their lives, even as their paths diverge. This theme appears in Elena's constant thoughts about Lila, her visits to Naples, and how Lila's experiences inspire Elena's writing.
“What had been the point of my life, if I had to constantly compare it to hers, if I had to feel that she had done better than me, that she had understood more than me, had suffered more than me?”
Social Mobility and Class Struggle
The novel shows the challenges and costs of social mobility in post-war Italy. Elena tries to escape her working-class background through education and marriage into an intellectual family, but she often feels like an outsider and faces subtle prejudices in her new world. Lila, despite her intelligence, stays in the working class, experiencing factory exploitation and the influence of organized crime. Their different experiences highlight the class divisions and limited opportunities, even in a changing society. The factory struggles at IMES and Elena's worries about fitting into Pietro's wealthy world directly show this theme.
“We were stuck in the neighborhood, we lived in the neighborhood, we didn't have money to go anywhere else.”
Feminism and Women's Liberation
Set in the 1970s, the novel explores the early feminist movement and its impact on women's lives. Elena engages with feminist ideas, trying to explain the struggles of women balancing home life, ambition, and identity. Lila's factory experiences, including harassment, show the realities that fueled the movement. Both women, in their own ways, challenge traditional gender roles and expectations, seeking independence in a patriarchal society. Elena's involvement in feminist groups and her conflict over motherhood versus her intellectual life directly address this theme.
“I often had the impression that I was not a woman, but a collection of female experiences, and that these experiences were not mine, but a collective heritage.”
The Weight of the Past and the Neighborhood
Despite their attempts to leave, both Elena and Lila remain deeply connected to their Neapolitan neighborhood and its past. The neighborhood is a powerful, almost unavoidable force that shapes their identities, relationships, and destinies. It is a place of both deep affection and stifling limits, where violence, poverty, and the Camorra are always present. Elena's desire for and dislike of Naples, and Lila's continued involvement with its darker elements, show how deeply their origins have affected them. Elena's constant returns to Naples, physically and in her thoughts, show this lasting connection.
“The neighborhood was a prison, but it was also the only place where we knew how to move.”
Love, Desire, and Disillusionment
The characters' romantic relationships are often complex, passionate, and eventually disappointing. Elena seeks an idealized love with Nino Sarratore, only to find him as flawed and unreliable as Lila had. Lila experiences various kinds of love – the passionate but abusive relationship with Stefano, the intellectual crush on Nino, and Enzo's steady devotion – each bringing its own challenges. The novel explores the gap between romantic ideals and the realities of human connection, showing how desire can lead to both freedom and pain. Elena's affair with Nino and the breakdown of her marriage are central to this theme.
“Love was not a feeling, it was a decision, a pact, a contract between two people.”
Plot Devices & Literary Techniques
First-Person Retrospective Narration
Elena Greco recounts her past from a future vantage point.
The entire novel is narrated by Elena Greco in the first person, retrospectively recounting her life and, crucially, Lila's life. This device allows for deep introspection and analysis of events, relationships, and emotions. Elena's older, more experienced voice provides context and foreshadowing, often revealing her current understanding of past events. It also highlights her ongoing preoccupation with Lila, as her narrative is largely an attempt to understand herself through her friend. The retrospective lens allows for layers of interpretation and the exploration of memory's fallibility and subjective nature.
The Disappearance of Tina
A central, unresolved mystery that profoundly impacts Lila.
The mysterious disappearance of Lila's young daughter, Tina, during an earthquake serves as a powerful and unresolved plot device. It is a devastating tragedy that shatters Lila's already fragile world and leaves an enduring void. The lack of resolution mirrors the uncertainties and unresolved traumas of life in the neighborhood. It also acts as a catalyst for Lila's profound resignation and withdrawal, changing the trajectory of her life. The unanswered question of Tina's fate amplifies the themes of loss, vulnerability, and the unpredictable nature of existence.
Parallel Lives and Contrasting Choices
Elena and Lila's divergent paths highlight different responses to shared origins.
The narrative constantly juxtaposes the parallel lives of Elena and Lila, who, despite their shared origins, make vastly different choices. Elena seeks escape through education and conventional success, while Lila confronts her reality head-on, often with radical and unconventional actions. This device allows the author to explore various facets of social mobility, gender roles, and personal agency. Their contrasting choices provide a rich framework for examining the complexities of their friendship and the broader societal forces at play, with each woman serving as a foil and a mirror for the other.
The Neapolitan Dialect/Standard Italian Divide
Language symbolizes class, authenticity, and intellectual aspiration.
Though not explicitly rendered in the English translation, the novel frequently references the divide between the Neapolitan dialect and standard Italian. This linguistic tension symbolizes the characters' class origins, their struggles for social mobility, and their internal conflicts. Speaking dialect signifies authenticity, emotion, and the neighborhood, while mastering standard Italian is a marker of education and a gateway to a more refined world. Elena's journey is partly defined by her mastery of standard Italian, while Lila often reverts to dialect, representing her rootedness and raw expression. This device underscores the cultural and social barriers the characters face.
Critical analysis
Notable Quotes
“The world was a place of brutal competition, where some were destined to win and others to lose, and it was better to be among the winners.”
— Elena describes the harsh realities of their neighborhood and society.
“I was always trying to find a way to make sense of things, to put them in order, to write them down.”
— Elena's constant struggle to articulate and comprehend her experiences through writing.
“She was the border, and I was the one who was crossing it.”
— Elena's perception of Lila as a boundary or limit she is always trying to move beyond or understand.
“We were both trying to escape, but she was trying to escape from the inside, and I was trying to escape from the outside.”
— Elena contrasts her and Lila's different approaches to escaping their origins.
“Every new step I took was also a step away from her, and I always felt a pang of guilt, a sense of betrayal.”
— Elena's conflicted feelings as her success separates her from Lila.
“I had left the neighborhood, but the neighborhood had not left me.”
— Elena reflects on how her origins continue to shape her, despite her physical departure.
“The past was a place you could never truly leave, only reinterpret.”
— Elena's ongoing struggle to make sense of her history and its impact.
“It’s not enough to be intelligent, you have to be clever.”
— A pragmatic view of success and survival in their challenging environment.
“The most important thing was to appear strong, even when you weren’t.”
— The societal pressure to maintain a facade of strength in their community.
“Our friendship was a long, passionate conversation, a dialogue that never really ended.”
— Elena's deep reflection on the enduring nature of her relationship with Lila.
“To be a woman was to be constantly under scrutiny, constantly judged, constantly evaluated.”
— Elena's observation on the pervasive judgment faced by women in their society.
“Life seemed to me a thing that could break at any moment, and I was always waiting for it to break.”
— Elena's underlying anxiety and sense of precarity about life.
“Words were like stones, they could build or they could destroy.”
— Elena's awareness of the power and impact of language.
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Key Questions (FAQ)
The novel is primarily set in Naples and Florence during the 1970s. Elena Greco, now a published author, navigates the intellectual circles of Florence, while Lila Cerullo remains in Naples, working in a sausage factory and contending with the city's volatile social and political landscape.
