by Margot P (Mandeville, LA): While Whereabouts is a novel in the technical sense, it’s really just slices of life in a year of a floundering 40ish Italian woman in an unnamed city. The writing is gorgeous, especially considering it was translated from Italian to English by Lahiri. The intimate portrayal of the protagonist is very similar to those of Ferrante’s characters in her last two novels: solitary, capable women who are unable to make lasting human connections largely in part as results from damages inflicted upon them by their parents. I especially enjoyed the chapter where she visits her mother and the final one on the train where her life is symbolically contrasted with those of a group of happy foreign travelers.
