The Days of Abandonment
Olga is a Neapolitan writer and mother of two when her husband Mario announces, over an otherwise ordinary lunch, that he is leaving her. What follows over the next few months is a careful, unsparing account of what abandonment actually looks like from the inside: the fixations on whether the ants in the kitchen are a sign, the phone calls that go unanswered, the keys that no longer seem to turn in the lock, a daughter's fever rising, a dog's slow dying, and a body still wanting. Elena Ferrante, writing years before her Neapolitan Novels would make her internationally famous, builds a close, airless novel out of a woman's refusal to be dignified in the ruin of her marriage, and a reckoning with the self that has been waiting underneath.
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What you might want to know about The Days of Abandonment
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
When her husband Mario walks out one afternoon to be with a younger woman, Olga is left in their Turin apartment with their two small children and a sick dog. Across one summer, her grip on the household quietly slips.
No. The Days of Abandonment (2002) is a standalone novel, separate from Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. It works on its own and is often recommended as an entry point to her work because of its short length.
The Days of Abandonment uses claustrophobic first-person narration as Olga unravels emotionally after her husband's departure. The intensity is sustained, and the content is heavy. Most readers find it more demanding emotionally than stylistically.
The Days of Abandonment was written by Elena Ferrante, published in 2002 by Europa Editions, Incorporated.
The Days of Abandonment is 202 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Days of Abandonment takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
The Days of Abandonment is a standalone novel by Elena Ferrante, not part of a series.
The Days of Abandonment is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
