The Lying Life of Adults

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For the television adaptation, see The Lying Life of Adults (TV series).
The Lying Life of Adults
Cover of first edition (Italy)
AuthorElena Ferrante
Audio read byAnna Bonaiuto[1]
Original titleLa vita bugiarda degli adulti
TranslatorAnn Goldstein
LanguageItalian
Set inNaples
PublisherEdizioni e/o
Publication date
7 November 2019[2]
Publication placeItaly
Published in English
1 September 2020
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages336
ISBN9788833571683
OCLC1128092847

The Lying Life of Adults (Italian: La vita bugiarda degli adulti) is a 2019 novel by Elena Ferrante. It was adapted into a television series of the same name by Edoardo De Angelis in 2023.

Synopsis

In Naples in the early 1990s, twelve-year-old Giovanna Trada overhears her father Andrea disparagingly liken her appearance to that of his estranged sister Vittoria. This sends Giovanna into a search for Vittoria on another side of Naples to discover the nature of the family's fallout.

Publication

The novel was first published in Italy in November 2019 by Edizioni e/o, published as part of their Dal Mondo series.[3] An English translation by Ann Goldstein was scheduled to be published by Europa Editions on 9 June 2020, but was postponed to 1 September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5][6][7] The English translation debuted at number two on The New York Times fiction best-seller list.[8]

Reception

Upon release, The Lying Life of Adults was generally well received. According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on 51 critic reviews with 22 being "rave" and 23 being "positive" and 4 being "mixed" and 2 being "pan".[9] In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a rating of 4.19 out of 5 from the site which was based on 15 critic reviews.[10]

In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews praised Goldstein's "fluid" translation and wrote, "Giovanna's nascent sexuality is more frankly explored than that of previous Ferrante protagonists".[11]

Publishers Weekly called Giovanna a "winning character" but nonetheless wrote that the novel "feels minor in comparison to Ferrante's previous work".[12]

A review in The New York Times stated that the book "evokes for me all the ordinary, warring paradoxes of intimate life."[13]

Television adaptation

Main article: The Lying Life of Adults (TV series)

In May 2020, Netflix announced it would be adapting The Lying Life of Adults into a television series of the same name in collaboration with Italy's Fandango production company.[14][15][16][17] The series was released by Netflix in January 2023.[18]

References

  1. ^ "La vita bugiarda degli adulti - Elena Ferrante". www.edizionieo.it (in Italian). Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Elena Ferrante, il nuovo romanzo si chiama "La vita bugiarda degli adulti". In libreria il 7 novembre". la Repubblica (in Italian). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  3. ^ "La vita bugiarda degli adulti - Elena Ferrante". www.edizionieo.it (in Italian). Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  4. ^ "The Lying Life of Adults - Elena Ferrante". Europa Editions. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  5. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (7 April 2020). "Europa Editions postpones Ferrante's new novel". The Bookseller. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  6. ^ Bussel, Rachel Kramer (31 October 2019). "New Elena Ferrante Novel 'The Lying Life Of Adults' To Be Published By Europa Editions in 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. ^ Winik, Marion (31 August 2020). "Elena Ferrante returns with 'The Lying Life of Adults,' and fans of the Neapolitan novels will be thrilled". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Fiction - Best Sellers". The New York Times. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  9. ^ "The Lying Life of Adults". Book Marks. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  10. ^ "The Lying Life of Adults Reviews". Books in the Media. Archived from the original on 20 Oct 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  11. ^ "The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein". Kirkus Reviews. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, trans from the Italian by Ann Goldstein". Publishers Weekly. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  13. ^ Sehgal, Parul (2020-08-25). "Elena Ferrante's New Novel Is a Suspenseful Story About the Sins of Parents". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  14. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (12 May 2020). "Elena Ferrante's 'Lying Life of Adults' to Be Adapted by Netflix, Italy's Fandango". Variety. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  15. ^ Davies, Hannah J (12 May 2020). "Netflix to adapt Elena Ferrante's The Lying Life of Adults". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  16. ^ Romano, Nick (12 May 2020). "Netflix is adapting new Elena Ferrante book before its even out". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (12 May 2020). "Netflix & Italy's Fandango To Develop Series Based On Elena Ferrante's 'The Lying Life Of Adults'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  18. ^ Nicholson, Rebecca (5 January 2023). "The Lying Life of Adults: another impeccable Elena Ferrante TV show". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2023.