#maintaintherage

[zanytyranttimemachine-blog]

#protestpoetry #survivalday #alwayswasalwayswillbe #antilogging #maintaintherage #protests #poetryasmedicine #poemsofprotest #poetryoftime #poemoftheheart #poem #evolutionpoem #evolutionisrevolution #poemsofinsta #poemsofinstragram #poemsoftheday #poems #melbournepoetry #melbspokenword (at Ferntree Gully, Victoria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPzXRa-NM0x/?utm_medium=tumblr

[kateisreading]

52. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

What: another explosive Elena Ferrante novel  When: July 26 - 28 Where: on the plane home from Cairns How: book borrowed from my mum  Why: Elena Ferrante is the goddess of rage.

Elena Ferrante is the kind of writer who reduces me to nonsensical exhalations of wonder - "oooooeeee", "yowza", "wowowowow".

What a writer. What a woman.

The Days of Abandonment is a relentless and claustrophobic dissection of the journey of Olga, whose husband suddenly announces he's leaving her one day after lunch. I have never read a better description of the bitter aftertaste of being abandoned by the one person who promised to be with you forever. The pace and structure of the novel reminded me of a slinky travelling down a set of stairs. Everything is tightly coiled up until the moment where emotional gravity takes its course and the narrator's psyche descends into a state of hysteria, delusion or deep sorrow before evening out again onto the next step. 

Ferrante's strength is that she doesn't look away. Olga's experience of redefining her motherhood, womanhood and selfhood is excruciating to watch, not because she behaves so outlandishly, but because I could imagine myself reduced in similar ways if I felt such a deep betrayal. The writing in The Days of Abandonment is full of energy, viciousness and cutting dark humour. When there is finally a point of calm and quiet redemption at the end of the book, it feels like Olga, and the reader, has earned it. The takeaway message? Facing pain and suffering with your eyes open is the only way to get down to the bottom of the stairs and walk away. 

I would prescribe this short novel to anyone with pent up rage - somehow Ferrante offers her readers the opportunity to vicariously vent through reading her uniquely impassioned prose. 

[peach1337xo]

Original A-Grade Australian Nightmare Fuel

[sasharatbag]

#fuckyeahrage!