Simple writing, straightforward plot and yet completely compelling (I could not stop reading). It's not just about Lila and Lenu and their well-detailed relationship but about how they function as a part of their neighborhood, which is definitely a character in itself. I felt that Ferrante lets the reader grow in knowledge as the girls grow from childhood through adolescence. She makes us wiser bit by bit about how the everyday events of these girl's lives matter within the larger context of the adult world and how likely it might be that their lives might take this path or that, depending on both their own decisions and all the imponderables that girls in their situations had to accept. 
 In this way, the novel felt so specific to that Naples neighborhood at that particular time but also so universal. How did I see myself at 10? At 16? My relationship to boys? My place in the family and in my world? I just found this fascinating because we all go through those 'awakenings' of who we are and how we fit in (or don't), and what kind of stability we can expect from the future. As a child/adolescent, this seems revolutionary but seen with adult hindsight it can easily look silly. Ferrante doesn't treat this as silly, she shows how - within these girls lives - the worldviews that they adapt and modify will make or break them later on or - sadly - maybe make no difference at all because there are also the outside forces of economics and politics that may be stronger than their own wills. 
 There are so many beautiful images throughout the novel, too. The dolls being dropped down through the grate, Lenu venturing onto the beach for the first time, and the final image - that absolute cliff-hanger of an image - that makes so much sense but which I didn't see coming. I loved this one.