Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay book club questions

1. 1.

   Elena describes her writing career as partially fraudulent — that she's performing an educated woman rather than being one. Do you think the novel endorses that self-assessment, or is it showing us a narrator who is too hard on herself?

2. 2.

   Lila's factory work and political radicalization in this volume represent the path Elena didn't take. Does Ferrante present Lila's choice as more authentic, or just differently trapped?

3. 3.

   The Years of Lead — leftist terrorism, political violence — sit in the background of this book. How does Ferrante use that historical moment without letting it become the story?

4. 4.

   Elena's marriage to Pietro deteriorates mostly through accumulation of small indignities and incompatibilities. At what point, if any, do you think she should have recognized what it was?

5. 5.

   Ferrante is unusually explicit about the female body — pregnancy, factory injuries, physical exhaustion. What does that specificity do that more abstract treatment of these themes couldn't?

6. 6.

   Is the Lila-Elena relationship a friendship, a rivalry, a co-dependency, or something the word 'friendship' doesn't quite cover?

7. 7.

   Lila's son Gennaro and Elena's daughters are minor characters but their presence shapes every major decision. How does Ferrante handle parenthood differently than most literary fiction about women?

8. 8.

   Elena moves in feminist intellectual circles but often acts against feminist principles she's endorsed. Is this hypocrisy, or is Ferrante making a different point?

9. 9.

   By this volume the neighborhood has a specific moral weight — it's both origin and trap. How does place function differently here than in novels where characters simply move on and don't look back?

10. 10.

    Lila seems to be physically deteriorating, coming apart at the margins. Do you read this literally, metaphorically, or both?

11. 11.

    Which character in this novel do you think is making the better life — and does the novel agree with you?

12. 12.

    The title refers to a permanent division in the neighborhood. By the end of this book, has Elena actually left? Has anyone?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.