Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferante

When I finish this quartet of novels, and it is almost certain that I will finish them, I suspect I have been the slowest to read them, especially for readers who started them after they were all in print.  And truly, I would read this sort of collection but starting the next book the moment I finished the previous book and not stop until I am done.  I have done a variation of that to date.  It took me over a year and several false starts to read the first book, but upon finishing it, I immediately started the second, but it took me over a year to read that one.  There is just something about this story that I both want to read and want to avoid.
This is the book about young adulthood, where both Lila and Elena have settled into what isn't exactly love, but relationships, and children are involved.  Elena has more of a story book story while Lila's is more of a horror story, but in fact they are both restless and dissatisfied, and in many ways they remain attached to each other all the while wanting to shed the bond.  It is very complicated and filled with flawed characters, who are, after all, deeply human, and maybe that is a bit much to take in all at once.  In any case, it is terrifically written, and I will almost definitely start the fourth book.  But also just as likely to take another year to finish it.