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“Frangello brilliantly finds the personal and the political in her intimate, exciting exploration of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, focusing in on female friendship, culture, desire and longing–and the polarizing question of who and what gender Ferrante really was and who really did the authorship.”
— Kirkus
“Frangello brilliantly finds the personal and the political in her intimate, exciting exploration of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, focusing in on female friendship, culture, desire and longing–and the polarizing question of who and what gender Ferrante really was and who really did the authorship. But more than that, Frangello gets at the bone and heart of why we read, what we expect reading to do for us, and how we interpret a book, a life–be it fictional or real–and our own writing, too. The extraordinary thing about this book is not only did it make me immediately want to reread Ferrante, it made me immediately want to reread Frangello, too. This is required reading for any author or reader, truly.”
— Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder
“Gina Frangello’s engagement with the Neapolitan novels deliciously blends personal identification with appreciation and literary criticism. Her discussion of the question of pseudonymity and authorship is mind blowingly smart in how it examines different points of view while never losing sight of the achievement of the novel–whoever wrote it. This book should be shelved beside the quartet in every store and library; it’s a great addition to the Ferrante reading experience.”
— Alice Elliott Dark
Gina Frangello is just so damn smart. In this extended blended essay: a weaving of memoir, gender criticism, book fashion, art philosophy, literary whodunnit and more, her voice brims throughout with a brilliant, grateful, rage. So many layers! So many delights for the lucky reader. ‘The author is dead?’ Hell no. This one is, as ever, alive and kicking.”
— Pam Houston, author, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom
Blow Your House Down
Gina Frangello spent her early adulthood trying to outrun a youth marked by poverty and violence. Now a long-married wife and devoted mother, the better life she carefully built is emotionally upended by the death of her closest friend. Soon, awakened to fault lines in her troubled marriage, Frangello is caught up in a recklessly passionate affair, leading a double life while continuing to project the image of the perfect family. When her secrets are finally uncovered, both her home and her identity will implode, testing the limits of desire, responsibility, love, and forgiveness.
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Blow Your House Down is a powerful testimony about the ways our culture seeks to cage women in traditional narratives of self-sacrifice and erasure. Frangello uses her personal story to examine the place of women in contemporary society: the violence they experience, the rage they suppress, the ways their bodies often reveal what they cannot say aloud, and finally, what it means to transgress “being good” in order to reclaim your own life.
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“A provocative memoir.”
—The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
“Candid and engrossing . . . A searing indictment of misogynistic expectations, Blow Your House Down blasts through convention, martyrdom and self-loathing to reach the strength, agency, resilience and empowerment that all women deserve. This book will inspire readers to accept themselves . . . and to live a life full of authenticity and joy.”
— Ms. Magazine
“An unforgettable book.”
— K.W. Colyard, Bustle, a Best Book of the Month
“Too many memoirs fall into the trap of mistaking martyrdom for nobility, sacrifice for bravery; they float on the still-shiny surface rather than excavating into the murk. Gina Frangello’s Blow Your House Down is not that kind of memoir. Instead, it is fierce and violent, a rampaging storm—a breathtaking, luminous reminder of the wreckage we are capable of making of our own lives.”
— Kristin Iversen, Refinery29, One of the Best New Books of the Year
