This was a hard read. the misogyny was hard to sit through. I thought at some point the boy would see through the misogyny and reflect on it. But not really he just

fell in love with his mother in law

and still hated women as a whole. 
Even though I saw hints of it throughout I still thought she wouldn't go there

with the gay reveal

since it's a book from the 50s and I was surprised when she did. However it also means it once again went along with the trope of

gay men being misogynistic

.
Reading upon Elsa Morante and how if she lived today she might have been trans makes me wonder more about her life but probably not enough to try read up on her or any of her work more.