Book Title: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Category: Adult Fiction, 336 pages
Genre: Family Saga, Coming-of-age
Publisher: Europa Editions; Original edition
Release date: Oct 5, 2012
Content Rating: PG-13 (domestic abuse, mature topics)
Book Description:
A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.
The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.
My Review:
Reviewed by Laura Fabiani
The story is about the friendship of two girls, Elena and Lila. They are both poor and live in a neighborhood in Naples. The story is told from the point of view of Elena with a prologue that starts in the present time leading into Elena recounting the story of her tumultuous relationship with Lila from childhood. Both girls are bright and stand out in school, especially Lila. But circumstances lead Elena to pursue her studies, while Lila cannot.
What begins as a simple story of two girls quickly turns into a window into the Neapolitan culture a few years after WWII. Elena's account is honest and open, at time self-deprecating, at others enlightening as we see through her the effects of poverty on education and opportunity. The paths of the two girls diverge as they become teenagers, and the story ends with much left unresolved. So if you read this book, be ready to read the rest or you will be left hanging since this book basically introduces all the characters, the setting and the circumstances that will affect them throughout their life.
The characters are complex and vibrant, as is the setting and the Neapolitan culture with its powerful emotions of pride, jealousy, love and anger. There are family feuds, connections to the Mafia, remnants of communism from the war, and the coming-of-age scenes of youths from uneducated and poor backgrounds. I grew up in an immigrant Italian family and these stories are not unheard of to me.
I've become hooked on Elena and Lila's story and I am eager to watch the HBO interpretation of the first book, and of course, to read the rest of the books.
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