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My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)

Elena Ferrante,

Ann Goldstein (Translator)

Start date: August 15, 2015

Finish date: September 1, 2015

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Sherry

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What Members Thought

Sep 16, 2014 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: around-the-world, read2015, location-italy

I enjoyed this book, but not for the reasons I expected. I kept hearing that it was like an Italian Jane Austen! I didn't find a lot of Jane to the story but I was captured by what I found.

This is part of a series of three books, what I understand to be semi-autobiographical novels. This one contains "Childhood," briefer than I would have expected, ending on page 85, and the rest of the novel is "Adolescence."

The central focus of the story is the narrator, Elena, and her friendship with a girl I enjoyed this book, but not for the reasons I expected. I kept hearing that it was like an Italian Jane Austen! I didn't find a lot of Jane to the story but I was captured by what I found.

This is part of a series of three books, what I understand to be semi-autobiographical novels. This one contains "Childhood," briefer than I would have expected, ending on page 85, and the rest of the novel is "Adolescence."

The central focus of the story is the narrator, Elena, and her friendship with a girl named Lila.

"Lila appeared in my life in first grade and immediately impressed me because she was very bad."

It is set in a very violent working class part of Naples in the aftermath of World War II. There is quite a bit of commentary on how the war (and refusal to really speak of the war) negatively effects the people, the power/control dynamics, and relationships.

"Her father pretended that there had been nothing before. Her mother did the same, my mother, my father, even Rino. .. They didn't know anything, they wouldn't talk about anything. Not Fascism, not the king. No injustice, no oppression, no exploitation. .. And they voted for the Fascists, for the monarchists... And they thought that what had happened before was past and, in order to live quietly, they placed a stone on top of it, and so, without knowing it, they continued it, they were immersed in the things of before, and we kept them inside us, too."

At the beginning there is a character list, which actually proved useful as many Italian names are quite similar! Ha. It really is important which family the boys belong to, in particular, because aligning yourself with a boyfriend from the wrong family could mean bad things for everyone involved. (Okay, that sounds like Austen but I swear it really isn't.)

I'm not sure about all women, but there was a certain amount of resonance for me in how central a female friendship can be in your formative years. How much you compete with the girls you like the most, how much of their changing and growing you notice, how much a part of your core knowing them continues to be throughout your life. That's one thing the author gets perfectly. Near the end of this volume, Elena is seeing how alien she is from her whole life, and now even Lila. What a familiar, common feeling that we all feel by ourselves.

I will read the other novels in this group but maybe after a bit of a break.

ETA: This book was discussed on Episode 024 of the Reading Envy podast. ...more

30 likes · Like · see review

May 29, 2015 Yashoda Sampath rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, translated, contemporary-lit

My Brilliant Friend provides a terrifyingly real portrait of two young women living in a Naples ghetto, a place where violence did not end after World War II, rather, it seeped into the hearts and souls of the hopeless young men and women struggling to break out of their pre-ordained futures.

No book does a better job of capturing the simultaneous fear and confidence of being an adolescent female, of the conflicting pressures of jealousy, of ambition, of lust, of adoration, and what happens when ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

Loved, loved, loved this book. It is not perfect, but it is close. The book follows two Italian girls through childhood as life sets them on different paths. I devoured this book (took six days because I am a mom). I cannot wait to read the next in the series. Highly recommend.

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2018 Loretta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, reading-for-craft

Holy wow. Yes. The hype all true. Gorgeously written, meticulously crafted and detailed. The story of a friendship within a community and a richly depicted world. So good. On to volume 2 right now.

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Dec 06, 2015 Joyce rated it really liked it

Enjoyed this thoroughly and the ending had me heading out to get the next book. Fascinating story of a friendship including the comparisons, competition and jealousy. Delightful.

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