My Brilliant Friend
Author: Elena Ferrante
Translated by: Ann Goldstein
Published by: Europa editions
Pages: 331
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
Author: Elena Ferrante
Translated by: Ann Goldstein
Published by: Europa editions
Pages: 331
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★
The opening novel of Ferrante’s acclaimed Neapolitan Quartet, My Brilliant Friend charts two best friends’ journey into adulthood in post-war Italy with great emotional depth and luminous storytelling.
A ravishing, generous-hearted novel, My Brilliant Friend tells the story of Elena and Lila, born in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood in Naples. Ferrante has created both an unforgettable portrait of two young women seeking to carve out a destinyor themselves, and the story of a city – and a country – undergoing momentous change.
My thoughts:
This is the first of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet. My Brilliant Friend tells the story of two girls, Elena, and Lila, in the 1950s growing up in a tough area of Naples. Seeing their neighbours argue with each other and sometimes come to blows is a part of their lives which they accept as normal. Their world revolves around the few streets of their neighbourhood and they have never even seen the sea.
I’m very late to the party on this one, Much has been said about this book, the first of the Naples trilogy, and I opened this novel with the expectation to be enthralled, and while I was never really wowed by any one sentence, it did have that magical quality of dragging you from page to page.
Ferrante presents an interesting account of two women at the start of their friendship growing up in the fifties in Naples. The Italian atmosphere is strongly prevalent, and it sets the scene for the start of these novels in an Italy that is far removed from our current holiday experiences, taking readers back to a time when there was a big cultural divide between the rich and poor. The story follows narrator Elena and her clever best friend Lila as the two strive for greatness, wealth, and knowledge in a neighbourhood tormented by patriarchal feuds and gendered violence. And it’s a tough read, at times. The normalised violence is shocking, particularly against children. The oppression is all encompassing, the lack of agency over ones own life, not just women and children, but men too. This is a community run by the Camorra, which is not fictional. It’s an Italian Mafia-type crime syndicate which arose in the region of Campania and its capital Naples and is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating back to the seventeenth century.
All in all, My Brilliant Friend is an enjoyable coming-of-age novel charting the ups and downs of friendship between two working-class Italian girls. Although I wasn't overly enthusiastic about this first book of the quartet, I am hooked enough to continue with the series. I didn't immediately fall for this story, but as I came towards the end, I realised that I will most likely go on to read part two at some point.
Overall reaction: