MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is an extraordinarily meaningful and absorbing read. Apple Books. Ferrante's inimitable style lends itself perfectly to this penetrating portrait of two marvelous women. I have been studying Italian in my free time and so decided to try reading one of the most popular Italian writers of today: Elena Ferrante. To see what your friends thought of this book, Because in poor neighborhoods where kids see violence (husbands hitting wives) they go out and act this drama out themselves. I know of the mystery surrounding Elena Ferrante and the suggestion of some that she might be a male writer assuming a female name. “My Brilliant Friend is a sweeping family-centered epic that encompasses issues of loyalty, love, and a transforming Europe. Elena makes it clear that she cannot know what other characters, especially Lila, were feeling or thinking at certain moments. As in “My Brilliant Friend,” Ferrante’s new novel follows a girl who measures her worth against another complicated character. 65 questions answered. I wanted it to move into their adult years and become more interesting and relevant to me personally. The Story of a New Name is the second book in this series. Not within my personal interest radar. There have been many articles about this author's mysterious anonymity. They sold those to poor people at 10 time the real value. They create a compelling and exciting inner world together, a stage on which they both are able to dramatise themselves as the heroines of their own fate. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018. Elena, the narrator of the novel, is in first grade when we first meet her. Neapolitan Novels Series Elena Ferrante Collection 4 Books Bundle (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Story of the Lost Child) Every little town or neighborhood in Italy had its own black marketer. Sigh!) They were all laughing, even Lila, with the expression of one who has a role and will play it to the utmost.”, Waterstones Book of the Year Nominee (2015). I should try them some time . The plebs were that fight for food and wine, that quarrel over who should be served first and better, that dirty floor on which the waiters clattered back and forth, those increasingly vulgar toasts. I tried. The narrator Elena tells us everything about her upbringing in a neighborhood where harsh poverty is the norm and family violence is unremarkable, even, for instance, when a father sends a daughter flying out a second story window. The prose is bare, the pacing swift, the plotting episodic, the characters many and quickly sketched; with writing that feels. The book is a blow-by-blow confessional, following the two girls from their earliest memories through their early adulthood. The relationship between Lila and Lenu, the latter the narrator, has a bit of the Mozart-Saliari theme: the frustration of the simply smart person up against someone of almost supernatural genius. My Brilliant Friend is not the sort of book I would normally pick up as I prefer fantasy fiction. Oh, Ms. Ferrante, hello there. I know it well, and that also affects the way I write. My True Brilliant Friend Follow the journey of young actors Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace, from first introductions to the series' premiere, as they work to bring the story of two best friends to life. Her real identity is unknown except to her publisher because she wishes to have a normal life. So beautifully written and of course equally beautifully translated from the original Italian. (-: [I couldn't understand why everyone hated Don Achille. 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. My Brilliant Friend is not the sort of book I would normally pick up as I prefer. In addition to writing, “I study, I translate, I teach. 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. In 2012, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend introduced readers to the unforgettable Elena and Lila, whose lifelong friendship provides the backbone for the Neapolitan Novels. I would recommend this book freely to anyone who enjoys history of any kind or a well-written novel. I also want to get The Reader newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. This is a coming of age novel, true, but it is also much more than that. This is contemporary realistic fiction about two women who grow up together in the 1950s and 1960s in a poor neighborhood in Naples. We’d love your help. In fact, I even read books occasionally. My women are strong, educated, self-a, "The women in my stories are all echoes of real women who, because of their suffering or their combativeness, have very much influenced my imagination: my mother, a childhood girlfriend, acquaintances whose stories I know. “My Brilliant Friend is a sweeping family-centered epic that encompasses issues of loyalty, love, and a transforming Europe. This novel has so much violence that it should come with some kind of rating. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante . The short chapters keep the pages turning, and by the end of the novel I found myself very involved in the lives of the characters. the movements of others, only on my own” is her encryption.) By many other accounts, a great book and writer. Kobo. ", A not so satisfying read for me. [ like throwing your eleven year old daughter out a window into the street. My Brilliant Friend is narrated in the first-person by Elena, and events are presented from her perspective. The relationship between Lila and Lenu, the latter the narrator, has a bit of the M. As my rating reflects, I was overwhelmed by this novel. I also want to get The Reader newsletter featuring book recommendations and news. For the duration, it read like the early pages of a novel you’re trying to get through so you can get to the main storyline. I literally, like, open them and turn the pages and read the text inside them and everything. Amazon. September 25th 2012 It's like life, in that way. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Still, there is much, much more to this novel than I can go into here--it is a complex work filled with beautiful gems, particularly toward the end. Before you start wondering what sort of wonderful place I worked at, let me clarify it was a literary agency, so such things were totally commonplace. It can be assumed that Elena’s voice is behind the title of the novel, referring to Lila as "her brilliant friend." Embed our reviews widget for this book Half way in and beyond, I’m still reading about translating latin and struggling with studying and class exams along with the onset of puberty and its challenges. I retract any previous negative judgment: she is a major contemporary novelist and I will now go on immediately to her second Neapolitan novel, "The Story of a New Name." 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. Well that was a real reading experience or listening really since I had the audio book! “I am made and remade continually. So despite the terrible cover, and a rather idiotic blurb I knew it would be a fine book. Yes! The first book in Elena Ferrante’s best-selling global phenomenon—a quartet known as the Neapolitan Novels—begins with the disappearance of a sixtysomething narrator’s lifelong best friend. He seemed okay to me. In general I combine their experiences with my own and Delia, Amalia, Olga, Leda, Nina, Elena, Lenù are born out of that mix. 1 "sweet Jesus...this is the first of four books" stars !! Heck, I was middle class and we used to hurl rocks at the neighbors and sometimes dead fish. And therein lies my problem with it. 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