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My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One
Unavailable
My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One
Unavailable
My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One
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My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

Now an HBO series, book one in the New York Times bestselling Neapolitan quartet about two friends growing up in post-war Italy is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted family epic by Italy’s most beloved and acclaimed writer, Elena Ferrante, “one of the great novelists of our time.” (Roxana Robinson, The New York Times)
 
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its protagonists, the fiery and unforgettable Lila, and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflictual friendship. Book one in the series follows Lila and Elena from their first fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence. 

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.

“An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends,” writes Entertainment Weekly. “Spectacular,” says Maureen Corrigan on NPR’s Fresh Air. “A large, captivating, amiably peopled bildungsroman,” writes James Wood in The New Yorker

Ferrante is one of the world’s great storytellers. With My Brilliant Friend she has given her readers an abundant, generous, and masterfully plotted page-turner that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight readers for many generations to come.

Editor's Note

No guilt…

If you haven’t been swept away by the Neapolitan Novels yet, the time is now. If you have, consider this your excuse to dive back in to the no-guilt guilty-pleasure series that took the world by storm.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 25, 2012
ISBN9781609458638
Unavailable
My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One
Author

Elena Ferrante

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), now a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Jessie Buckley. She is also the author of Incidental Inventions(Europa, 2019), illustrated by Andrea Ucini; Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey (Europa, 2016); and a children’s picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as the “Neapolitan novels” (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018 and is in its third season. Ferrante’s most recent novel is the instant New York Times bestseller, The Lying Life of Adults (Europa, 2020).

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Rating: 3.8863257587548636 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Written in autobiographical style – who knows, maybe it is autobiographical given the little information known about the very private author – this first book in a four-part series focuses on Elena and Lila’s early friendship while growing up in a working class community of postfascist Naples of the 1950s to 1960s. While I cannot speak to the accuracy of Ferrante’s portrayal of an impoverished Southern Italian neighbourhood of the time period it does make for a mesmerizing backdrop. I really liked the complexity of Elena and Lila’s friendship. At times they are completely in sync, like twins or two peas in a pod and at other times there is this fierce competition as they each strive to create their own identity while still seeking approval. As you can imagine, this friendship has its perilous moments as emotions of admiration swirl with competing emotions of envy and resentment as one would expect in adolescence. Now I have to admit, I did not find the story enjoyable at first. In fact, I almost DNF’d the book as a waste of my time, but I am glad that I pushed along with it. The portrayal of gender issues – we are talking about a very different era from today! – and the emotional landscape of Elena and Lila, carried the story - and my appreciation for it – along. Given the autobiographical style, the author has projected a lot of the adult Elena’s perspective of her memories, layering the story – while poignantly communicated – with an overall feeling of melancholy that can be a bit of a downer for a reader. Overall, this is a story that grew on me as I read it. It is a difficult story to recommend, as is any book that is billed as being a modern masterpiece, IMO. Best I can do is recommend it with a warning that the story is an emotional roller-coaster filled with a fair amount of suffering and self-pity. A rewarding read if you are up for this style of story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't know what I was expecting (the photoshop on the cover is atrocious), but I was pleasantly surprised. The horror and lush newness of being a little girl child was vivid and nothing felt perfunctory. Again, the irritation that I cannot read this in it's original language. Especially as the language is constantly mentioned to be shifting -- from school latin, to school Italian, to the dialect of Naples, to the dialect of Capri. I will probably finish the series, just because I want little Lenú and Lina to grow up, I want to see the horror of their rest of their lives. Left me with the distinct feeling that the future is female and it's full of blood and guts.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    took a bit to get in to the story, the beginning was rather off putting. As I became engaged with the characters it got much better.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Not in the mood for this - too dense or just reading in translation
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I would never have picked this up if not for the rave reviews on the Litsy app -- much has already been said about the series' cover designs -- much more substance than implied by the cover. This series begins in Italy as its setting, and is translated from Italian to English.Loved this coming-of-age story of Lila and Elena and their complicated friendship and their families and neighbors (I had to refer to the list of cast of characters often). I don't think I have much more to add to this review that others haven't already -- definitely plan to read the next installment, but when the time feels right -- perhaps this fall or winter. Ferrante does not seem to fit as a "light summer read", certainly.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was intrigued by this book when I received a notice from the publisher, Europa, touting is a an international best-seller. Also, by the fact that the author uses a pseudonym and, moreover, does not grant interviews and avoids personal publicity- so nobody in the public knows who the author really is. Curiosity. But on reading I found out that it's a book for young teenagers, young girls. It's the story of two young girls, told by one of them, as they grow up in Naples. So the novel goes through all the troubles, dilemmas, frustrations, etc. of growing up as a girl in an Italian town in the 50s or 60s, where machismo rules. An interesting aspect is that the novel paints rather well this machismo, and the relations among various family members and the role they play within the family. There is definitely a hierarchy, one that is ruled by threats and violence. Another interesting aspect is the underlying role that the Camorra (i.e., mafia) plays in the town. Not said explicitly but implied is the fact that this group controls a lot of what goes on it town. This is an excellent book for young girls to read, and perhaps young boys. I will not read any other of her books, definitely not.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Two intelligent girls, Elena and her friend Lila, come of age in impoverished, violent mid-twentieth century Naples. Elena goes to a "shabby" high school (a luxury in that place and time, especially for a female), but excels at impractical subjects such as Latin and Greek, while Lina is pressed into service at her father's shoe store, and later, an early marriage to her family's teenage benefactor. The two girls' paths converge, diverge, then converge again.Rich in period detail, My Brilliant Friend is the first book of a quartet by mysterious, pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante. Although this book dragged in places, I was intrigued enough by the ending to want to read the next book in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is first of all the first part of a trilogy which is important to know because towards the end at the wedding scene Ferrante is foreshadowing conflicts to come while you are only ten pages from the end. She is not an ostentatious author and yet you are drawn into this huge story of a two young girls and their working class neighborhood in Naples. On character reveals herself through her closely observed worshipful love for her friend. The book is framed by the news that this friend has disappeared and for Ferrante the notion of self is staggered by the repeated idea that people disappear on each other. Abandonment being the theme of her earlier novel. Here the main character struggles to decide who she is in the shadow of her more talented friend and their friendship can be seen as the bond that will allow them to establish identities outside those available in their neighborhood. While the story is told by the older narrator looking back this doesn't take anything away from Ferrante's ability to give us those moments in the life of the young girl with immediacy and affection. As is well known Ferrante keeps her own identity completely hidden so obviously these themes resonate through her work. There were some extraordinary set pieces like the wedding and the fireworks on New Years and the summer vacation. I loved that she provided a cast list because it is a big sprawling book of characters and in that sense a very rich experience. Big ambition, big pleasures. She is one of the best.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book, and the complex social village relationships - the romantic attachments of teenagers and the mysterious, unlinear development of Lina's character (so like real life). Jealousy between women is so big in life but isn't usually revealed much in literature. It's hard to admit! But why did she dislike her mother? Maybe in a work so autobiographical it hurts too much to dwell on the past, but it was too bad to attach that cold dislike to her mother's appearance and even disabilities.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I had a very hard time finishing this book, so I won't be rushing out to get the next in the series. Not sure why I didn't find it as great as so many others have, it was just okay for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very fine book,by an admired Italian writer. This is a gripping piece about two girls who are rivals in grade school, but then go their separate ways. The author touches on many aspects of growing up in Italy; the poverty of the post war years, the violence and macho attitudes. the Neapolitan way of success, the presence of the mafia and the fascists in society,and family life;I was so flummoxed by the ending that I am now reading the second book in the series
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A little too expository for my taste, but still engaging and exceptionally well written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting subject matter, dull way of telling the story. The author hasn't really thought about structuring the story in a way that keeps the reader motivated to continue, she just sums up. We learn about all her grades of all her courses during her entire school career, which makes for a boring read. A bit of humour might have helped, but the narrator is as serious as can be about the poor and violent environment she grew up in. The novel ends with a hell of a cliffhanger though, so I might be temped to have a go at part 2 after all ...
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Does friendship mean an absence of rivalry, or is it there nonetheless, bubbling under? Not sure if the antics Ferrante narrates here are really devilish, as the book's epigraph suggests, but mainly this tale of growing up and feeling apart in blue collar Naples is made up of commonplace events. The many characters' names and pet names - Nino, Rino, Lila, and so on - can be.a struggle to keep track of, so the reference listing at the front, with their relations and occupations, proves useful, especially as their couplings and feuds promise to play out over 3 further volumes of the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    OK, OK... I concede - you were all right! This was a brilliant book which was right up my street - intertwining family sagas, brilliant character development, an interesting setting away from the norm in the backstreets of mid 20th century Naples.I'm so glad I DID pick this up on the back of all your glowing recommendations, otherwise I might not have made it through the first 40 or 50 pages which didn't grab me to begin with.I have two slight negatives, which I'm reluctant to mention but I'm a grouch so I will anyway. Number 1, which we've done to death - the cover. I felt like reading it on the bus concealed behind another book such was my shame that people would think I was reading the type of little old lady romance books that my library is full of. Even my husband, who is a literary neanderthal, commented "That's not the normal kind of book you go for". Enough said.Secondly, although I did hugely enjoy it, I felt like it was a very good book, not some new genre-redefining masterpiece worthy of the pedestal it has been put up on. So for that twisted reason alone I am deducting half a star, but I do have books 2 and 3 on order already so clearly I am as hooked as the rest of you were.4.5 stars - My brilliant read. Took me right out of a brief reading slump.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I really hoped to like this after all the hype that I have read. Gave it 75 pages and it did nothing for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wasn't sure at first if this was going to turn into a sappy, girly friendship, happy ending story. Nope! I kept feeling drawn onward and ended up being impressed. It is a relationship story between two girls starting in childhood, yet it is much more. It is the story of two smart girls caught in their local culture which strives valiantly to keep them from leaving socially and intellectually. Such an emotional, subtle battle! It is the story of the superficial versus the profound, of emerging whole versus being subsumed, and of the painfully confusing process of sorting it all out. How does one allow the life of the mind to fly freely while simultaneously finding a way to remain among one's cultural home and stay sane. I wholeheartedly look forward to the second of this four volume set.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I found this disappointing after all the hype and won't be reading the others. The story, such as it is, is very repetitive, and most of the characters under-developed and largely interchangeable. By the end I'd stopped caring which gangster Lila married, what grades Elena got for Latin or what happened to the Cerullos' tedious shoe making business.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The book starts:"This morning Rino telephoned. I thought he wanted money again and I was ready to say no. But that was not the reason for the phone call: his mother was gone."Since when?""Since two weeks ago."That set the tone for me. I personally would have slashed both "sinces" from existence. Who in English says "since two weeks ago"?I also would have slashed much of the character Elena's internal musings and vacillations, I don't need that much detail of the inner workings of a teenage girl's mind, really, I don't.It was fascinating to read of a certain time in recent Italian history, and to have glimpses of the close knit community and their ways of being. But when you're at page 75 and are still wondering when you're going to be drawn into the story, there probably isn't much likelihood that the star rating is going to be a 5.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I feel like I'm missing something. I've heard a lot about Elena Ferrante's books, and they really sounded like something I'd enjoy. Halfway through My Brilliant Friend, I finally gave up. Sooooo much detail about mundane things, unsympathetic characters. Glad I bought the books at a library book sale instead of paying full price - they will be donated for next year's sale!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ferrange does an excellent job of depicting the complexities of friendship between women, although in this book 1, Elena and Lila are jus girls. I equally enjoyed the surrounding kaleidoscope of parents, siblings, boys, girls, teachers, shoes and schoo. Looking forward to book 2.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This year's TOB continues to inform and haunt my reading year like a bad community theater version of Jacob Marley. Those [Who Leave and Those Who Stay] was on the short list but I couldn't bring myself to read the third in a series without reading the first two books. After finally finishing Marlon James' Jamaican opus I really thought I would opt for a much easier book. Apparently not. That is not to say that this novel of two Neapolitan girls growing up in post war Naples is difficult; it's not. The writing is beautiful; the two main protagonists are fully developed characters as if drawn with an needle dipped in blood. The author fully evokes the time, the place and the mores and the writing really sings. Well worth the time and highly recommended. The fourth book is due out soon but I don't think I'll be ready for it until the end of the year; I have two more to go, but I need a break.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I alighted on this title from the LRB site where this novel received enthusiastic praise. In fact I struggled with it and had to make a really determined effort to read to the end. I have to say that I was pleased that I did because I felt it came together satisfactorily in the end. I guess it was too introspective for me... I would like to find out what happens in the next volume of the series but I'm not sure if I can summon up the effort to read it all.What I did like about it was the way the author uses the Neapolitan dialect , the Italian language and the languages that Elena learns: Latin and Greek, to make distinctions between characters and parts of the plot. The portrait of the tension in this southern Italian community also seemed true - it was very West Side storyish.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is fairly slow-paced, but if you like character studies it is wonderful. Elena and Lila are both fully realized; there's not a false note.

    I reread East of Eden a few months ago and found myself both more sympathetic to Cathy than I had been when I was younger and also frustrated by Steinbeck's one-note portrayal of her. Lila reminds me a bit of a less homicidal, more nuanced Cathy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wanted to love this more than I did. It's not a bad book, it just didn't grab my attention enough. It felt like it was trying too hard. It's the story of the childhood and adolescence of two girls, Elena and Lila, who grow up in a village outside Naples. They become friends through a weird courtship of rivalry, with Lila the stronger character and Elena the one always trying to win Lila's respect. Their lives take different paths, but they never lose sight of each other. It's a straightforward tale of growing up in a small community and having ambitions centred on leaving. I didn't care very much for either character. I found them a bit dispassionately described. As a result, I don't feel compelled to read the next in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    at balls of fire I think I'm reading a book that includes a sub plot to The Godfather. these macho men have way too much testosterone. patriarch society in every way. Drama queen invented in 1958 in Naples by the brother of Lina.what a contrast between the two young adolescents in this coming of age story set in Italy post WWII to the two adolescents in my favorite book (when I was that age a decade later ) The World of Henry Orient. Culture is the difference.I look forward to the next book in this series of two friends and the journey of their friendship together.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "I took it for granted that her fate would be better than mine...I felt I was a shadow. I wept in despair"By sally tarbox on 26 December 2016Format: Kindle EditionI absolutely got caught up in this novel set in the working class back streets of 1950s Naples. Narrated by Elena, a girl whose parents grudgingly allowed her to pursue her education, she remembers her childhood and teen years, always in the company of sparkling, sharp, unpredictable Lila. From youthful adventures, running away from home, climbing up the stairs of the local much-feared Mafioso, through to adolescence, when their ways diverge when the intelligent Lila is forced to quit school.And then come romance and plans for the future, always against a backdrop of feuds and violence, protective parents and older brothers, madness and love. And the semi-jealousy that besets the narrator - is Lila's life turning out more successful than her own?As the end of this volume comes, you just want to know what happened next. Have ordered the other volumes from library already!Great read and emphatically not soppy chick-lit - the author brings the characters' feelings and personalities to life
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not really my thing. Too many characters, referred to by their too-similar names, doing too little of interest. Two girls grow up. So?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This series has gotten so much hype, perhaps it's inevitable that I was disappointed. The author does a decent job of transporting the reader back to Naples in the 1950's and the postwar devastation. However the story of the friendship between the two girls was more treachery than friendship. The narrator seems to recognize this and it made me wonder why she kept going back for more mistreatment by this "friend". I thought a better title would have been My Brilliant Frenemy.I won't be reading the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am very happy that My Brilliant Friend is just the first book in Elena Ferrante's trilogy about two girls from Naples, Italy. Lena and Lila live in the same building, and first encounter each other as small girls. Lila is skinny, fearless and fiercely intelligent and the more ordinary Lena is challenged to keep up with her, first in acts of daring, then in excelling at school. But Lena's life, despite being the oldest daughter of a porter, is easier than Lila's, the daughter of a cobbler. Lena is allowed to continue beyond elementary school, while Lila stays home to help her mother and in her father's workshop. Lila never stops planning and dreaming of more and it's her determination that fuels Lena, until events conspire to take away Lila's hope as well. This trilogy has been described as an Italian soap opera, and it is that, set in a colorful working class neighborhood where feuds between families are common and finances hang on shoestrings. Both Lena and Lila are wonderful characters and I'm eager to see what happens next in their story.