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My Brilliant Friend
Sep. 7th, 2025 07:58 pmI picked up My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante at my local station free book exchange and was prompted to read it (some months later) by then picking up the other three in the series, all together, a few days ago.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book - it's about two women who live in the same small neighbourhood of Naples and meet around the age of five of six (in the late 1940s). It supposedly tells the history of their great friendship over the course of their lives (the prologue is set around 2010 when they're both 66) - but they're both only 16 at the end of the book, and I wouldn't say they've ever really been friends...
I assume the other three books in the series continue the story, to bring it eventually back to where this one starts - and I'm definitely invested enough in the story and all the multifarious characters to want to read on.
But Elena, the narrator (interesting that she shares her name with the author), is very much that - the narrator. The book centres almost entirely around the other girl, Lila, since Elena is basically obsessed with her and largely subsumes herself to Lila's influence and control. During the periods when she's away from Lila, she attaches herself to other people instead, so really has very little character of her own.
Initially, the book is quite confusing because it tells things anecdotally and out of order, as if it's someone telling their life story without planning it out first, and so jumps around in time a lot. It does settle down into a more linear narrative after about 70 pages, which I was grateful for, but very little of note happens until about 100 pages from the end, at which point an awful lot happens in quick succession.
Before that point, I was thinking I'd give it a middling rating and not move on with the rest of the series - but it really picked up by the end and had me hooked. The writing is excellent throughout and it's all extremely well observed, with all the feuds and inter-relationships amongst all the families laid out in a very believable way.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book - it's about two women who live in the same small neighbourhood of Naples and meet around the age of five of six (in the late 1940s). It supposedly tells the history of their great friendship over the course of their lives (the prologue is set around 2010 when they're both 66) - but they're both only 16 at the end of the book, and I wouldn't say they've ever really been friends...
I assume the other three books in the series continue the story, to bring it eventually back to where this one starts - and I'm definitely invested enough in the story and all the multifarious characters to want to read on.
But Elena, the narrator (interesting that she shares her name with the author), is very much that - the narrator. The book centres almost entirely around the other girl, Lila, since Elena is basically obsessed with her and largely subsumes herself to Lila's influence and control. During the periods when she's away from Lila, she attaches herself to other people instead, so really has very little character of her own.
Initially, the book is quite confusing because it tells things anecdotally and out of order, as if it's someone telling their life story without planning it out first, and so jumps around in time a lot. It does settle down into a more linear narrative after about 70 pages, which I was grateful for, but very little of note happens until about 100 pages from the end, at which point an awful lot happens in quick succession.
Before that point, I was thinking I'd give it a middling rating and not move on with the rest of the series - but it really picked up by the end and had me hooked. The writing is excellent throughout and it's all extremely well observed, with all the feuds and inter-relationships amongst all the families laid out in a very believable way.
