Soon to be 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 … 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.
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One of the best series I’ve read! The characters certa8bky didn’t behave as I would have expected. Gave me a different, yet realistic picture of life in the 40s and 50’s in Naples.
Everyone says the writing in this story is brilliant – and in ways, it really is. Her color and emotional phrases and storytelling talents are superb. And the book is readable! Flipping the pages is a pleasant journey.
The only problem – and hey, this is strictly me; people who like the story aren’t “wrong” – is that I just found other stories more interesting. On my Kindle, I kept tabbing over to the other books in my current queue and getting immersed in them instead. Somehow for me, the overall tale just was not very compelling. Life as a 14-year-old has a lot of attendant angst. I wish I cared more, but I honestly didn’t.
I was unbelievably bored buy this book. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Mostly it was because I didn’t like any of the characters and couldn’t identify with any of them. There were no heroines they were only villains and people to feel sorry for. It was uninspiring and labored on details that went nowhere. I don’t recommend this book.
Not sure what the fuss is about. I found this slow and predictable.
I have three out the four books in this series and I’m now on book two, My Brilliant Friend being book one. I was hoping these books would elicit a five star rating because of all the hype–the author would not reveal her true identity–but the writing and story do not have a compelling aspect. However, it rates a three star because the series gives some insight into what it means to be an Italian from Naples, family expectations, and friendship. Originally written in Italian, the translation sometimes is underwhelming. I wish I had not bought the other books before I had read the first one.
I expected to love this book, but I didn’t. It was brutal, sad, and depressing. There is not a drop of joy in it. Italian neorealism is not for me.
Couldn’t finish it, was disgusted by the way the narrator continued to allow herself to be bullied