My Brilliant Friend

I don’t know why people love this book so much–it is possibly one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. I really, really tried, and got to 56% before I gave up. The language is pedestrian, the characters are not captivating at all, and it was difficult keeping everyone straight because they all seem to have at least two names. The trailer for the new tv show looks great, though, so I’ll be checking that out to see if I can get into the story that way.

Much has been written about the Neapolitan novels, so I would just like to add that I have been completely absorbed by the books (I am now reading the third), in which Elena Ferrante relentlessly explores all aspects of the friendship between Linu and Lila (and sets it against the background of Napoli in the restless sixties) demonstrating that we are shaped by those surrounding us as well as by the surroundings themselves. I am an avid reader and usually do not go for bestsellers, so these books took me by surprise; I have passionately loved many books but only few affected me the way these are affecting me. They make me look back at choices I made, at the different twists and turns my life took and see that they were influenced by seemingly irrelevant factors, that were I to describe them in the same minute detail as Elena Ferrante described Linu’s and Lila’s lives, they would produce and interesting novel, as would the lives of anybody else.

I was enthusiastic to read this book, knowing how popular it has become. I was eager to finish it once I started it, mostly to be done with it. It left me feeling drained, like listening to a friend that drones on and on about the minutiae of their life. You want to be interested, but it’s just so damn tedious and depressing. I won’t be reading the rest of the series.

Wow! I knew she was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize but I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did. l couldn’t put it down. The story is simple – we are shown the childhood and adolescence of two friends – but it is richly narrated. The characters feel real, their portrayal intimate. The book is beautifully written but also a page turner and easy read. The author’s storytelling is vivid and textured in bringing to life their small, poor neighborhood in Naples in the 1950s. I somehow feel like I know the area and period after reading this. The book feels as much as about the neighborhood, class and poverty, as it does about the individual struggles of it’s main characters to break free of it. It is also an emotional exploration of their vulnerabilities and maturation that somehow captures something very relatable. I think you’ll love it! Had I read this before Christmas I would have gifted to everyone. Now off to read the second book…

I really wanted to love this book but it’s anti-climactic and lacking a really substantive plot. I read the book in two days and now I’m left wondering what exactly it was about beyond the life of two poor Neapolitan girls. I wanted the end to have something groundbreaking – some deep philosophy or mind blowing conclusion, but I was sadly disappointed. The voice of the author is good, but the story line lacks. Maybe I didn’t get it as intended. Either way, it was fairly boring.

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