As much as we might want to be able to pay attention to and read All The Books, it is pretty much impossible and some titles just fall by the wayside. I feel like this is what happened to me with Elena Ferrante. Not until the final book in her Neapolitan novels came out did I actually pay attention. And then all I paid attention to was that people loved them and they were really good and no one knows who Elena Ferrante is. In this day and age that Ferrante remains anonymous after such great success is nothing short of miraculous. But what about the books? Ok, I’ll bite.
My turn for My Brilliant Friend finally came up at the library. Because I have not been paying attention, I had no idea what the book ,or even the whole series, is about. It is a relaitvely uncommon occurrence these days that I don’t at least know a little bit about a book before I start reading it and I must admit, it was kind of exciting leaping into the proverbial dark.
My Brilliant Friend is set in a working class neighborhood of postwar Naples, Italy. It is the kind of neighbordhood where everyone knows everybody and knows their business too, in which violence is not uncommon, in which owning a car means you are rich. It is the 1950s and the teenagers know some of the adults did not conduct themselves with honor during the war, committed crimes and made money in dubious ways. Boys are expected to work in the family business and girls are to work there too until they find a husband and preferably one that can help the family along in some way both monetarily and socially.
It is in this world that the teenage Elena and Lila become friends. Both girls are smart and do extremely well in school. For the beautiful Lila it seems to come easy. Her sly smile and willingness to devastate all comers with such nonchalant ease in academic competitions does not win her any friends. Nonetheless, the boys at least, can’t help but all fall in love with her.
Elena is not especially pretty but she is as smart as Lila only she has to work hard for it. She is highly competitive and her desire to get as much praise from the teachers as Lila does drives her. Lila is her reason for doing well in school, her reason for wanting a boyfriend, her reason for taking any kind of risk to which she would otherwise be averse.
At this time, working class girls didn’t generally go to high school. A test was requuired and money and since they were only going to get married and have babies anyway, there was no point in wasting that money on further educating them. But the teachers have a talk with the parents of Lila and Elena, impressing on them that their academic talent could take them far. Lila’s parents refuse, demading she go to work in the family shoemaking business. Elena’s parents decide to give her a a chance. She has a year to prove herself and if she does well she can keep going, if not, she has to get a job.
Two brilliant girls, one is allowed an education and the other is forced to follow the traditional female path. We see Lila struggle to not be like other girls, to make the most of it, to use her brains to as much advantage as she can in her severely limited sphere. We watch as Elena blossoms into a topnotch student basking in the praises of her teachers and the envy of all the other students. But in spite of her academic success she struggles with jealousy as she sees Lila being courted by the boys of the wealthier families in the neighborhood. From Elena’s perspective it appears that no matter what Lila does, she is the best at it and gets what she wants.
The reader, however, knows Lila’s life is not easy, that she sacrifices a lot for what appears to be success to Elena. We also know that no matter how smart and beautiful she is, as a woman she has no power, something that is made quite clear at her wedding near the end of the book.
The story is told from Elena’s point of view which limits and colors what we know and see of everyone. Elena is not an unreliable narrator, but by the end of the novel she is only sixteen and while smart, there is much she does not know or understand. But the book begins with Elena and Lila aged sixty-six. Elena gets a phone call from Lila’s son to tell her that Lila is missing. Instead of inspiring worry, this makes Elena angry and spurs her on to write the story that follows. But the book’s conclusion does not bring us back to the start of the novel, we are left to wonder what happened to Lila and how did she go from such a brilliant beginning to disappearing. I look forward to finding out but it will be at least a month or two before my turn for the second book comes around at the library. Ah, the delights of anticipation.
I just saw this article, about the Ferrante book covers, today: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/elena-ferrante-covers-bad-no-good/488732/ Also, have you heard that one critic believes the author is a man – he said that no female author would or could write about male/female relationships in that way – which of course set off quite the controversy.
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Valorie, thanks for that link, the article is really interesting. I’ve heard the theory about Ferrante being a man and I think that critic is full of baloney for various reasons.
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Agree!
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I’ve been reading the books in an Italian-American book club with older women, most of them from Sicily or with parents from Sicily. Fascinating to hear their experiences were much like what Ferrante portrays, although certainly Naples has always been a world unto its own. My dad was Sicilian so I can relate to some of it.
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That is all so cool. It must really enhance the experience.
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Hahaha, your 1st paragraph totally describes my experience with Elena Ferrante and her novels. Because of all the good things I’ve heard of it, I finally gave in and read it….I stopped at around the 2nd chapter. Not that I didn’t like it, but it just didn’t grip me, and I was a bit disappointed with it. I got distracted with another book, but I’ll get back to My Brilliant Friend later….maybe 😜
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misanthropologist, I can see why you would stop around the 2nd chapter, it doesn’t get off to a fast start and overall it isn’t a fast moving book. It is an intense examination of friendship though and it had some resonance for me because around the same age as the characters I had a friend and the two of us were top in our class and constantly competing against each other. If you return to the book, I hope you like it!
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ME, too!! I started on audio and REALLY thought the narrator captured all the tension and drama, but… got distracted and now I really don’t want to go back to it. I think I will have to start over and I hate doing that… Hmmmmmm
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I have been holding off on reading this one because I am kind of scared that after so much of hype, I will feel a let drown! But your review has me on-borded and I am off to buy the book! 😀
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Your blog is the first place I’d heard of this phenomena! From your review its easy to see why the books have found a following and I might give it a go if I see a copy.
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Ian, how did you manage to avoid the hype? In some ways I envy you that. Should you decide to give the book a go, I hope you enjoy it!
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cirtnecce, I hope the purchase ends up being worthwhile!
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I haven’t read Elena Ferrante. In the blurbs she’s compared to Tolstoy and Jane Austen, what do you think?
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Di, well I’ve only read the one book so based on that one book I’d say she is not much like either though I can see why the comparisons. Jane Austen and the domestic and Tolstoy and the big family/social drama and in that regard, yes. But in terms of the writing itself, not even close.
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I’ve read a good deal about Ferrante but not actually read her work (like you, waiting for the furore to die down). To be honest, your review has given me the best insight into the book so far – everyone else seems to find it difficult to actually write about what happens in it, the atmosphere of it, etc. Usually the focus is on, as you say, Ferrante’s anonymity, and the fact that she writes about “female friendship”, but people tend not to be more specific.
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Elle, I can understand why everyone seems to have a hard time writing about the book because it is full of stuff and the brilliance of it is that is all just part of the fabric of the story from the dirty money to the violence to the expectations for girls to the class differences, etc. It is easy to talk about the friendship because all the elements are focused there. I am looking forward to the next book to see where she takes it all.
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the more I heard about this series and the more I saw it everywhere I looked, the more I was determined not to read it. Sometimes my aversion to the really popular though can mean I miss out on the good things. Now I’ve read your reactions I might after all have to succumb
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BookerTalk, I hear you, I tend to be the same way but I am glad I ignored the buzz and read it because it turned out to be worthwhile. If you decide to give it a try, I hope you like it!
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Your review convinced me I need to get on the Ferrante bandwagon. I moved My Brilliant Friend to the top of my list. It sounds like exactly what I need to liven up my summer reading.
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Carol, ooooh! I hope you like it!
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Great review. I haven’t read any Ferrante because of the hype and because I’m so picky about literary fiction, but I probably will read her books at some point. I am fascinated by the mystery of her identity. In our age of reality-TV and Internet stars–where it seems everyone is vying for attention–it’s refreshing to see someone who isn’t seeking it.
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AMB, at first I didn’t think I would bother about Ferrante but I am glad I changed my mind. The mystery of her identity is fascinating, isn’t it? Because it isn’t like these are her first books and she is a new writer, she has been publishing for quite some time.
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I’m also rather intrigued/delighted by the cover controversy. How can ‘quality’ books have such ‘low-end’ cover art!?!? I find it funny. We bring so much baggage/expectations/privilege? to our reactions we don’t even realize.
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Care, I had no idea about the cover controversy but while reading it I did spend a lot of time thinking how unattractive the cover was. It has an edginess to it because it looks like a bad photoshop job but it doesn’t tell me anything about the story and often made me shake my head over its ugliness. I didn’t once think, wow this looks like a chic-lit cover. I agree with you, there is a lot to our reactions we don’t realize.
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I haven’t jumped on the Ferrante bandwagon yet and it’s mainly that I keep getting distracted by other books but I really enjoyed your review of this and I think I would probably enjoy this. Another one for the list!
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Iliana, I hear you! so many distractions! Should you get a chance to read the book, I hope you enjoy it!
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I have really enjoyed this series so far – I’ve read the first three and for some reason have put off reading the last novel. (Maybe I don’t want them to end?)
They’ve got such a fierce quality of writing, such an interesting way of looking at friendships and male/female relationships. Part of the lure for me is also the time and place – I’ve read virtually nothing set in Italy before, especially not from an Italian perspective, and it’s so vibrantly written and different from my own experience. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the first one. I think the the next two are brilliant!
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Laila, funny you should call the writing fierce, I cam pretty close to doing that myself! I’ve read a few books by Italian writers and set in Italy but they have all been by men and nothing like Ferrante at all. So I am very much enjoying the different point of view. I am glad to hear the next two are brilliant. Book 2 is currently checked out at the library and it looks like I won’t get my turn for it until the end of September. Something to look forward to!
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This author has been on my radar in exactly the same way! I know of people reading them, I know of the mystique surrounding the author, I know they are supposed to be good – but I’ve never been compelled to pick them up. You have changed my mind completely!
PS – new blog – first post to come in mid-August – long story…
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Courtney! long time! Hope all is well. I look forward to your new blog. I very much enjoyed the first book so Ferrante is off to a good start. Should you decide to pick it up, I hope you like it!
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I’ve read them all and I got caught up in the whole Ferrante fever thing last summer, but I can’t say that I ever really rooted for any of the characters as I didn’t like them much! I actually thought the last book was the best.
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Nicola, I can’t say I like either Lila or Lena but I don’t dislike them either. But I don’t need to like them in order to like the story which I am finding really interesting. Glad to know you thought the last book was the best. Hopefully that means each one is better than the last! 🙂
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I read this a few weeks back and haven’t found time to write about it yet. I actually had a tougher time getting into this than Ferrante’s standalone novels, but I’m glad I pushed past the frame story in the “present”. I thought it interesting that it’s Lila who called Lena “my brilliant friend” yet we take the title to be Lena referring to Lila. Of course, they’re both brilliant in their own way. Every day I wake up hoping book 2 is up for me at the library– any day now.
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Isabella, yes I thought that was really interesting too that Lila called Lena her brilliant friend. Made me wonder who the book was really about. Hope you get book 2 soon, looks like I’ll be waiting about a month or so for my turn.
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Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 I remember you commenting on my review of it earlier in the year saying you weren’t sure. With hindsight I think what I loved most about the first book was the ferociousness of the detail, that almost pathological desire to recall the past. And the tension of anger and love that is at the centre of the girls’ friendship together; it’s so powerful and intense. Oooh I’m getting shivers just thinking about it.
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victoria, you aren’t supposed to remember that! 😉 I am glad I decided to read it. Oh, ferociousness of detail, I like that! An apt description. The tension of anger and love was fascinating and intense. I thought she did a wonderful job at capturing female friendship without being cliche or stereotypical. It felt authentic and yes, gave me shivers too.
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I think I must be the last person on earth to not have read this yet! I have it in my pile as you know. This summer…or maybe this fall. But this year! So glad you enjoyed it–that bodes well. I read one of her other novels–short but she packs a wallop of a punch in her stories!
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Danielle, I am sure you are not the last! Whenever you manage to get to it, I hope you like it. I think you will!
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