Hi everyone,
Apologies in advance for what is probably going to be a long post, but as I don't know anyone irl who's read or is currently reading Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend saga, I thought I'd just come here and express just how much these works have raptured me these past few weeks. I'm not good at putting my passion for these works into words either, so excuse me for rambling etc.
I first came across Ferrante (and subsequently the Neapolitan saga) years ago by recommendation of an Italian friend who had read them all and was freaking out about how brilliant (ba dum tss) they were. Curious, I picked up the first one but for some reason it just ended up in my shelf gathering dust for years.
Until a week ago.
I don't know what it was, perhaps just feeling the need for a long-term reading project, but I decided it was time to confront the first one in the saga – and fuck. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.. There is so much here that is so gorgeous, so important, so complex. Firstly, Ferrante's writing style, even when translated (I'm reading it in Portuguese) has something so precious about it, and her way of describing memories is so deeply personal to her and her characters while simultaneously being so universal. I'm a guy born in the early 2000s in Portugal, and yet some feelings described in this book centred on two girls growing up in 1950s Napoli have touched my heart and made me feel like a kid again for the first time in ages. Stuff so simple as smelling mother's cooking at the end of the day and knowing you still have a while to play / mess around before she calls you to dinner is just indescribably moving to me. This first book in the saga has been so interesting in so many senses – not just because of its expertly written plot but how it connects to your own childhood experiences regardless of your connection to its setting and cast.
But the plot itself is something I did not see coming. It is so elegantly crafted, the ties between everyone in that neighbourhood so well-weaved and the story moving so incessantly that at times I almost wished I could freeze time and learn more about all these fascinating people before things changed so dramatically again. There is so much emotion, so much intrigue and so much (well-written and well-used) physical and emotional violence that it astounds you how all this originated from such a simple premise. Ferrante doesn't shy one bit in her exposition of the female experience either, something which I think makes this such a crucial read for people like me – who may be aware but have never experienced, nor will ever experience, the burdens and horrors that women confront everyday.
In short – My Brilliant Friend has messed my emotions up like I didn't expect it to when I first picked it up. I am floored and absolutely in love with Ferrante's work and I just can't wait to be shattered three more times in the rest of the saga (the worst part is regardless of how "good" or "bad" all these characters are, I've already grown attached to them and seeing them all age and slowly phase out will definitely be the end of me)
History of a New Name, here I go!
by MenitoBussolini
21 Comments
Great book/ series. I totally agree with you. I got drawn into these books quickly. The characters were all complex, compelling and well developed.
Agree! I read all 4 in the series within a month, I think.
Also the mystery of who is Elena Ferrante adds to the fun!
I’m reading My Brilliant Friend right now and it’s the most captivating book I’ve read in a long time!
It was recommended by The Atlantic, and I read the series, reserved from our local library.
The tv series is great too. The characters who play Lila and Paul are well cast, but the Solera brothers are prrfecto. And the Napoli area brings the book setting to reality.
I’m on the third book of the series, and I too am captivated. The rest of the books are just as good. I found the series through a friend, who gifted me the first book, bless her heart.
I recommend the TV show, it’s one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen.
Yes you absolutely have to keep going. It just keeps getting better and better. I love how authentically Ferrante captures the experience of female friendships. There’s so much love and also so much jealousy from the inherent competition for resources that comes from being a woman seeking to break into male dominated spaces. Most media only portrays one side or the other. Women are either supposed to be catty bitches or angelic, but in these books the characters are fully realized and fully human. These books have thrilled me in a way I haven’t been in a long time
The whole Napolitain series is just fantastic – I am so glad that you’ve enjoyed My Brilliant Friend!
I totally agree. I first read MBF a few years ago and quickly devoured the other 3 in the quartet. The wonderful thing I have found also is that you can return to the books time and time again and notice something new – either a turn of phrase or something about a character – that sheds new light. I’m not usually a re-reader of books but this series merits an exception. So good and glad you’re enjoying them!
It’s my favourite series of all time ❤️
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it. I absolutely adored these books and was floored by the ending of MBF too. It only gets better!! Especially in terms of importance. I am so looking forward to hearing what you think of the rest
History of a New Name picks up right where MBF left off too. The series is like one continuous stream of consciousness until you get to the 4th book where there are some large jumps in time. Even so it’s done nicely without jarring you into a new time frame.
My favorite work of hers is Days of Abandonment! She’s a truly talented author
Yes, so wonderful! The sense of place is like you are there. I looked up a lot of maps of the area. It is quite different now, but fun to see anyway
Never felt so many emotions at such high levels ever as while reading my brilliant friend.
Ive been meaning to start this but I gave in and started binging the HBO adaptation instead and it’s amazing… hopefully by this summer’s end…
I found it incredibly underwhelming after all the hype, and a massive struggle to finish. It might have been the translation, which was riddled with Americanisms throughout, and didn’t feel remotely Italian and could have been set anywhere. Didn’t get any sense of time or place, I was expecting to really feel the sights, sounds and smells of Napoli to come leaping off the page, but it just didn’t. The clichéd Italian family dynamic and feuds felt quite Romeo & Juliet, but with no real menace or threat.
it took me like 4ish months to read the whole series. it was so engrossing and i felt totally devastated/relieved/bruised when it was over. it was so realistic and heartbreaking. it doesn’t feel like a book series to me, it feels like real people in this really upsetting way if that makes sense???
My mother in law purchased this book for me as I had recently returned from a trip to Naples so she thought I would enjoy it.
I really, really took against the book, the story and the writing. Maybe in the original translation in Italian it’s beautiful, but I struggled so much with it translated into English and felt so many sentences didn’t make sense. I was really disappointed in how much I disliked it when everyone around me seems transfixed. I have gone on to read the whole quartet but I just cannot take to any of the characters or the storylines themselves. I wish it was different. I wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me.
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I usually detest the adaptations of books onto the screen as the story never translates and the magic never captured, but I have to admit in this instance, the HBO version wins out for me.
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I feel like I have failed!
This was the best series I’ve ever read
Watch the show. You’ll like it. Liz will LOVE IT!