Reviews

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

coolbritanja's review against another edition

1.0

My Brilliant Disappointment, more like. I ended up skimming the last 50 pages, I so did not care what happened. I usually love coming-of-age stories and stories of female friendships, but this one just bored me. The writing wasn't anything exceptional, the story was dull ("And then I studied some more. And I got some more good grades. But all the boys love Lila because I'm ugly." Bla bla bla.) I probably wouldn't have been as angry (okay, a bit of a harsh word...I'm exaggerating slightly) about the time wasted reading this book had it not come so incredibly highly recommended by multiple people.

nataliennina's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

imma kill every guy in this book 

hlee518's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

svinc038's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

euonym's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

icialfi's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

henrikyoung's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

alex_the_first's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

cristinafm's review against another edition

reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

alice_nicole's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I like reading about life in Italy in those ages, settling back into what was and is our culture, the first section was more intriguing than the ending, which seemed a bit flat. The narration at points felt uninterested and at times it felt slightly boring
Nonetheless, a good read