Reviews

3 ⭐️ can’t overstate how absolutely insufferable the characters are. probably the worst people i’ve ever read about in my life, which in its own special way is a compliment. it’s a “story about friendship” in the exact same way as colleen hoover books are “romance”. some plot points kept my attention well, some conclusions and revelations brought me satisfaction, but the pacing was very inconsistent.

not being able to abandon series i’ve started is my fatal flaw, so i’m glad to be finished with this. i might be missing something that so many people loved about this story. i probably am, but for me it was a miss.

saigealiya's review against another edition

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5.0

Lila & Elena should've fucked in like book 2 and they would've both been way happier

monazaneefer's review against another edition

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My Brilliant Friend - 4/5
The Story of a New Name - 4/5
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay - 1/5
The Story of the Lost Child - 2/5

Overall: 3/5

I would have honestly given the second book 3/5 but in comparison to the third book, which was terrible, the second book seemed so much better.

The second book focused way too much on romance and the insufferable Nino Sarratore - who from the beginning was such a bore and turned out to be a prick. It lacked the diverse themes which the first book delved into like poverty, sibling relationship, friendship, violence etc.

The third book...at first I thought I wasn’t enjoying it at as much because it was no longer a coming of age novel like the first two and became more domestic but I realised it had less to do with that. It was because it started focusing on Lenu - who surrounds herself with pretentious and terribly dull characters. We exchanged characters like the childhood clique, the Solara brothers, for people like the Airortas, NINO, and whoever else?? Moreover, there was barely any Lila. So it made me realise that I would have surely enjoyed growing up with Lenu and Lila, beyond their twenties, thirties, forties, if it stuck to everything I initially liked about the series. And with Lenu’s decisions, she grew unlikeable, making me miss the other characters.

The fourth book was errr...I guess I gave it a higher rating than the third because of the inclusion of old, familiar characters and Nino was finally getting the hate he deserved. The death of the Solara brothers did come across as a shock, especially the suddenness of it. The image of Marcello trying to button his jacket after being shot has been stuck in my head since I finished the book yesterday. He still tried to carry some control, dignity even in those last few moments. I honestly would have liked if the author had them as primary characters throughout the series as opposed to somebody like Nino - whose storyline made the books seem like some cliched women’s romance novels. In the third and fourth books, the Solara brothers’ actions were reduced to reported accounts as opposed to real-time incidents.

I loved Lila throughout the series up until that scene when, in the fourth book, she’s speaking to Nino with poor Enzo next to her and Tina disappears. I mean...after all that time, after the wonderful inclusion of Enzo as a more consistent character...she’s still distracted by Nino. Like what even? Incredibly annoying turn to her character.

The fourth book overall was overly reflective and I think seemed too vague with a lack of concrete events and incidents.

But now, a day after I’ve finished the last book, their stories stay with me. There’s nostalgia when you’ve read about them until old age (and not just have it end when they’ve come of age at 20-25). I think the Solara brothers in their old age have stayed with me particularly from the secondary characters because I believe the author really did characterise them in their old age. Maybe other characters barely aged and were just extensions of their younger selves in my imagination because they didn’t change all that much. I mean, I love Enzo but he didn’t seem all that different throughout. Carmen and Antonio too. Stefano, yes, but then again he barely was central to the story anymore. But Michelle losing himself and then regaining his old vicious self, Marcello’s change in character (was it though?) and his marriage to Elsa. You see the change, making them grow old in your eyes.

I understand that sometimes childhood friendships don’t last but it would have been nice to see Lenu and Lila drifting apart through both their eyes. Like Lenu says, Lila does become evasive so we really don’t understand the way she thinks anymore, the reasoning behind her behaviour and actions. And sure, it’s deliberately done by the author but with all the other annoying deliberation, this could have been a sort of compensation.

Sigh. All in all, I wouldn’t say I hate the series, partly due to the fact that it, in essence, is one entire story as opposed to four segments. And I’d still look out for more similar books.

jessikeenan's review against another edition

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slow-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

5.0

sabdep's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

alexrich4's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

a beautiful if somewhat unsatisfying end. There were so many themes/concepts that fell into place here (the idea of self, time and the way things shift and disappear) but also a lot of threads that felt underdeveloped and not quite finalized for the amount of pages - namely drug use and the criminal element of the city as well as sexuality. Would have loved to have more closure with the plot line about Alfonso. But overall wow what a series.

kwalker314's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.5

what an end to the series. when i was about 70% through, it finally struck me that maybe i liked books 2 and 3 less than 1 (and this one) because books 2 and 3 took place when the main characters were around my age, and that is simply less interesting to me than reading from the perspective of characters far removed from my own stage in life. i did skim parts of this book in particular because the family drama, as realistically as it is portrayed, got... really old. i did love the developments with the characters (

seeing dede and elsa grow up into their own people felt so realistic and bittersweet, just as the first book's portrayal of elena and lila had been

).
i did feel that the issues of

homophobia and drug abuse

felt relatively unexplored for how early they were introduced in this book. they felt like they came out of left field and disappeared from the narration just as quickly. maybe there's something to unpack there but i would have liked to see the narrator explore those topics more as they were relatively proximate to her and i loved seeing her thoughts develop over time.
that said, if i could change one thing about the series, it would be to have fewer characters with names starting with "a" because i had such a hard time keeping them straight by the end!

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