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A review by yak_attak
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
5.0
Elena Ferrante writes with an exquisite poignancy, fully inhabiting the fictional Elena as adult, child, and teenager. The text draws you in, the characters come alive, vivid and compelling and you're just instantly drawn to want to know more. The story itself could be told in a handful of sentences, this entry at least is a coming of age story focused on young women in southern Italy... but my god the depth of detail is endless.
The first person narrative, told to you about the character's youth looking back is a strong lens, giving our protagonist both a charming, knowing wisdom, but also a skewed view of her own foibles - not "untrustworthy" really, but... human. Class is an endless ruler that sizes up and measures everyone and all their actions throughout, casting light and assumptions on who can and should do certain things, on the brightness or lack thereof of their future, and especially then how that interacts with a child's view.
Poverty, anger and violence that spring from it - and above all else, though this is deeply about two girls who grow up as friends, the friendship is so nuanced, complex, almost combative throughout much of the story. You almost wonder how they remain friends, so drawn to each other, when at every moment it's clear they're measuring their own insecurities and faults through their friend's actions (or non-actions, bodies are too, a very present theme). It's all so.... real, complicated, messy, and beautiful for it.
Throw that all together in a read this compelling, and My Brilliant Friend is, well, Brilliant.
The first person narrative, told to you about the character's youth looking back is a strong lens, giving our protagonist both a charming, knowing wisdom, but also a skewed view of her own foibles - not "untrustworthy" really, but... human. Class is an endless ruler that sizes up and measures everyone and all their actions throughout, casting light and assumptions on who can and should do certain things, on the brightness or lack thereof of their future, and especially then how that interacts with a child's view.
Poverty, anger and violence that spring from it - and above all else, though this is deeply about two girls who grow up as friends, the friendship is so nuanced, complex, almost combative throughout much of the story. You almost wonder how they remain friends, so drawn to each other, when at every moment it's clear they're measuring their own insecurities and faults through their friend's actions (or non-actions, bodies are too, a very present theme). It's all so.... real, complicated, messy, and beautiful for it.
Throw that all together in a read this compelling, and My Brilliant Friend is, well, Brilliant.