A review by porgyreads
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

5.0

I did not expect to read 98% of this novel in one day lmfaooooo come and see real literature. 

“There, amid the violent explosions, in the cold, in the smoke that burned the nostrils and the strong odor of sulfur, something violated the organic structure of her brother, exercising over him a pressure so strong that it broke down his outlines, and the matter expanded like a magma, showing her what he was truly made of.”

The concept of dissolving margins with stay with me for a very long time. And the way that EF writes about the body? The psychosomatic landscape built out to attribute a heightened sense of every feeling in both Elena and Lila???? [explosion] [gunshot] [fireworks]

The entirety of their relationship can be summarised by that single line during Lilas wedding when she refers to Elena as her brilliant friend whilst all the while, from the moment the two are introduced, in our minds Lila is the brilliant friend. And the way they see each other and fail to see each other is (of course!!!) the inviolable strength of the novel.