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A review by teresatumminello
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
4.0
I read somewhere that the author of these so-called Neapolitan novels thinks of them as one novel. So perhaps I will wait to assign stars until I have read the whole series, or maybe I will change my mind by the time I finish writing this. Certainly any stars would number 4 or 5.
Ferrante’s writing has a way of dredging up latent emotions that live in the bones. Here, they arise from the complexity and intensity of a competitive, though simpatica, childhood friendship. The narrator is so intense that some may find her overwrought at times, but as I'm writing this I'm reminded of the character of Jane Eyre.
The struggles of feeling different from the close-knit, dangerous community the girls live in are set out early on, and their acting on this difference (with help from a teacher) causes jealousy and anxiety in both peers and parents. Flight is not a choice yet; accommodation is hard, and perhaps not desirable, for the adolescents. Inevitably, the friends’ paths diverge.
In the prologue the narrator is 66 years old. By the end of this volume, which starts when she is about four or five, she is 16. We still have a long way to go and I’m ready to continue following her, now.
*
After finishing the above, I let my review sit for a while as if posting it implies that I am done, and I am far from done.
4.5 (My cop-out for not making a real decision.)
Ferrante’s writing has a way of dredging up latent emotions that live in the bones. Here, they arise from the complexity and intensity of a competitive, though simpatica, childhood friendship. The narrator is so intense that some may find her overwrought at times, but as I'm writing this I'm reminded of the character of Jane Eyre.
The struggles of feeling different from the close-knit, dangerous community the girls live in are set out early on, and their acting on this difference (with help from a teacher) causes jealousy and anxiety in both peers and parents. Flight is not a choice yet; accommodation is hard, and perhaps not desirable, for the adolescents. Inevitably, the friends’ paths diverge.
In the prologue the narrator is 66 years old. By the end of this volume, which starts when she is about four or five, she is 16. We still have a long way to go and I’m ready to continue following her, now.
*
After finishing the above, I let my review sit for a while as if posting it implies that I am done, and I am far from done.
4.5 (My cop-out for not making a real decision.)