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A review by kell_xavi
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Poverty. School. Friendship. Shoes. Adolescence. Out of such well-known and simple concepts, Ferrante spins an intricate network of emotions, of characters that brings such lustre and clarity to her story. Set mainly in a poor neighbourhood in Naples, the author sets the scene of the novel with gossip about violence on her block, secret love affairs and condemned men, fraught domestic lives. She expands from here, into the alluring friendship between Lila and Lenu (Elena); they take us not outside the claustrophobia of the neighbourhood, but rather, deeply into fear and dominance, imagination, enriching conversation, jealousy and rivalry, and a bond between two people who know each other best.
Ferrante’s story is often quietly dramatic, matter-of-fact in its revelations. Even as the story increases in complexity (as does the setting, with prosperity in small stores, new cars, dating), Lenu and Lila remain the focus. Told in first person with Lenu as narrator, she explores Lila’s story alongside her own. Their growing up is very much together, the moments that are Lenu’s alone serving to tell us more about her ways of seeing, her experience and perspective—which then she brings to her friends.
The last chapters of the novel build towards a climax that we anticipate and fear alongside the two young women. Lila is somewhat changed, subdued, her stubbornness and creativity confined within her. Lenu observes, saddened, emboldened to leave and not be made small. Difficult conflicts ebb and flow, rushing hard and fast towards the girls with little warning. And right at the end, Ferrante gives us a sequence so expected and yet starling to the core. And there she leaves us.
The strongest work is this realist novel is emotional. The writing holds so much empathy for the characters, awareness of their needs, that what we feel is so close to their own warmths and chills. Lila, under Lenu’s constant gaze, grows from a harsh, daredevil child into an academic sensation into a hard-working, confident girl into a beauty, and page by page, we grow to understand her. Lenu is a softer, more predictable child, but she gains confidence as well, through hard work studying and taking care of those around her. By fifteen, I loved them both, felt proud of who they were becoming, and looked forward to seeing them through the series to its end.
Ferrante’s story is often quietly dramatic, matter-of-fact in its revelations. Even as the story increases in complexity (as does the setting, with prosperity in small stores, new cars, dating), Lenu and Lila remain the focus. Told in first person with Lenu as narrator, she explores Lila’s story alongside her own. Their growing up is very much together, the moments that are Lenu’s alone serving to tell us more about her ways of seeing, her experience and perspective—which then she brings to her friends.
The last chapters of the novel build towards a climax that we anticipate and fear alongside the two young women. Lila is somewhat changed, subdued, her stubbornness and creativity confined within her. Lenu observes, saddened, emboldened to leave and not be made small. Difficult conflicts ebb and flow, rushing hard and fast towards the girls with little warning. And right at the end, Ferrante gives us a sequence so expected and yet starling to the core. And there she leaves us.
The strongest work is this realist novel is emotional. The writing holds so much empathy for the characters, awareness of their needs, that what we feel is so close to their own warmths and chills. Lila, under Lenu’s constant gaze, grows from a harsh, daredevil child into an academic sensation into a hard-working, confident girl into a beauty, and page by page, we grow to understand her. Lenu is a softer, more predictable child, but she gains confidence as well, through hard work studying and taking care of those around her. By fifteen, I loved them both, felt proud of who they were becoming, and looked forward to seeing them through the series to its end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual assault