09 August 2024
My Brilliant Friend Review | Best Book Of The 21st Century?
Reviewed by: Melissa Ng
Quick Facts
Book Publication Date: 19 October 2011
How I Read It: eBook on indyreads - borrowed from my local library
Where You Can Find My Brilliant Friend: Amazon Australia* | Kobo Canada*
Content & Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault, mild coarse language, spice is described lightly, young marriage
My Brilliant Friend Book Review
My Brilliant Friend is the first of four books in The Neapolitan Novels*. A series that follows the relationship between two friends, Elena and Lila, from childhood to old age. It’s an intense relationship that teeters between love and hate, friendship and rivalry.
At the beginning of the book, Elena receives a phone call from the son of her old friend, Lila. He says his mother has disappeared, leaving no trace. Elena has seen this before, it sounds like classic Lila behaviour, and begins documenting their friendship from when they first met.
Their story starts in 1950s Naples, living in an impoverished neighbourhood where violence is a part of everyday life.
Even as six-year-olds, there’s a strange competitiveness to their friendship. Lila is exceptionally smart and reads at a much higher level than her age. And so, a small rivalry begins to form as Elena tries to keep up.
Elena proves herself to be equally as brilliant as her friend, continuing her education into high school. Lila on the other hand, is forced to stop school, as her father believes it’s too expensive, and begins working in the family shoe store.
The back-and-forth nature of their bond is a constant in their life. One day they’re best of friends getting up to trouble, the next, their almost acquaintances with little in common.
The book follows a 10-year period from the age of six to 16, and ends with the wedding of one of the girls.
The novel recently took out first place in the New York Times’ 100 Best Books Of The 21st Century (as voted on my 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics, and other book lovers). In the version voted on by readers, it ranked number eight.
This number one ranking was surprising and not at the same time.
I do think My Brilliant Friend is beautifully written. It would certainly appeal to literary types and people who just love beautiful writing in general.
As a book lover myself, I really enjoyed how Ferrante described Lila’s love and fascination with reading. Here are some of my favourite quotes:
Speaking about the book, Little Women:
We read it for months, so many times that the book became tattered and sweat-stained, it lost its spine, came unthreaded, sections fell apart. But it was our book, we loved it dearly.
Speaking about the library:
The library was a great resource for her. As we talked, she showed me proudly all the cards she had, four: one her own, one in Rino’s name, one for her father, and one for her mother. With each she borrowed a book, so she could get four at once. She devoured them, and the following Sunday she brought them back and took four more.
Now, Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym. Her identity is a secret and not much is known about her. I think this also adds to the allure of this novel and series. So, a book that’s beautifully written and has a mysterious author is surely going to rank high on the list of the best books.
For me, I wouldn’t have ranked it number one as it didn’t quite live up to the hype.
I found some parts of the book to be quite slow with no real progress in the plot. At times, it felt more of a character assessment than a plot driven read.
Maybe it’s because the story follows children and teenagers, and I just don’t connect to that anymore as a 35 year old woman.
Or maybe it’s because I found the timeline a bit hard to follow. The story doesn’t include that many references to the year or the character’s age, so it’s hard to imagine how old the girls are at time.
Nevertheless, Elena sometimes comes off as an obsessed friend and I found that quite difficult and unlikeable to read.
So, for me, this ended up as a three star read. It was just ok.
I am going to continue with the next book as I’ve heard that other books in the series are better.
P.S. Is it just me, or does everyone else talk in a thick Italian accent in their head when they read My Brilliant Friend?
Prefer to watch rather than read? Lucky for you, The Neapolitan Novels have been adapted into a TV series. Each season follows one book and at the time of writing, 3 seasons have been released. In Australia, you can watch it on SBS On Demand.
My Brilliant Friend Book Club Questions
- Do you agree that this is the best book of the 21st century?
- Do you think Elena and Lila would have had the same relationship if they were born today?
- Why do you think the girls had this underlying rivalry?
- Why do you think the girls remain friends (on and off) throughout their lives?
- Do you think the book would change if it was told from Lila’s point of view? If so, how?
- If you were Lila, would you have chosen Marcello or Stefano?
- Do you think Lila’s life would be different if she had been able to continue school?
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