My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1) opens Goodreads in a new tab
Elena Ferrante
A modern masterpiece from Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein, and the first of the Neapolitan Novels. The story begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, where two girls, the fiery Lila and the bookish narrator Elena, learn to rely on each other. Following them from their first meeting as ten-year-olds through school and adolescence, Ferrante offers a meticulous portrait of two women and their friendship that is also the story of a neighborhood, a city and a country as it is transformed.
- ISBN
- 9781609450786
- Edition
- Penguin Random House
- Genre
- Literary Fiction
- Format
- Physical
- Pages
- 331
My thoughts
finished this one a while ago. and like i suspected all the hype surrounding it had already built up expectations to such an insane level that i was scared i wouldn’t end up liking it at all. and that’s kinda what happened. i waited so long to decide what rating to give this book, and eventually have settled on a generous 4 star. while i feel like some parts of the writing were so good, i had to put down the book to fully soak in the words- i did not however feel that greatly invested/connected to the characters to feel as deeply for them as everyone supposedly did- which lead to me not caring so much about how the story ended. however, i am hopeful that is gonna change when i read further books in the series and i think i am gonna end up liking those a lot more. for now, i just feel fomo to not have liked a beloved book like this one, as much as everyone else supposedly did.
We lend within Bangalore; elsewhere, we'll note your interest.