Over all the weeks of reading different literature, I can confirm, at least for myself, that Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend” is the longest reading I have done for this course. The focus is mainly on the relationships among all the characters from the protagonist, Elena’s point of view. The theme(s) are oriented on the social aspects of experiencing life and growing up as a woman from childhood. The writing level is not very far from that of reading the Harry Potter series, as everything can be picked up very straight forward. To no surprise, I find the dialogue to be rich and quite saturated with its authenticity of being involved with the chronology of events that children are so accustomed to share with others. There is also some irony at the fact that, we as readers, do not know the situations with all the other characters and we are only left with some free-flowing information through the first person narrative of the child Elena, as she gives her account of the old days.
The relationship that Elena has with her best friend Lila since childhood is a very complex dichotomy of struggle, curiosity-driven fear-fueled adrenalin, and relentless competition, but also with a long-term satisfaction because Elena would be nothing without her. Elena and Lila have many extravagant and memorable adventures, as they take pleasure in each others’ company. Despite the fact that they are close friends, I still like how Lila is sometimes inaccessible to the reader through Elena, which makes her the most 3-dimensional character in this novel because she is witty enough, or maybe even oblivious enough, to hide her motives, which is another example for Elena’s suspicions and uneasiness around her. As a child, Elena does not exactly know what having a friend is like and so she constantly feels on and off with Lila, but what she did not realize until her adulthood is that Lila has always pushed Elena to be the greatest version of herself. Lila is like Elena’s chess opponent because she teaches her how to become a better chess player by exposing herself to her, which subconsciously helps her climb the ladder of her own personal decision making and supports the framework for looking at the world from a wider perspective.
One question I would have from reading this Neapolitan novel is: What would Elena have changed about her childhood if she had the chance to go back to relive that moment and why?
Thanks for your post, David.
It is true that the book is long but also fast-reading. You are also right when you state that Lila is accessible through Elena’s writing, but it is also true that we will never know her point of view.
I liked the idea of opponents in a chess game. Their lives are interrelated, but both lead different paths in their lives. We can discuss it in class. But what do you think about it?
It would also be nice if you put tags on your post. Thank you.
Hey David,
I like what you said about perspective here. There’s a series that is based on this novel and I wonder if watching it as a film would change the way that this story is told, as we (I assume) are able to see more about Lila. I think that while Elena reflects on her past she is also realizing her naiveness, which leads me to believe that she would have not made the mistakes of being so blind if she had relived her past with the knowledge she has now.