I really enjoyed this book and thought it was fairly engaging. The book discusses an odd friendship between two women, Lila and Elena, who both grew up together in the same neighbourhood and environment. Their friendship was certainly brilliant, and left readers with much reflection on this odd duo.
The book began when Elena received a call from Lila’s son – who seemed to have a strained relationship with both his mother and Elena – saying that his mother was missing again. Elena seemed fairly unfazed by the disappearance of Lila, and instead decided to write a story of their friendship, thus commencing the story of their “brilliant” friendship and the lasting memories with which Elena has with her friend.
As we get deeper into the story, we learn more about both of the girls and the dynamics of their friendship. Lila is an intelligent, independent, strong and sometimes bossy young woman. Elena is also a smart young woman (however not as smart as Lila), though clueless, a people-pleaser and often dependent on Lila. Young Elena paints Lila as this superior or exceptional being and seemingly sought the approval of her friend on many matters. She tried to emulate Lila in all aspects of life.
The constant gender imbalance and violence was often hard to read and made me pretty uncomfortable. The boys in the class’ abuse towards the girls at the beginning of the novel, the abuse from their fathers (especially when Lila’s father throws her out of the window and breaks her arm) and their recurring harassment of the girls was difficult to witness as a reader.
I enjoyed reading about the dynamics that took place in the neighbourhood, as it reminded me of my own community back home. Our neighbourhood is very tight knit, like Elena and Lila’s, and everybody knew each other and had different connections. Reading about Elena’s memories with her friends, rivals, and enemies in her neighbourhood reminded me of my own memories of growing up in a close community.
Through my research on the context I found that My Brilliant Friend was made into a television series. Though this is not the point of reading the book, I am excited to commence the show and find the similarities and differences between the series and the book.
My question is: Why do you think Elena Ferrante chose to include so many characters? Did you find it difficult to keep track of all of the people and subsequent relationships?
Hello Eliza. Thanks for your post.
Yes, for me it was also interesting to know that there is a series. Also, this book is the first in a series called “Neapolitan Novels.”
I also found it to be a fascinating book, and I was able to relate many things to my childhood as well (where we were also many descendants of southern Italians). Regarding your question, the characters are also grouped into families. I think that point is inescapable when it comes to a novel set in southern Italy. Family relationships and gossiping and conflicts, and alliances are at the center of social life. Although perhaps, some changes in these social bonds are perceived in the story.
Best
Hi Eliza, I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I found it really difficult to keep track of all the different characters but I found at the very beginning of the book before the prologue there was a massive list of who is who and which family.