I did not expect My Brilliant Friend to stress me out this much, but the relationship between Len\u00f9 and Lila is honestly one of the most obsessive, intense friendships I have ever read about. They both seem to be measuring themselves against each other the whole time. I felt like Len\u00f9, especially, was living her life out for Lila. She shaped herself into the person she became because of Lila and sometimes it felt like she was living for her friend more than for herself.<\/p>\n
What really stood out to me was just how much Len\u00f9 defines herself through Lila. At one point she says, “I put myself in her place. Or rather, I had made a place for her in me.” (p. 97). That line kinda explains their whole relationship. Len\u00f9 admires Lila but also internalizes her. Lila becomes this voice in her head that pushes her to study more, be better, leave the neighbourhood, and prove herself. But at the same time, everything Len\u00f9 does still feels like it’s for Lila’s approval, even when Lila isn’t there.<\/p>\n
Len\u00f9 describes Lila soooo intensely, saying, “I get excited with her, here, at the very moment when she\u2019s speaking to me. What beautiful strong hands she had, what graceful gestures came to her, what looks.\u201d (p. 130). The way she describes Lila is almost romantic, or at least obsessive. She notices every little detail about Lila – her hands, gestures, looks – and it is clear that Lila is the center of Len\u00f9’s world.<\/p>\n
When Len\u00f9 went to Ischia, I was even more convinced that their friendship and relationship is insane. Len\u00f9 finally gets away from the neighbourhood and is free of the stress and problems. This is her chance to experience a different life and learn about herself. While she does do this, Lila’s letter to her makes Len\u00f9 completely focused on her again. Even while she was in this different city, she says, “I missed only Lila, Lila who didn\u2019t answer my letters\u2026 the fear that, in losing pieces of her life, mine lost intensity and importance.\u201d (p. 211). She is literally talking about how her life only feels important when Lila is a part of it. Even when she finally leaves the neighbourhood, she doesn’t fully leave Lila.<\/p>\n
Another thing I liked about this book is how Elena Ferrante writes characters. She honestly does not care about how many characters are there, whether they are important, or whether you can keep track of all the families. She just keeps introducing new people and expects you to deal with it. I think this does make the neighbourhood feel real but I was still constantly flipping back and forth between my current spot and the character list at the front.<\/p>\n
Overall, I liked this book wayyy more than I expected to. I got so invested in Len\u00f9 and Lila and finished the book in like a day. I’m definitely going to read the rest of the series because I need to know exactly what happens to them in the future too. 10\/10 book.<\/p>\n
Discussion question: Do you think Len\u00f9 and Lila\u2019s friendship is supportive, toxic, or something in between?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I did not expect My Brilliant Friend to stress me out this much, but the relationship between Len\u00f9 and Lila is honestly one of the most obsessive, intense friendships I have ever read about. They both seem to be measuring themselves against each other the whole time. I felt like Len\u00f9, especially, was living her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107535,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,27,29],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ferrante","tag-friendship","tag-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kavyarmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}