I remember being very happy when I first saw the book on the list of readings for this class. For one, this is one of my favorite books as far as I could remember. I had read this entire series at an earlier time, when I was looking into book recommendations so I could learn how to illustrate compelling friendships in my own writing. The characters are genuinely written with a ton of nuance, and I really adored reading about how Lenù and Lila’s friendship developed from childhood and how much complexity it has. I also remember feeling completely lost when I got to the final page of the fourth book, because there were a lot of topics that Lenù had never quite resolved that I would have liked answers to. It felt like I was reading into the lives of actual people instead of an actual book I could relax with (especially since I could see myself and a close friend of mine in their roles).
There’s a lot I really want to say about this series as a whole… but we are only focusing on the first book of the series. If I had to keep that to two words, it would be: screw Nino. He did not deserve the relatively happy ending he got (I know that the book’s subreddit would agree with me as they love to heavily roast him).
On the subject of the first book, Lenù genuinely has amazing ambitions in life driven by the urge to compete with her friend, which resulted in a series of impressive moments and achievements for her that directed her character growth.
…Like that time when her brilliant friend taught herself to read and write at 7.
…Or that time when her brilliant friend was deemed to be the star student of the class by their elementary teacher.
…Or that time when her brilliant friend is deemed to be more physically attractive than she is in their adolescence and captured the attention of many guys.
…Or that time when her brilliant friend won an award for borrowing many books from a local library.
Those moments were all important to her, weren’t they?
At this rate, Lenù would never ever have to wear sunscreen in her life because of the shadow she thinks she lives in.
…Moving on.
Though I’ll have to give credit where it’s due. The constant competition between the two has pushed each other to be better in language, reading, and writing (which we can see when they chose to buy a copy of Little Women with Don Achille’s money instead of using it on dolls – as well as academically be the best in class. As they grow up together, they make sometimes unorthodox yet meaningful decisions driven by their desire to impress each other (such as the time when Lenù stoically throws Lila’s doll). It was interesting to note that they always felt second-best to each other since Lila envies Lenù’s chance for further education, and Lenù practically breathes for Lila’s praise. And it is ultimately hard to deny that their friendship proves to drive the major decisions in their life through competition and their strong dependence on each other. It’s just very unfortunate that their paths had to diverge due to financial situations on Lila’s end.
So what are your thoughts on the friendship between Lenù and Lila? Have you ever had a friendship like that?
5 Comments
Great post! Sadly, I’ve never had one of those competitive yet mutually appreciative and encouraging friendships. Indeed, I envied it too. In fact, at the end of the book, during the wedding part, I can feel very strongly the powerlessness of the two characters facing against the bleakness of reality, which is indeed heartbreaking. But, at least what they had experienced together was good, and that wasn’t too bad.
Hello, Arella,
Very detailed description! I think the author is very talented because I believe we all have situations like Elena and Lila’s. There may be some jealousy, some possessiveness. I even feel that friendship and love are very similar in this respect.
Jialu Xu
I’m about to finish the fourth book and oh my god, everything is a mess. I try to understand Lila but I can’t help but feel a bit upset about how everyone keeps her on this throne. It’s always Lila this, Lila that. I’m glad Lenu tries to distance herself in the later books but the poor girl can’t! I do think Lila cares a lot about Lenu and wants to be better for her so she feels “worthy”(? of being her friend.
I want to hear more about your thoughts on Lila lol
“screw Nino”
OK, this is the only book of the series that I’ve read… here, at least, Nino seems OK, no? He spends a lot of time protecting Lila, not least from their parents, no? I wonder what happens in later books…
“Like that time when her brilliant friend taught herself to read and write at 7”
As I point out in the lecture, perhaps surprisingly the only time that the phrase “brilliant friend” comes up in this book, it’s applied not to Lila, but to Lenù. Who then *is* the brilliant friend? What is a “brilliant friend,” anyway?
OH, I realize I’m confusing Nino with Rino! (I did find myself getting confused between various characters at times…) But is he so bad, either? I guess I will have to read on in the other books…