My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1) in The Toast

Jan 18, 2016 G rated it liked it

I wanted this to be a lot more than it was after all the hype. Parts were super compelling - I liked the idea of Lila as goad for Elena, and for the town entire, and the reversal of who the "brilliant friend" was - but a lot of it felt really generic and dull. Maybe I'm just not tuned into the cultural mores of post-war Italy, but I felt very distanced from the action, and Ferrante's writing didn't convey the level of emotion I wanted to feel for the characters.

All that said, it is really great ...more

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Oct 15, 2015 CC rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Ferrante has a way of cutting through language that bowls me over. Some writers are sparse, letting the imagination of the reader do the heavy lifting; others are flowery and verbose, creating image after image with their words. It's almost as if Ferrante uses words simply as the means to a greater end, as a necessary vehicle for the important story to be told; not as a tool to be wielded self-consciously (too little? too much? word choice?) but with bold sure-footedness and zero pretense. I'm j ...more

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Oct 08, 2015 Alicia rated it really liked it

http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2015/10...

Well, I'm finally reading Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, and they certainly are worthy of the critical acclaim they've received. I will say that this was a little bit of a slow read for me, mainly because the book (and series, I think) centers on a friendship/rivalry between two girls in a small, poor area of Naples as they grow up, and I found the relationship somewhat stressful to read about. Ferrante really brings this neighborhood and its denizens (and ...more

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Sep 26, 2015 Monique rated it really liked it

A lovely tome, not sure how well it stands up as a stand-alone book, but knowing that it is part of a series makes me reserve judgment until I've read the rest.

Very easy and satisfying to read, somewhat unusual prose style (in a good way). Loved the principal characters, felt that the males blended together (which may have been entirely intentional). A relatable story for many women and girls. ...more

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May 04, 2016 P. rated it liked it

Shelves: fictive, real-life-contemporary

I enjoyed the descriptions of the life of the town, I lost track of which boy was which, I appreciate the realness of the friendship, but it made me sad, I want to know more about making shoes, great ending, but I'm not going to read the rest - can't take the low grade subsuming of self into another person. ...more

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Mar 26, 2015 Emily rated it it was amazing

I'm on the Ferrante bandwagon. Where's the welcome party? Full speed ahead! Buying the sequels at my convenient local bookstore over the weekend. ...more

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Dec 06, 2014 Erica rated it liked it

I wasn't into this book until the last 30% of it. I think it was a lot of background knowledge that I'm not sure was entirely necessary for the other books. However, I am planning on continuing to read the rest of the series, just because the last part of this book was so good.

Also, being obsessed with Lila didn't ring true to me because I felt that as a reader, no one showed me why I should be obsessed with her too. ...more

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Jan 17, 2016 M. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

sometimes interesting, mostly a drag. serious questions about the translation process that created such distracting, idiosyncratic, deliberately(???) awkward (/exoticized) syntax throughout.

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