From the Bookshelf of Melbourne Library Service…

My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)

Elena Ferrante,

Ann Goldstein (Translator)

Why we're reading this: A rich and layered tale of friendship, this story gets under your skin. The characters are so real and vi…more
[close] A rich and layered tale of friendship, this story gets under your skin. The characters are so real and vibrant, the city of Naples so clearly depicted, it is easy to understand why so many people recommend this book!

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Sep 21, 2016 Loz rated it liked it · review of another edition

I’m not sure if it was because every review I read told me it was amazing or because people whose recommendations I ordinarily like enjoyed it which set my expectations to high, but I was disappointed. While I enjoyed the overly descriptive style in the first few chapters, it started to wear thin. I found myself a third into the book and having to skim some chapters because although I enjoy a good build up, I knew there wasn’t going to be a thrilling climax, the story is a slow and gradual telli I’m not sure if it was because every review I read told me it was amazing or because people whose recommendations I ordinarily like enjoyed it which set my expectations to high, but I was disappointed. While I enjoyed the overly descriptive style in the first few chapters, it started to wear thin. I found myself a third into the book and having to skim some chapters because although I enjoy a good build up, I knew there wasn’t going to be a thrilling climax, the story is a slow and gradual telling of the author’s childhood through her friendship with a girl called Lila (and others); this book requires patience and a deep love of the descriptive. It strikes me as something which would be great to study in school, there are a myriad of themes to discuss, a way in which the author expresses herself which merits classroom discussion and is set at a pace which would be helpful coming at this from an educational perspective. I feel that someone coming of age themselves would identify a lot with the characters (not that others wouldn't too) and then delving in and discussing themes, the writing and more would have it be for them a more lasting experience, in some way like "Jane Eyre" or "Room with a view" were for me in school.

What I mostly missed from “My Brilliant Friend” was feeling in the writing, I didn’t feel invested in the characters. Another reviewer (I can’t find it to give his/her name but it’s there) questions whether or not this could be down to the translation and that perhaps an introduction by the translator might have been beneficial to set her tone/style, I’m not sure I agree necessarily but it is a possibility. The phrasing was certainly unfeeling and at times disconnected and I would be curious to read some of it in its original Italian, mostly because many of the more negative reviewers state that their surprise and disappointment with this book is based on having loved some of Ferrante’s other works where they were heavily invested in the characters.

That being said, that it was so descriptive (albeit as I said without inducing much emotional connection to the characters) made visualising every scene very easy from the doll, Tina, falling through the grate to Lila flying out of a window to Elena’s nervousness about dancing with Antonio under her mother’s watchful eye. There was also the element of learning about the cultural and societal expectations in 1950s Naples which was new to me and having been there only recently and falling in love with it was nice from a personal viewpoint.

Before writing the review I was gave this book 2 stars which I am now changing to 3 because although I found it somewhat tedious to get through, on reflection, in part, the descriptions and simplicity made it somewhat enjoyable but I would be far more inclined to recommend it to a younger reader.
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Jun 08, 2016 Rania T rated it really liked it

There is something about this book that makes its reader want to keep turning and turning the pages....

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Jan 04, 2021 Lucy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021

I was sort of sceptical about this, having heard both lots of hype and less convinced reviews, but this totally sucked me in and I found it (aptly) brilliant. There's so much that could be said but the thing that struck me most was the clarity and insight with which Ferrante has written the relationship between the two main characters. Though there's so much about their world that was unfamiliar to me, the nuances of friendship, particularly during adolescence, were so relatable!

It also ends on ...more

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Jan 14, 2016 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-our-library

I was a little apprehensive before I started that things would be lost in translation from Italian to English but I need not have worried. This novel is beautifully written, engaging, and accessible. It restores my faith in people that this was one of the biggest selling books in Australia in 2015.

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