My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 17, 2016 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: italy, fiction

Excellent.

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Jun 12, 2014 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

It's amazing how female friendships can be so intense, all-consuming and even toxic sometimes. There was something clunky about the writing at times, but there was also something classic as well. ...more

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Jan 15, 2016 mstan rated it really liked it

Shelves: translation, european, public-transport, src-winter-2015-16

This is the first book in a long while I’ve read almost completely on Singapore’s buses and trains (310 out of the 331 pages). The simplicity of the language makes it easy reading even in physically crowded environments, but the suitability of a book as public-transit-reading goes beyond that: the author has to be able to enable you to teleport yourself to another world entirely. Ferrante brought the roar and turmoil of everyday life in Naples to my ears during every 30-minute journey I made on This is the first book in a long while I’ve read almost completely on Singapore’s buses and trains (310 out of the 331 pages). The simplicity of the language makes it easy reading even in physically crowded environments, but the suitability of a book as public-transit-reading goes beyond that: the author has to be able to enable you to teleport yourself to another world entirely. Ferrante brought the roar and turmoil of everyday life in Naples to my ears during every 30-minute journey I made on the train.

The story is written as a recount of the protagonist’s life and childhood in working-class Naples. Elena (Lenu/Lenuccia) Greco’s father is a porter, and her best friend Lila’s father is a shoemaker. Surrounding them are the children of grocers, vegetable-sellers, and bakers… the stuff of fairy-tales and children’s stories. There is even an ogre of a Don introduced near the beginning of the novel. Ferrante is not interested, however, in leaving these figurative monsters under the bed: they are brought to light quite literally, hurling expletives out the window regardless of the time of day, casually inflicting blows upon their offspring, embracing one another in violent tension. Amidst these tussles, Elena and Lila grow up straining towards the world of ideas, of clarity, bound every step of the way by expectations, inter- and intra-familial conflicts, and their own complicated love for each other. As they become teenagers, Elena finds herself having to negotiate her jealousy, her alternating feelings of superiority and inferiority, her frustrations with appearance, academic achievement, and romantic entanglements, with Lila as an unwavering point of reference. Life follows its up-and-down script for a while, but the novel ends on an unexpected note that reveals the true complexity of the friends’ social circles.

Once, a long time ago now, I stopped by Naples for a day or two on the way to see Pompeii. I was overwhelmed by the cramped alleys and the chaos, and was perhaps too young to appreciate its charms fully. After my visit, I wrote about my experience briefly in a public forum, and was castigated by a commenter for my narrowness and insensitivity. Yet I feel somewhat vindicated by Ferrante’s writing – while I understand that hers is not the tourist’s Naples, her version of Naples is just further along the same spectrum of alienation. Boundaries are drawn clearly against outsiders, yet life spills out into the streets, pummelling the casual bystander. Even outside of Naples, I found my four months in Italy punctuated by these little shocks of reality: the expressiveness of the Italians lending force to arguments taking place in piazzas not far from the Florentine Duomo; the swagger of teenagers with Invicta backpacks blasting through the calm of train carriages. Even as I loved the generosity of the cities, I was buffeted by the proximity of life – a very different brand of cultural disorientation from what I had experienced in the United States before that.

I am still trying to grapple with the mystery of Ferrante’s writing because – in translation, at least – it is somewhat disjointed, and in some instances even unappealing. When Ferrante writes about Elena’s academic endeavours, the scores of her exams seem to take precedence, and her ventures into ever-more sophisticated intellectual terrain are layered awkwardly atop her musings about her and Lila’s personal lives. Her feelings about her lame mother, and even the men in her life, seem overly simplistic. Perhaps that’s the point though. If I had to rate my reading experience, it’s really 3.5 stars instead of 4, but the curious nature of Ferrante’s writing, the questions it has provoked, and my desire to read the next one in the series as soon as I can push this up to a 4.
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Nov 21, 2018 Tony rated it did not like it

Shelves: novels, setting-europe, adapted-for-film, read-for-bookclub, comingofage

Despite rapturous praise from many friends whose taste I respect, I'd avoided Ferrante's "Neopoltian Quartert" on the grounds that it just didn't sound like my kind of book. However, when my longstanding book club selected it, I had no qualms finally picking it up since there've been plenty of other times we picked books I had no interest in, only to be pleasantly surprised.

Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. Other than a very few brief scenes here and there, I found basically nothin ...more

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Oct 13, 2020 Travellinckx rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, fiction, terjemahan

Sampai akhir tahun lalu, saya belum pernah mendengar nama Elena Ferrante. Lalu, entah dalam rangka apa (saya lupa) , koran-koran lokal membuat sejumlah artikel tentang Ferrante dan tentang siapa sebetulnya perempuan di balik nama ini. Konon sih masih spekulasi sampai sekarang. Dalam salah satu artikel itu, Ferrante katanya ingin karyanya saja yang dikenal, tidak perlu penulis dibaliknya (sembah sujud saya buat Ferrante).
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Gara-gara itu pula saat ke toko buku bekas dan menemukan buku My Brilliant Sampai akhir tahun lalu, saya belum pernah mendengar nama Elena Ferrante. Lalu, entah dalam rangka apa (saya lupa) , koran-koran lokal membuat sejumlah artikel tentang Ferrante dan tentang siapa sebetulnya perempuan di balik nama ini. Konon sih masih spekulasi sampai sekarang. Dalam salah satu artikel itu, Ferrante katanya ingin karyanya saja yang dikenal, tidak perlu penulis dibaliknya (sembah sujud saya buat Ferrante).
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Gara-gara itu pula saat ke toko buku bekas dan menemukan buku My Brilliant Friend, saya langsung ambil. Walaupun dari segi judul dan sampul buku, saya yakin, kalau tidak membaca artikel itu sebelumnya, saya pasti tidak akan memilih buku ini.
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Setelah selesai membaca, saya tidak bisa nyenyak tidur. Buku ini tentang persahabatan unik dua gadis kecil, Elena dan Lila, yang diceritakan oleh Elena. Di awal-awal, Elena bercerita betapa kagumnya dia terhadap Lila yang pemberani dan cerdas. Lila yang membuat Elena cemburu sekaligus juga memacunya untuk belajar lebih giat dan menjadi lebih baik. Dinamika persahabatan ini diceritakan penuh petualangan indah, unik, dan seru, layaknya pengalaman fantastis dari sudut mata kanak-kanak yang lugu dan naif tanpa pretensi.
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Tapi makin jauh ke dalam buku, sejumlah peristiwa yang dilontarkan dengan begitu saja tanpa beban membuat kita sebagai pembaca sadar, mereka tumbuh di lingkungan miskin, dikuasai oleh mafia lokal, serba keras, di tengah budaya kekerasan yang dianggap biasa, dan mereka beserta orang-orang yang tinggal di lingkungan itu berada di strata paling bawah dalam struktur sosial pinggiran kota Napoli, Italia. (Langsung terbayang film-film neo realisme Italia)

Konsistensi Ferrante menuliskan cerita ini dari sudut pandang kanak-kanak tanpa menyusupkan sama sekali pandangan pretensius orang dewasa, menjadi kekuatan utama My Brilliant Friend. Peristiwa kekerasan yang brutal dan sering mereka lihat atau alami sendiri jadi bahan imajinasi untuk mengisi hari-hari mereka di tengah segala keterbatasan ( ekonomi, ruang gerak, akses pendidikan) . Cara bercerita Ferrante ini membuat pembaca serasa ikut menjadi bagian dari dunia Lila dan Elena. Kita tumbuh bersama mereka dan ikut merasakan kekhawatiran dalam realita hidup mereka. Tentu, sebagai dua anak miskin dengan otak cemerlang, cita-cita mereka hanya satu, keluar dari wilayah itu dan keluar dari cengkeraman kemiskinan yang membuat mereka jadi objek permainan nasib.
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Realitas yang dibangun oleh Ferrante tidak muluk-muluk menawarkan jalan keluar yang mudah. Tidak ada iming-iming tentang semua akan baik-baik saja pada akhirnya. Lila dan Elena jatuh bangun jatuh bangun lagi dan lagi, untuk berjuang keluar dari cengkeraman kemiskinan, di tengah situasi dan kondisi yang tidak menawarkan harapan. Pilihan mereka juga tidak banyak dengan kemungkinan berhasil setipis kertas. Usaha mereka melewati rintangan keterbatasan inilah yang membuat pembaca akan merasa sangat dekat dengan tokoh Lila dan Elena. Bahkan tidak mungkin menganggap mereka sebagai saudara sendiri.
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Ini baru buku pertama dari tetralogi Neapolitan karya Ferrante. Elena dan Lila belum lagi genap berusia 17 tahun. My Brilliant Friend diakhiri dengan sebuah adegan yang efeknya seperti palu menghantam tembok. Di akhir buku, saya yakin pembaca akan mengkhawatirkan Lila (atau bahkan ikut menangisi nasibnya) dan berdoa sepenuh hati agar mereka tidak menyerah begitu saja dengan nasib. ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Stephanie Zundel-Smith rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2018

This felt like the backstory to The Goddather. Am I sorry that I read it? No. Do I want to know what happens next? Yes, but maybe not enough to keep reading the next book. 😕

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Apr 22, 2022 Rachel Shields Ebersole rated it liked it · review of another edition

It was fine. The writing style made everything feel distant, but I have no particular complaints. If I were planning a trip to Naples, I'd certainly pick this up and enjoy it. Without that incentive, I was rather underwhelmed ...more

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