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My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)

Elena Ferrante,

Ann Goldstein (Translator)

Start date: August 15, 2015

Finish date: September 1, 2015

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Sherry

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Sep 29, 2013 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2015, italian-literature, kindle, e-books, family-saga, historical-fiction, mtbr-challenge-2015, italy

This is the first book of the L’amica geniale tetralogy .

The plot is about of two friends, Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo living in Naples in the 1950s. Through their lives, the author describes their neighborhood as well as the changes in the city and the country, specially with the consequences of World War II.

The book starts with Elena receiving a telephone call by Lila’s son since his mother simply disappeared, taking all her personal belongings. This fact makes Elena to write their friendship ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2019 Harold rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I was prompted to read this after binge watching the HBO adaptation. I was engrossed by the series, by the production values and now, after reading the book, how completely it adhered to the book.
Both the book and the series give a realistic view of growing up in a poor working class area near Naples. The "Neopolitan Novels" continue on into adulthood and I'm hooked enough to follow on through the series. The HBO series BTW has annouced there will be a second season based on the second book. Of ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2015 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-in-translation

I'm late to the party reading Ferrante's books. Now, I am rushing to read the next one in this four-novel series, the last one published this year. I think it's fascinating that this Italian author is an international sensation, yet she writes under a pseudonym and no one really knows who she is. To quote Elissa Chappell in Vanity Fair, "Ferrante’s unnervingly clear-eyed bildungsroman chronicles the lives of Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo, childhood friends who serve as each other’s muse and champ ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2017 Renata rated it really liked it

Oh, this book! I really didn't think I could make it through at first - just couldn't get into the story. And then the writing (most likely translation) was annoying at times. But then, I got hooked. I was slow to jump on the Elena Ferrante bandwagon, but I can understand the frenzy. ...more

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May 16, 2014 Dree rated it liked it

Shelves: in-translation, women-in-translation, continental-europe, 2014-reads

After an intro featuring mid-60s Elena talking to her friend Lila's son, we are taken back to their childhood.

In this volume, Elena narrates their lives together, form when they were young girls with dolls, through elementary school, Elena's continuing on to junior high and high school, while Lila's parents make her work in their shoe repair business and then to help her mother at home. When this book ends, they are 16 and Lila has just gotten married.

Who is "My Brilliant Friend"? Elena is convi ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 04, 2016 Sylvia Tedesco rated it it was ok

Shelves: abandoned, stopped-reading

Why didn't I read reviews here first? Bought it for $10 at Costco and worked diligently to page 150 and gave up reading. I can't believe such a book is on the best seller list and so many people love it. It didn't interest me for one minute. I am Italian, too. I speak some Italian and love Italy. Next time, check here first or take it out of the library. ...more

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Jun 27, 2025 Pang rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: culture-society-travel, fiction, nyt-recommended, 2025

i really enjoyed the story telling. it felt like i was back to my teen years again. the stupid things that kids do or care about. girls relationship with one another. the constant love, hate, and envy. so much confusion. nothing really happened though. it was fine.

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Oct 05, 2016 Cdrueallen rated it it was amazing

Elena Ferrante is the Doris Lessing of my generation. More interested in class, less impressed by men, Ferrante writes about the roles of women in our world as brilliantly as Lessing did. Ferrante is not as self-absorbed as Lessing, and lacks Lessing's tendency to fantasize, which gives Ferrante the ability to describe her characters with an almost chilling accuracy. There's no writer I can think of who has portrayed the long friendship of two women so well. Ferrante is never sentimental about t ...more

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Jan 01, 2016 Linda rated it really liked it

I always enjoy a good coming-of-age story and this is no exception. Set in Naples Italy, two best friends in a small town neighborhood begin to go their separate ways as their lives change even within that small community. I am looking forward to reading the second and third books in this sseries.

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Feb 11, 2019 Olympia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library

The more I read the more I enjoyed this book. A tale of friendship, a competition of who is better, who will succeed and who will be left behind. In a time in Italy where women had no voice but a new generation was going to change it or will they? Love this author will be reading the next in the series.

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