My Brilliant Friend

I did enjoy this book, even though I may not be entirely sure what makes it worthy of landing the top spot on the NYT list of best 100 novels of the 21st century.

What impressed me about My Brilliant Friend was how it felt so intimate and so massive at the same time. Elena describes her friendship with Lila in a way that was incredibly real in its complexity. At various times they inspire each other, envy each other, protect each other, despise each other, and emulate each other. I could see myself very clearly in both of them at times. All the little details about childhood and puberty and family and neighborhoods adds to the realness. As does the fact that Ferrante seems to add an endless number of characters at will, so it seems like a complete world.

But on top of that intimate portrait of friendship and growing up, the book offers a very real exploration of class and social status. We see how the people and environment around us shape us and affect our fate, sometimes outweighing our inherent talents or individual choices. We also see how singular events can alter the whole trajectory of our lives.

On the negative side, the ending felt very abrupt. I felt like I had only been shown the middle part of a movie. Maybe the book works better when read as part of the full quartet. By the end, part of me was still wondering what the point of it all was, but I think maybe you’re just supposed to absorb the journey and seeing the way life slowly forms people before they fully understand what is happening to them.

Book author: Elena Ferrante