De geschiedenis van twee vrouwen en hun levenslange vriendschap. Ze groeien samen op, maar hun levens verlopen geheel verschillend. Het speelt zich af tegen de achtergrond van het Italië van de laatste zestig jaar.

This was one of those books you can lose yourself in. Yes, there were a lot of characters. Yes, some of the struggles seemed repeated over and over. I didn't care. Structurally, the author never came close to delivering on the opening - and that started to wear on me until I realized this was a series (yes, I should have known to begin with, but the recommendation I had gotten hadn't mentioned that part...). Even with that understanding, the ending was unsatisfying - it wasn't really an ending. Now I have to go on! ( )

Character-driven novel where much of the tension stems from the internal wrestling match that is growing up as a girl. Ferrante (and her translator, Ann Goldstein) give lots of detail that give everyday happenings meaning and sometimes even a dash of prophecy. Although both the central characters are brilliant, only one manages to chart a path away from the entanglements of family, poverty, men, and neighborhood feuds. Plenty of loose ends to address in the remaining books in the quartet. ( )

Published in 2011, My Brilliant Friend is the first novel in a series of four by Elena Ferrante. The story takes place in a poverty-ridden suburb of Naples during the 1950s and 1960s. Its narrator is Elena, the daughter of a porter who works for the local government, and it describes her volatile relationship with Lila, the daughter of a shoemaker. Both of them come from impoverished families, and in childhood each of them are identified as gifted students. While Elena’s parents allow her to continue on to middle school, Lila instead is forced to drop out to work in her father’s shoe shop. The narrative follows their lives from childhood through adolescence, focusing on their maturing friendship, interactions with other children in the neighborhood, and the roiling emotions that come with growing older and seeking to find a place in the world.

Another major character is the community where Elena and Lila come of age. It is a place where everyone knows each other’s business. Husbands are frequently abusive to wives and their children, and rivalries between neighbors are common. This takes place at a time when television is an unheard-of luxury, and further education for daughters was considered foolish. For Lila, marriage is seen as the only possible escape route to make her dreams come true.

What makes this series captivating to American readers today is its colorful Italian setting and the recreation of childhood rebellion against the restrictions placed upon daughters at a time when norms still retained their grip, even as, during the Sixties, another possible road to take was built around them. ( )

Interesting audio book. I liked the point-of-view character and the mystery of her friend. But there were many minor characters, and it was sometimes hard to keep track of all the names. I went on to read all 4 of the books in the series. ( )