My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

  

Today's Featured Book 

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Genre: Fiction

Published: September 25, 2012

Page Count: 387 pages

Summary: 

Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, the fiery and unforgettable Lila and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.
 
Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between two women.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

"This morning Rino telephoned. I thought he wanted money again and I was ready to say no. But that was not the reason for the phone call: his mother was gone."

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Freda's Voice and visit others in the linky. 

"We went along the rough bumpy wall, we looked into the shadows. The dolls weren't there. Lila repeated in dialect, they're not there, they're not there, they're not there, and searched along the floor with her hands, something I didn't have the courage to do."

My Brilliant Friend: My Thoughts

Read: September 2023

Two girls, both clever, both poor, grow up together in Naples, Italy, amid chaotic family situations, with neighbors who often handle problems by using violence. The two girls become friends, very close at times, sometimes estranged, throughout their adolescence. The two find ways to go to school even when their parents want to dissuade them from doing so. Both girls gradually learn ways to deal with people they don't like as well as people they do like, and it is their friendship with each other that helps them learn from each other.

The stories feel very, very real and the setting feels authentic. The characters are a realistic mix of likable and unlikeable qualities that made me enjoy watching them grow and develop. 

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Do you agree that libraries should ban books? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

NOOOOOOOOO!