My brilliant friend

childhood, adolescence

No cover

Elena Ferrante: My brilliant friend (2016)

505 pages

English language

Published Dec. 10, 2016

ISBN:
978-1-4104-9116-9
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OCLC Number:
972372739

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4 stars (2 reviews)

The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. 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 her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.

30 editions

Crudeza y ternura

5 stars

La feminidad -en el patriarcado- es una cárcel. La precariedad, otra. Y 'La amiga estupenda' es, en esencia, una novela sobre la vida cuando su transcurrir choca constantemente contra los barrotes de esas -y otras- cárceles.

Elena Ferrante consigue presentar las heridas y los malestares que configuran la existencia de tantísimas personas desde una escritura sencilla que aúna de alguna manera la ternura y la crudeza. Quizá porque la realidad, por más que estemos rodeadas por el mal más abyecto, es en sí misma preciosa. Que la protagonista principal sea una niña potencia enormemente esta capacidad de verlo todo con extrañeza e inocencia.

Subjects

  • Female friendship
  • Fiction
  • Poor girls
  • History

Places

  • Naples (Italy)