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Book: My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
Publication date: 2012 (first published in Italian in 2011)
WCRG meeting: 25 May 2016
Rating: 6.5
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante inspired one of the most spirited Reading Group discussions that we’ve had in quite some time. The book divided opinion, although only a few members truly raved about it. One reader memorably described it as ‘like Eastenders but with better weather.’
The biggest source of dissension within the Group (and which led to the most lively debate) concerned the issue of historical authenticity. The Group was divided into those who admired Ferrante’s picture of 1950s Neapolitan society, and those who felt that this period detail receded into the background. It was argued that, despite being an historically significant period in Italian history, the novel had a very shallow and superficial focus and did not create a recognisable picture of 1950s Italy. Some members were particularly frustrated by the paucity of historical detail in the novel and felt that Ferrante could have gone deeper in interrogating issues of post-war tension and the still-pervasive vestiges of Fascism. For these readers, the novel’s insularity was a failing and made it a less satisfying read. However, those who disagreed with this opinion countered that one experiences Naples through its people and Ferrante does not need to embellish this with explanations and observations. These readers argued that the inclusion of more historical detail would not have been true to the child-centric nature of the novel. This first novel in the tetralogy is particularly child-oriented: although Elena is in her sixties when she decides to write the story of her friend Lila, My Brilliant Friend charts the years of their childhood from the age of six up to the age of sixteen and is largely told from a child’s perspective of the world. For children, their world view is understandably much narrower and what a modern-day audience sees as history and political intrigue, they see simply as daily life.
All agreed that Ferrante brilliantly depicts the complexities of female friendship, although some of our male members, in particular, found the confessional style a bit tedious as the novel progressed. To paraphrase one reader, the novel is full of the petty jealousies and sexual frustrations of acne-ridden teenagers! There was some debate as to whether readers preferred Lila or Elena, with many finding it difficult to truly ally themselves with either girl. A few of our number commented on an air of malice underlying the text, and found this off-putting. In the opening pages of the novel, an adult Elena decides to write Lila’s story after her friend has disappeared and tried to erase herself from memory in the process, and one reader questioned whether this was an act of love or spite. This ambiguity pervades the novel.
As it is Elena who is telling the story, one only sees Lila through her eyes – one never learns what Lila is truly thinking or feeling. One reader remarked that the novel would have been stronger and more compelling if it had been written in the third-person. Elena was felt to be a potentially unreliable narrator with her own agenda for writing this story, and it was therefore difficult to know whether one was gaining a true representation of the people around her. All agreed that obsession is a key theme in the novel: Elena’s feelings for Lila are a deep and complex mix of admiration and envy, love and hate, desire and disgust. This evocation of feeling is one of the strongest elements of the novel.
Another member observed that the act of writing is also an important feature of the novel – Elena takes control of the story by writing it and her ability to express herself gives her power over Lila. This theme is also tied to that of education – many readers felt that Lila was the truly clever one of the pair, but she did not have the opportunities to learn and thrive as Elena did. Elena’s education would become her ticket out of Naples, whereas Lila, we learn at the beginning of the novel, never leaves Naples.
One member read the book in its original Italian and was impressed with the skilful prose. This member felt that the violence and poverty of the area was well-captured, although she was shocked at the narrow world of the girls who had not even seen the sea while growing up in Naples. One of our number was reminded of the writing of another Italian, Curzio Malaparte and recommended his novels, The Skin and Kaputt, as more historically rich alternatives to Ferrante’s insular depiction of post-war Naples. Another member expressed some concern about the level of violence in the novel – this reader felt that violence was overused and contributed to a sense of the novel as a ‘never-ending soap opera.’
Rather curiously, almost all of those present who enjoyed the novel struggled to get into it at first. At least two members had tried to read the book on a few occasions before persevering with it and eventually feeling rewarded for their efforts. Some admitted to never feeling entranced, or invited into the story and this failing of Ferrante’s writing to draw readers in was felt by many present. One member had read all four books in the series and told how she ‘couldn’t stop reading them.’ For those who became captivated by the relationship between the girls, there was something compulsive about reading this novel. However, while Lila and Elena are quite finely drawn characters, the rest are just walk-on roles and there is no positive male figure in the novel.
All agreed that there are too many characters in the novel – as evidenced by the index of characters included at the beginning. Characters were easily confused and the absence of distinct identifying features and personalities meant that they remained peripheral figures interchangeable with one another. By focusing so carefully on Elena and Lila, Ferrante neglected to flesh out the wide cast of characters around them.
My Brilliant Friend proved to be a rewarding read for the Reading Group. While there were some high scores between 7 and 9, most scored it lower and this led to an overall average of just 6.5.
