When I first read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, back in 2024, I loved it. I didn’t write a review at the time because I had no idea what to write. The only thing that occurred to me was “this is great. Read it. Period”. While that might be enough, it felt too short for me. Now that I’ve finished the second book in the series, The Story of a New Name, I think I have a better idea of how I can describe the reading experience.
Title: My Brilliant Friend Author: Elena Ferrante Series: Neapolitan Novels #1 Publication year: 2011 Length: 12 hours 38 minutes
Genre: Literary Fiction, Drama Pace: Medium Story focus: Character
Lila is missing. The story starts in the present, when Elena discovers that her friend is missing. She quickly realises that this is just another one of Lila’s ideas. Determined not to let her get away with it, Elena starts writing down their story. They are in their sixties now, but their story begins in their childhood in a poor neighbourhood in Naples.
It’s not the first time that I love a book, feel hypnotised by it, drawn to it without being able to pinpoint why. And that presents a great problem when I’m trying to write a review. Now that I’ve read the second book, I’m getting a clearer picture of why I’m captivated by this story. And I feel the more I read, the better I’ll be at explaining why.
For starters, this is Literary fiction, meaning that the focus of the narrative is on the characters. The story is told from Elena’s point of view as she remembers the past and contextualises some events with information she learns in the future. This turns the book more descriptive than anything else. However, the chapters are short, which takes away from the feeling of a dense book. Since the primary focus is on the friendship of these two girls, there is a lot of drama. There are 180-degree twists from one chapter to another, leaving you gobsmacked. We know how the book starts, but never how it ends.
One of the primary things that makes these books so addictive is the lack of a predictable plot. If I read a romance novel, I know that no matter how many twists and turns the story takes, the objective is for the main characters to be together. If I read a murder mystery, I know by the end, I’ll know who’s guilty. But in My Brilliant Friend, we know nothing. We know that Lila is missing in the present, when both friends are in their sixties. But what happened in the past between the two? Why did Lila disappear? How are their lives now? How were their lives growing up? It’s a total mystery. It’s this lack of predictability that makes the story addictive. I never know what the next chapter will bring to the story.
This series is composed of four books. The first one, My Brilliant Friend, focuses on their childhood and the start of adolescence. The second one, The Story of a New Name, is their transition from teens to the middle of their twenties. The third and fourth books, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child, will be the rest of their lives until they reach their sixties. So you can see how much story goes into each stage of their lives. These books aren’t a highlight of what happened. It’s incredibly detailed. And it’s that amount of specificity that gives me the feeling of the story being biographical. Because it’s not just the big things that receive attention, it’s the small ones as well. The first love, school grades, family life, and the friendship between the two girls. And everything receives the same amount of attention because all of it together shapes these two girls, for good or bad.
And Elena Ferrante makes these characters come alive in a very unique way. The characters are so detailed that their sometimes contradictory actions bring them to life. Only humans could be this unpredictable. Usually, books follow a predetermined path for the character to learn a certain lesson. But in here, I’m looking for that and don’t find it. I’m constantly siding with Lila and not siding with her. Understanding Lila and not understanding her. Supporting Lila and not supporting her. I’m two books deep into this series, and I still don’t know what to expect from Lila. She still feels so unpredictable.
I still think back on some of the things that I recently read in the second novel, and I’m surprised they happened. I can’t believe in some twists and turns this story has taken. And all of that for what? What’s on the other side? What is yet to come? I have no idea. I can’t say if you’re going to enjoy My Brilliant Friend or not. Or exactly what the story has that will make you enjoy it and be a good fit for your reading taste. I simply gave it an opportunity. I started reading and continued. One page after another, and I found a story that interested me a lot. And my enjoyment just keeps growing.
It’s not for nothing that this book series is highly regarded. It’s addictive, the chapters are short, the story keeps moving despite being heavily focused on the characters, and we are watching these girls growing up with all the friction, insecurities and social expectations everyone else has for them. And I can’t wait to continue on the journey and see these girls become women.
Goodreads | The Storygraph | Literal | Fable
