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Used
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Trade Paperback
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9781609450786
Overview
Overview
Now an HBO series.
Book one in the New York Times bestselling Neapolitan quartet about two friends growing up in post-war Italy is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted family epic by Italy's most beloved and acclaimed writer, Elena Ferrante, "one of the great novelists of our time." (Roxana Robinson, The New York Times)
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Ferrante's four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its protagonists, 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 conflictual friendship. Book one in the series follows Lila and Elena from their first 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 her protagonists. "An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends," writes Entertainment Weekly. "Spectacular," says Maureen Corrigan on NPR's Fresh Air. "A large, captivating, amiably peopled bildungsroman," writes James Wood in The New Yorker. Ferrante is one of the world's great storytellers. With My Brilliant Friend she has given her readers an abundant, generous, and masterfully plotted page-turner that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight readers for many generations to come.
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Ferrante, Elena
- ISBN: 9781609450786
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 8.20 x 1.10
- Number Of Pages: 336
- Publication Year: 2012
Customer Reviews
Rating Snapshot
5 ★
83%
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6 Ratings
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The origin story of the Neapolitan Quartet
Dolores C. - 2 years 7 months agoThe beginning of the Neapolitan Quartet, My Brilliant Friend is brimming with honesty and tragedy. The story follows the sometimes harrowing early journey of two friends, Lila and Lenu, their lives intersect and grow together. Ferrante's writing is simply undeniable; precise and pitch perfect. The first story of this quartet is an entrance to a world that you will never forget.
HPB Staff Review -
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Italian-style.
Elizabeth S. - 4 years 6 months agoMy Brilliant Friend is the emotional and compelling story of two girls growing up in post-war Italy. The girls share a deep and complex friendship that begins in the first grade. Intense jealousies and cruel rivalries are offset with innocent dreams and youthful fantasies. Ferrante explores the very real currents of violence and poverty in what ends up as a universal story about adolescence. It isn't a plot-driven novel, and it is clearly only the first part of a story continued in sequels The Story of a New Name and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. So, yes, it is an investment of time, but My Brilliant Friend is worthy investment of time and the writing will blow you away.
HPB Staff Review -
An enthralling testament to the complexities of female friendship
Brooke B. - 4 years 10 months agoElena Ferrantes My Brilliant Friend chronicles the first sixteen years of the life of Raffaella and Lenuccia, both born and raised in Naples, Italy. The prologue begins with a phone call. Lenuccia, our protagonist and narrator, recounts a call she received from the adult son of her old friend in which she is informed that Raffaella has not only vanished but has removed all traces of her existence from her home. The story that follows is an enthralling testament to the complexities of female friendship. Ferrante deftly captures the small savageries involved in forging a girlhood friendship that are so often omitted from other books on the subject. Recommended for fans of Margaret Atwood and Jeffrey Eugenides, My Brilliant Friend is the first of Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan Novels. That is to say that if you mourn the way I did after finishing this book, dont despair. Three other volumes await you.
HPB Staff Review -
An examination of a lifelong friendship
Jill W. - 5 years 7 months agoBefore you start reading this book, just go ahead and purchase the other three in the series. You will want them, you will crave them, and you will lose a whole weekend to them - lost in the Neapolitan Novels series. So, trust me, buy them all now. You'll put one down and pick up the next. Please don't be dissuaded by the Europa Edition covers of these books. They might look like soap-opera-soft-focus-bad-art, but what's inside will grab you and you will be pondering the remarkable friendship of these two women for a long time to come.
HPB Staff Review -
Must Read
Kersten O. - 6 years agoCan’t wait to read the rest of the series. Remarkable translation!