Review: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Anytime I hear Italian; it is as if I am immersed in a musical score. It takes me back to a vacation I had with my mother and grandmother. Specifically, it takes me back to the moments where my mother was ahead of us because my grandma and I were to busy observing people's natural rhythm as they spoke. I love listening to it and will find myself watching shows in Italian to be exposed to it. One show I saw is produced by HBO and is called 'My Brillant Friend.' It is rare for me to watch a series or movie based on a book without reading the book first, but in this case, I watched the series first. I was in awe of the storyline of the friendship between the two main girls who were both intelligent in their own right, and as friends, they pushed themselves to escape their town through their own means versus through a man. After finishing the show, I immediately went to my local bookstore and bought the entire series.
My Brilliant Friend is the first book out of four in the Neapolitan Novels written by Elena Ferrante. Elena Ferrante is the Lemony Snicket of Italy. Similar to how the author of the series The Series of Unfortunate Events uses the pen name Lemony Snicket, the author of the Neapolitan Novels, employs the pen name, Elena Ferrante. If you google her, you will see photos of her translator and the array of theories as to who she is. The only information the public knows is she is a woman and grew up in Naples. This anonymity adds to the already numerous questions you have after reading the novel, such as is any of it based on a real friend she had.
The first novel of the series sets the stage for the lifelong friendship between Elena and Lila. Both girls live in an impoverished town on the outskirts of Naples during the 1950s. Elena's father is a porter for City Hall, and her mother is a housewife. Lila's father is the town's shoemaker, and her mother is a housewife too. Although both girls live in the same block of apartments, they do not meet until they go to elementary school. Elena stands out as being one of the top students in the class, but it is Lila who amazes everyone with her intellectual abilities. Even though it is not expected at their age, she is the only one in class who can read and write. Elena sees something in Lila and decides to attach herself to her as she feels that is the only way she can become better. The girls bound over there love for learning, and after reading Little Women, they promise to write a book together.
When elementary school ends for them, both girls are recommended to take the test to enter middle school where they will learn Latin. Their teacher Maestra Oliviero does her best to convince Elena's and Lila's parents to let them stay in school. Elena's parents decide to let her go, but say she must be the best in her class if she wants to stay in school. Lila's parents do not want her to continue school, but she is convinced her bother Rino will make money to pay for her. This does not happen, and the final argument with her family for her to attend school ends with her father throwing Lila through the window, and she breaks her arm. Lilia goes to work with her brother and father at the store, and Elena goes to Middle School.
Elena struggles in Middle School to get good grades because she no longer has Lila to keep her disciplined. That is until she finds out the Lila has been going to the library to check out books to study Latin. Much to Elena's shock, Lila is ahead of her in Latin. It is with this push that Elena starts to progress in school, becomes first in her class, and is allowed to attend high school in the city to learn Greek. Lila studies the same things as Elena, which leads to both of them competing against each other as they grow older. They both know Lila is the most brilliant out of them, but Elena hates the feeling of being second best. These sentiments will lead to some tension in their friendship as Lila will make remarks about Elena being able to go to school, and Elena feels that Lilia is never impressed with anything she does.
As Elena and Lila grow older, their relationship changes, due to several outside influences. Elena feels awkward in her changing body and never feels beautiful until she spends the summer after her first year of high school in a village by the sea. Lila begins to gain the attention of most of the neighborhood boys due to her unique beauty and her magnetism. This will lead her into some trouble as she is pursued by the neighborhood 'bad boy' and another boy whose family owns the grocery store in town and whose money comes from the black market during World War II. Lila tries to find her way out of the situation by creating a new type of shoe, but it is not successful. Instead, she decides to marry the grocer boy because she felt she could control him more, and she grew to love him. On the other hand, Elena is top of her class at the high school and begins writing. She believes that writing will be her way out, just like both girls thought when they were younger.
The novel ends with the wedding of Lila to Stephano, the grocer boy, and a betrayal that will make her regret getting married. Lila and Elena's bound is strong throughout the first book with, of course, some growing pains as is expected. The author does a great job of capturing these moments through the self-reflections that Elena has, as she is the narrator of the novel. I imagine it would have been hard for Lila to accept the fact that Elena got to continue in school and how she wishes her circumstances were different. She keeps up with Elena because she wanted to still connect with her friend on an intellectual level that she could not with the workers around her. She needed an outlet for learning and someone to share it with. Then Elena, always loved Lila and the shared knowledge they had because she always believed they would make it out of the neighborhood together. The wedding must have been a shock to her, but at some point, I think Lila surrendered to the life she thought she deserved. It was almost as Lila was on autopilot until her husband betrayed her at their wedding. Ferrante created two wonderfully strong female characters that you get to follow throughout their life. I can not wait to see how the novels continue and what happens to Elena and Lila's friendship as they grow older.
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