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My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1)

#1 BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY - NEW YORK TIMES


Now an HBO series: the first volume in the New York Times-bestselling "enduring masterpiece" about a lifelong friendship between two women from Naples (The Atlantic).


Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Elena Ferrante's four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its main characters, 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 conflicted friendship. This first novel in the series follows Lila and Elena from their 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 two women.

"An intoxicatingly furious portrait of enmeshed friends."--Entertainment Weekly

"Spectacular."--Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air

"Captivating."--The New Yorker


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331 pages

Average rating: 7.2

448 RATINGS

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21 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

ediehas
Feb 28, 2025
10/10 stars
between 4.5 and 5 stars rounding it up. really loved this story, love a story about growing up and nothing happens but everything is happening. that ending though neeeeed to read the next.
JShrestha
Feb 12, 2025
4/10 stars
This was a book club read. I had to force myself to start and restart this book as, although the author plotted the story to always return its foreshadowing, dragged the story and lacked any appeal. It's the first of a 4 book series of the first 16 years frenemy relationship of 2 girls. Told by the narrative of Elena, she introduces her childhood acquaintance who she grew up with in an impoverished neighborhood in the outskirts of Naples, Italy. Through a rivalry of competition and jealously, you follow these girls and their drive to stay in touch under the false claim of friendship. Their mannerisms come across as mature yet not as their interactions are driven by childish behaviours. Even the change of tone at the last minute left me no desire to read the other books.
ELH
Jan 25, 2025
1/10 star
Extremely boring.
Anonymous
Jan 11, 2025
did not finish…. FOR NOW.
Barbara ~
Dec 11, 2024
8/10 stars
Very captivating and soap opera feel to it.

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