Living in Italy now, of course I need to include some italian literature to my reading list. I have read books by Umberto Eco, Margaret Mazzantini, Anzonio Tabucchi and Davide Longo. Now it is time to finally read Elena Ferrante.
My Brilliant Friend tells the story of Raffaella Cerullo, called Lina or Lila, and Elena Greco, called Lenuccia or Lenù, two young girls from Napoli. It starts when adult Elena finds out that her old friend Lila is missing – actually erased herself from the world – which does not surprise her, but brings her to write down their story.
Elena and Lila are born into poor families, with Elena being very scared and shy, Lila being the leader of the pack and not afraid of anything. They become best friends and do everything together, learn, play, doing dares. Elena is in awe of Lila, admires her courage and her cleverness, never claiming that for herself.
When primary school ends, Lila’s family refuses to let her keep learning, and she has to help in her father’s business making shoes. The teacher convinces Elena’s parents to let her get higher education, though, and she starts learning for both of them. She still struggles with her confidence, but seeing how Lila keeps teaching herself, she starts a very strict learning routine and becomes better step by step.
Over the years the paths of the two girls differ more and more, but still they keep close to each other. Elena keeps learning, Lila starts to design shoes, but her father does not want to hear about it. When in time she turns into a beauty, the boys start to become interested in her. There are two powerful young men, one, with whom she does not want anything to do with, and one who invests in her shoe designs.
Elena’s former teacher still takes interest in her, she lends her books and eventually sends her on a vacation, which boosts her confindence a lot. But there are two men there who are nothing good for her, the young man who she falls in love with and his father…
Back in Napoli, she dates another young man, despite still being in love with the other. Lila gets engaged, and a very big, splendid wedding follows… a day on which many directions into the future are initiated…
My Brilliant Friend is a story that takes us back in time, to a place of poverty and set social rules, in which both girls hope to change lanes by education or marriage. It seems to be told from the perspective of old Elena, but with a twist occuring near the end of the book that turns the narrator into an unreliable narrator.
For me the narration was kind of slow paced, which gives a certain intensity to the experiences and thoughts. But still I found that hopelessness lay over the story like a cloche. As there are three more books to go, I hope my feelings are wrong, but with the premise of Lila’s disappearance, I fear that will not be the case.
Elena Ferrante: Meine geniale Freundin. German translation by Karin Krieger. OT: L’amica geniale, Edizioni e/o, Roma, 2011.
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