northdream's review against another edition
5.0
Elena Ferrante strikes literary gold again with a brilliantly written sequel to [b:My Brilliant Friend|13586707|My Brilliant Friend|Elena Ferrante|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343064947s/13586707.jpg|19174054]. What makes her writing distinctively consumable is her marriage of high literary voice and plebian drama - and by that I mean not just that she's writing about ordinary people, but that she captures the rhythm of an addictive soap opera complete with short chapters and cliffhangers.
This book follows Lina Greco and her ever-precocious but now relatively uneducated friend, Lila, who is still struggling for an outlet for her irrepressible intellect. Her marriage is already full of troubles (not a spoiler, that's how the last book ended). Meanwhile, Lina is still outstripping all of their classmates in her own bookish brilliance, even if she continues to try to tell us, the readers, with full self-deprecation and half-convincingly that her most impressive academic performances are all based on things Lila helped her with. The rest of their childhood chums are also facing a rapidly changing post-war Italy, including economic and cultural change and political tumult on the international stage. Personal fortunes have changed in ways none of them likely predicted. This book is full of soapy plot twists - yet it (almost) never seems like anything less than a great work of fiction. There are times where you swear this must have been based on someone's real life, and there are times when you can't believe anyone actually thinks it is (this has been cited as one reason Ferrante's real identity is undisclosed).
I want to add praise for the translator, who I can only assume must be the Lina to Ferrante's Lila. She's a great writer in her own right!
This book follows Lina Greco and her ever-precocious but now relatively uneducated friend, Lila, who is still struggling for an outlet for her irrepressible intellect. Her marriage is already full of troubles (not a spoiler, that's how the last book ended). Meanwhile, Lina is still outstripping all of their classmates in her own bookish brilliance, even if she continues to try to tell us, the readers, with full self-deprecation and half-convincingly that her most impressive academic performances are all based on things Lila helped her with. The rest of their childhood chums are also facing a rapidly changing post-war Italy, including economic and cultural change and political tumult on the international stage. Personal fortunes have changed in ways none of them likely predicted. This book is full of soapy plot twists - yet it (almost) never seems like anything less than a great work of fiction. There are times where you swear this must have been based on someone's real life, and there are times when you can't believe anyone actually thinks it is (this has been cited as one reason Ferrante's real identity is undisclosed).
I want to add praise for the translator, who I can only assume must be the Lina to Ferrante's Lila. She's a great writer in her own right!
lgiegerich's review against another edition
3.0
Better than the first one, but not without its annoyances. Still, I feel compelled to push on!
emeraldjulep's review against another edition
I just stopped caring enough about what happened to the characters to continue with this second book. These books are long and slow and needed more time commitment from me. I feel like I should have liked My Brilliant Friend more than I did - I keep wondering if it has something to do with the translation. If I only could read Italian I might have enjoyed it more.
mxgancxtherine's review against another edition
3.0
again, it's a 3.5! these characters are incredibly written, to the point where they feel like real people. but it's way too long.
eggsmcneil's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5