Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - De geniale vriendin

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

De geniale vriendin by Elena Ferrante

38 reviews

radfordmanor's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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katrinarose's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a really interesting book, the friendship between Lenu and Lila is so complicated. I wanted them to stick together more and it was sad to watch them go on separate paths for reasons out of their control. They are both such interesting characters. The chapters were short and easy to read but I also felt like the book was a bit slow; there was almost no plot so that is a major thing to consider before deciding to read this. I thought about removing another half star for the times where it felt like it dragged, but I think that was almost the purpose. This is a story of their lives, not a typical conflict-driven plot with a climax and conclusion, so it felt wrong to rate it like it was. I think I will continue with the second book.

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paulawind's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don’t get how some people might speculate that the author under Ferrante’s pen name is a man because no man could write woman like this, even more the friendship dynamics of Lila and Elena. This is a piece of brilliant writing which shows the beautiful, ugly truth of people closest to us who we love to hate, who are pieces of our souls, ones who define who we are as people.

I can’t wait to read the rest of the series and what trajectory those binary stars will take - closer or away from each other, how will their friendship progress and how will they develop as people. This novel is a perfect example of writing about the most mundane life in such a captivating way that you feel as if you were reading about lives of famous individuals

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kell_xavi's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Poverty. School. Friendship. Shoes. Adolescence. Out of such well-known and simple concepts, Ferrante spins an intricate network of emotions, of characters that brings such lustre and clarity to her story. Set mainly in a poor neighbourhood in Naples, the author sets the scene of the novel with gossip about violence on her block, secret love affairs and condemned men, fraught domestic lives. She expands from here, into the alluring friendship between Lila and Lenu (Elena); they take us not outside the claustrophobia of the neighbourhood, but rather, deeply into fear and dominance, imagination, enriching conversation, jealousy and rivalry, and a bond between two people who know each other best.

Ferrante’s story is often quietly dramatic, matter-of-fact in its revelations. Even as the story increases in complexity (as does the setting, with prosperity in small stores, new cars, dating), Lenu and Lila remain the focus. Told in first person with Lenu as narrator, she explores Lila’s story alongside her own. Their growing up is very much together, the moments that are Lenu’s alone serving to tell us more about her ways of seeing, her experience and perspective—which then she brings to her friends.

The last chapters of the novel build towards a climax that we anticipate and fear alongside the two young women. Lila is somewhat changed, subdued, her stubbornness and creativity confined within her. Lenu observes, saddened, emboldened to leave and not be made small. Difficult conflicts ebb and flow, rushing hard and fast towards the girls with little warning. And right at the end, Ferrante gives us a sequence so expected and yet starling to the core. And there she leaves us.

The strongest work is this realist novel is emotional. The writing holds so much empathy for the characters, awareness of their needs, that what we feel is so close to their own warmths and chills. Lila, under Lenu’s constant gaze, grows from a harsh, daredevil child into an academic sensation into a hard-working, confident girl into a beauty, and page by page, we grow to understand her. Lenu is a softer, more predictable child, but she gains confidence as well, through hard work studying and taking care of those around her. By fifteen, I loved them both, felt proud of who they were becoming, and looked forward to seeing them through the series to its end.

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