Reviews

hmmmm elena (the character) is quite relatable to me but i also understand some aspects of lina. once again love reading about people’s lives. i can’t imagine living in such a small city and being confined to only that like i’d feel claustrophobic. i know they have no choice it’s just my opinion lol. they have much more exciting lives than i did as a teenager yet some aspects of that time never change (feeling depressed and unworthy and hopeless and ugly).

rleen3's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective tense slow-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

4.25

Wow?! What a beautiful portrayal of complex relationships, some of the most insightful descriptions of female friendship i’ve ever read

megansmith23's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this. Felt nostalgic almost and gripped me off the bat!

lilylikesbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

Lovely

zoebird81's review against another edition

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3.0

Bare, expansive, and cutting. Feels like mere setup to a larger, brilliant epic—I look forward to reading Neapolitan 2-4—yet there is so much vastness in this tiny little world of 1950s Naples.

I was more easily swept in by the narrators of DAYS OF ABANDONMENT and LYING LIFE OF ADULTS than I was with Elena in MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, but in a Ferrante fashion she remains a visceral beacon of the adolescent female experience. Yet it goes without saying, as it is so obvious, that Lila is the more fascinating of the two—after all, that is why we're kept from her at arm's length. She is a character desperate to leave her world without actually setting foot outside it; her ending in MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is one of the most damning and memorable conclusions to a story (albeit only a beginning for her, really) I've read in a long time.

People are as collapsible as Russian dolls; take away their outlines and they share an essence—after all, how many of us wear different shoes of the same size?

Ferrante has now, for the third time, summarized my experience of reading her prose within her own text: "I felt dazed by the powerful gusts, by the noise. I had the impression that, although I was absorbing much of that sight, many things, too many, were scattering around me without letting me grasp them."

kstieber's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

avrorae's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

jelenabts7's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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