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My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1)
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My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1) Paperback - 2012

by Elena Ferrante; Ann Goldstein (Translator)

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, this rich, intense, and generous-hearted story gives a meticulous portrait of two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.


Summary

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. 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 her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila. Ferrante is the author of three previous works of critically acclaimed fiction: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. With this novel, the first in a trilogy, she proves herself to be one of Italy’s great storytellers. She has given her readers a masterfully plotted page-turner, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations, that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new readers to her fiction.

From the publisher

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

Details

  • Title My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1)
  • Author Elena Ferrante; Ann Goldstein (Translator)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st Edition
  • Pages 336
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Europa Editions, New York
  • Date 2012-09-25
  • Features Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9781609450786 / 1609450787
  • Weight 0.8 lbs (0.36 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.2 x 5.1 x 1.1 in (20.83 x 12.95 x 2.79 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1950-1999
    • Cultural Region: Italy
    • Sex & Gender: Feminine
    • Topical: Coming of Age
    • Topical: Friendship
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Friendship
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 09/01/2012, Page 55
  • Entertainment Weekly, 09/12/2014, Page 43
  • New York Review of Books, 12/18/2014, Page 67
  • New York Times Book Review, 12/23/2012, Page 21
  • Publishers Weekly, 08/27/2012, Page 47
  • Shelf Awareness, 09/28/2012, Page 0

About the author

Elena Ferrante is the author of The Days of Abandonment (Europa, 2005), which was made into a film directed by Roberto Faenza, Troubling Love (Europa, 2006), adapted by Mario Martone, and The Lost Daughter (Europa, 2008), soon to be a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is also the author of a Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey (Europa, 2016) in which she recounts her experience as a novelist, and a children's picture book illustrated by Mara Cerri, The Beach at Night (Europa, 2016). The four volumes known as the "Neapolitan quartet" (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child) were published in America by Europa between 2012 and 2015. The first season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend, directed by Severio Costanzo premiered in 2018.
Ann Goldstein
is an editor at The New Yorker. Her translations for Europa Editions include novels by Amara Lakhous, Alessandro Piperno, and Elena Ferrante's bestselling My Brilliant Friend. She lives in New York.

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