Diane Reviews My Brilliant Friend

Title: My Brilliant Friend

Author:  Elena Ferrante

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Europa Editions / Penguin

Edition: eGalley

Setting:  Italy

Source: Edelweiss

Date Completed: September/2012

Rating: 4/5

Recommend:  yes

The first in a proposed trilogy, by an Italian author I've enjoyed in the past, My Brilliant Friend, releases next week. The story takes place outside of Naples in a poor part of town. It's a town where people work hard just to put food on the tables of their families, tempers flare and violence is not unusual. Even good friends aren't always kind to one another.

The story begins in the present with a phone call and then flashes back to the 1950s. Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo are young girls who meet at the age of eight in the 1950s  and become friends. Both are from poor families and growing up has it's challenges, but Lila's family has even less than Elena's family.  This is evidenced by the jealousy Lila feels when she first sees Elena's somewhat superior doll.  The girls are playing and Lila throws her doll down a grate and then challenges Elena to do the same with her doll. When they can't find the dolls in the basement area, Lila tells Elena, the the town's most feared man, Don Achille has taken the dolls and put them in his bag. She challenges Eleana to confront him.

Lila, is clearly the leader, a bully who can stand up for herself. She's one of the most hated children in school at an early age. A girl who is brilliant, has spunk and determination and one who doesn't take no for an answer.  Elena is the good girl, also smart, however, she has to work very hard for good grades, while it comes naturally for her friend Lila.  Elena is also a follower who is constantly being challenged by her friend to do things that she is uncomfortable doing.

Sadly, in 1950's Italy even bright children do not automatically attend high school and college, oftentimes being expected to help the family out by working.  It is at this point that the girls paths take different turns, and ultimately the reader is left with lots of questions, which begs for another novel about  Lila and Elena grown up years.

(an interesting passage)

[I felt no nostalgia for our childhood: it was full of violence.......life was like that, that's all, we grew up with the duty to make it difficult for others before they made it difficult for us.]

There is an interesting section in the novel where Lila talks about having episodes of "dissolving boundaries" where on those occasions the outlines of people and things suddenly dissolve and disappear. In fact this novel begins with a present day telephone call from Rico, a son of Lila to Eleana saying that his 66 year-old mother has disappeared, so there are many questions that go unanswered.

I liked this new novel, but I had a few issues with it as well.  Even though it is really Eleana and Lila's story (and they are such memorable protagonists), there are so many many characters in this novel. After a while, in my mind at least, I just figured each new person was pretty much someone related to one of the girls or a friend of someone else.  To me, all these non essential characters made the plot drag in certain parts, but don't get me wrong, this is still a story worth reading.

The translation is excellent and the author is a master of creating a wonderful sense of place. I could visualize the sights, sounds, smells of the villages, as well as the appearances of the characters. It's a story of family, of friendship and of the struggles and challenges of an impoverished life.  I suspect that the sequels to follow will nicely fill in the missing pieces of Elena and Lila's middle-aged years.

If you decide to read this one, I'd love to hear what you thought.

The Days of Abandonment; Elena Ferrante

Lately I've found myself returning to authors that I've enjoyed in the past. Elena Ferrant is one of these authors.  Here is my review of her book, The Lost Daughter, in case you missed it previously. In The Days of Abandonment, the title pretty much says it all. A short novel (188 pages)  but, with a story, and an intro  that packs a wallop.

"One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me.  He did it while we were clearing the table;  the children were quarreling as usual in the next room, the dog was dreaming, growling beside the radiator.  He told me that he was confused, that he was having terrible moments of weariness, of dissatisfaction, perhaps of cowardice.  He talked for a long time about our fifteen years of marriage, about the children, and he admitted he had nothing to reproach with us, neither them nor me,  He was composed, as always, apart from an extravagant gesture of his right hand when he explained to me, with a childish frown, that soft voices, a sort of whispering, were urging him elsewhere.  Then he assumed the blame for everything that was happening and closed the front door carefully behind him, leaving me turned to stone beside the sink."

What follows is the story of a 38 year-old wife and mother with two young child who begins to unravel, losing all sense of normalcy in life with this unexpected announce from her husband Mario.  Of course, Mario’s confusion is just an excuse, as there is a 20 year-old woman in the picture which is revealed early on. The new woman is actually a student Mario had once tutored, and then began to see on the side.  He told his wife the affair was over, when in fact it was still going on.

Olga was once a writer, but she traded her dreams of becoming famous for marriage and motherhood, and after 15 years of comfortable routines,  she finds herself totally helpless with what has just happened.   Once Olga kept a spotless house, cooked gourmet meals, her home is now in shambles, her children  and  even the family dog , Otto are neglected. She spends her time in desperation, writing  letters to her husband – not even knowing where he is staying.  She spends a lot of time analyzing what and when things started to go wrong in their marriage. She experiences, many of the stages of “death and dying” –denial, anger and rage, a bottomless pit of depression before she moves on to the final stage of acceptance.

She has a hot and heavy sexual encounter with an older man, Carrano, who lives in her building, which could shock some readers. It’s descriptive, complete with foul language and some remorse afterward.  A sad incident involving the family dog occurs, and there is incident when Mario comes over to see the children and she invites him to stay for a meal that really left me chuckling. After several months of watching her own life spiral downward, Olga gradually begins to accept the fact that life as she one day new if will never be the same.

This sparse book was so well written. It was translated from Italian, and the words just flowed so well.  It’s an additive read, told from Olga’s  point of view, which worked perfectly; she was a believable protagonist The story’s ending was hopeful . I invite you read this book, and to go inside the mind of,   “a woman scorned. “