Nobody else' s book club: My Brilliant Friend
How is your Prometheus reading going? I have not finished it yet, but I am listening to Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, not reading them. I like to listen to books while I knit. Some patterns require too much attention for synchronous reading and some books demands it too. Greek tragedy is definitely on the latter category. I have finished My Brilliant Friend yesterday and already downloaded the next book which is The Story of a New Name.
I have found My Brilliant Friend a very, very interesting book. Amazing insight into childhood and teenage years. I understand why so many people believe the books to be autobiographic, but I think that is quite naive. Do you really remember your inner thoughts and feelings, the conversations with your friends and family word-by-word, from so long ago and with such vivid detail? What this book shows is that the author is an amazing observer of the people around her. A mind-reader almost. And that is what is so captivating to me. I am betting the author has children of her own and even some nieces in addition to inspire her work. And this distance is only an advantage to the book. It gains a perspective, an insight that makes it more valuable. Brilliant, being the right word here, indeed.
In the past, I have had the experience of reading a book I knew little of, by an author I knew little of too, and having this very strong feeling that the book was autobiographic (Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence being one example that comes to mind, and I highly recommend it too). Only to later find out that I was indeed right in my guess. The opposite has however never happened to me. I am not saying the book is not semi-autobiographic, all books are to some extent and, of course, this one feels a lot like it. What I am saying is that I sense a distance between the author and her characters and I would be surprised if this is more autobiographic than the average novel. I am not sure, why I am emphasising this point so much. I guess because of all the polemics about the forced unmasking of Elena Ferrante's true identity (the journalist that was responsible for it defends himself by claiming the author is lying to her readers by letting them believe the novels are autobiographic, as if fiction books have an obligation to tell the truth, welcome to the 21st century).
What makes Elena Ferrante so popular is not only her amazing insight, but also the fact that her novels are completely story driven and have an amazing pace. There is always something happening, any philosophic digression or simple description of places or appearances is never longer than a few sentences. You keep on reading because you want to know what is going to happen next. What happens next is never out-of-this-world, but it is unexpected enough to give the story a sense of realism. Because, indeed, are we not humans full of contradictions? Do we not constantly act against our better judgement, our instincts or our feelings? Yes, we do, and all of Ferrante's characters do the same. Highly recommended.
One last remark, the book is quite misandrous. Good thing we live in a world where only misogyny is a bad word. The men's rights movement has indeed reason to complain. Just kidding.
I have found My Brilliant Friend a very, very interesting book. Amazing insight into childhood and teenage years. I understand why so many people believe the books to be autobiographic, but I think that is quite naive. Do you really remember your inner thoughts and feelings, the conversations with your friends and family word-by-word, from so long ago and with such vivid detail? What this book shows is that the author is an amazing observer of the people around her. A mind-reader almost. And that is what is so captivating to me. I am betting the author has children of her own and even some nieces in addition to inspire her work. And this distance is only an advantage to the book. It gains a perspective, an insight that makes it more valuable. Brilliant, being the right word here, indeed.
In the past, I have had the experience of reading a book I knew little of, by an author I knew little of too, and having this very strong feeling that the book was autobiographic (Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence being one example that comes to mind, and I highly recommend it too). Only to later find out that I was indeed right in my guess. The opposite has however never happened to me. I am not saying the book is not semi-autobiographic, all books are to some extent and, of course, this one feels a lot like it. What I am saying is that I sense a distance between the author and her characters and I would be surprised if this is more autobiographic than the average novel. I am not sure, why I am emphasising this point so much. I guess because of all the polemics about the forced unmasking of Elena Ferrante's true identity (the journalist that was responsible for it defends himself by claiming the author is lying to her readers by letting them believe the novels are autobiographic, as if fiction books have an obligation to tell the truth, welcome to the 21st century).
What makes Elena Ferrante so popular is not only her amazing insight, but also the fact that her novels are completely story driven and have an amazing pace. There is always something happening, any philosophic digression or simple description of places or appearances is never longer than a few sentences. You keep on reading because you want to know what is going to happen next. What happens next is never out-of-this-world, but it is unexpected enough to give the story a sense of realism. Because, indeed, are we not humans full of contradictions? Do we not constantly act against our better judgement, our instincts or our feelings? Yes, we do, and all of Ferrante's characters do the same. Highly recommended.
One last remark, the book is quite misandrous. Good thing we live in a world where only misogyny is a bad word. The men's rights movement has indeed reason to complain. Just kidding.
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