What do readers think of My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante? Write your own review.

Critics seem to rate this book with five stars, while readers give it a more valid rating of 3.5 stars. Realistic characters at times but unbelievable all too often. The characters become one-dimensional too often. Compare it to the beauty of books like Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" where "good" characters are shown to be evil, "bad" characters are shown to be good. Then look at Lila, Elena, Reno,... who are one - dimensional for 300 pages. This would not be a fair comparison, but it helps me describe my disappointment with how critics seem to be uncritical, at times.

The prologue grabbed my attention and I looked forward to unraveling the mystery of Lila's disappearance. The characters were well developed, the plot a little thin, the setting and the rhythm of the neighborhood were beautifully described (although not aesthetically beautiful). So what did I miss? In the prologue, Lenu tells us that she will relate every memory that she has about Lila but the story falls short by 40 years and by the end, the reader has no more knowledge of why Lila disappeared than her son Rino has at the beginning. The book was difficult to get through with little dialogue and many characters (thank goodness for the Character Index at the beginning), but the colorful description of life in Italy in the 50's kept me going (being a true Italophile). However, I felt cheated because the book was not a stand alone novel and one must rad the next 2 books in the trilogy to find out the reason for the prologue issues.

Let me start by saying that "My Brilliant Friend" is a difficult read but as a lover of all things Italian, I pushed through it. I was finally rewarded with a good story of three life-long friends, and I say three because Naples is a very large part of the the girls' relationship.

Family and friends also inundate the story. Lots of family and friends! There are so many characters to keep up with, the author kindly provides us with an "index of characters" that you WILL need to keep up with them all.

It's a slow start and you have to push yourself past the beginning of the book to get to the point where you're too invested to quit reading but I think, considering that this is the beginning of a trilogy, that the story will not only get better, but will continue to flesh out the most important characters, especially, Elena and Lila, whom we follow from their 8th year of age to their 16th year, which is why I only graded it as "average".

I don't think this type of book is for everyone. It's a good story but it's a bit convoluted and it's not what I would call a "relaxing" read. I plan on reading the next two installments but I have to say it's dependent upon how quickly they are published because I usually re-read the previous books to get myself back into the story and I'm honestly not sure I would re-read this book.

The prologue of this book will grab you, but you will not understand what has happened any more at the end of the book, as you will in the beginning. There is a lot of character development and the protagonists are quite idiosyncratic, but it was too much of the same thing, and I doubt I will plow through 2 more books to find out more about what was happening in the prologue. A read-alike that I would give a much higher rating to would be the Big Stone Gap books.

The story of two close friends and their choices and opportunities held my interest for too short a time. Although the premise was interesting I found it drawn out and repetitive.

This ia a story of two young friends set in Naples in the 50's. The story was a little gritty and the characters were not fleshed out enough to keep them separate. It was difficult to get through the book because there was not a strong plot.

I have to say this is not a book I would ordinarily read. I kept hoping it would get better, but it just didn't interest me. The way it was written, made it difficult for me to get interested in it; and I didn't understand the lifestyle, which just didn't make sense to me. It also read more like a memoir than a novel.

My Brilliant Friend has all the components for a good novel--primal human emotions, complex relationships, and an intriguing setting. We feel the love, hatred, fear, ambition, guilt of this microcosm of Italian society in the 1950's. Set in a very poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, we are drawn into relationships between parents and children, siblings, neighbors, and lovers. There is sometimes a Dickensian feel in the description of everyday life--the dreams, hopes, and often despair of the inhabitants of this sequestered world. The thread binding all these relationships is the coming of age and enduring friendship of two young girls, Lila and Elena.

But, for me, this novel is seriously flawed and ultimately fails. The endless narration and lack of dialogue makes this a difficult read. It is a character driven book, but there are too many characters and too many subplots. There is no clearly defined main plot line to propel the book forward. The ending is understated and disappointing. It does not make this reader eager to read the rest of the trilogy and continue the journey.