My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1)
by Ferrante, Elena; Goldstein, Ann [Translator]
- Used
- Acceptable
- Paperback
- Condition
- Acceptable
- ISBN 10
- 1609450787
- ISBN 13
- 9781609450786
- Seller
-
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
3 Copies Available from This Seller
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
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.
Reviews
This book is not just great, it's transcendent. And thrillingly, it's the first of a trilogy. A recent piece in the NYTimes about the mysterious author called her writing "fierce" which is exactly how I have been characterizing it when obnoxiously buttonholing all my bookreading friends to read the book. The voice and the propulsion of the writing is unlike anything I have ever read; the narrator (very possibly unreliable and certainly difficult) is a brilliant student trying to rocket out of an impoverished neighborhood in post-war Naples. Her relationship with a possibly even more brilliant, and beautiful best friend is tortured. Their early relationship, born of neighborhood and rivalry at school is played out against the primitive civilization of poverty-stricken Naples where every small victory is hard won and victors are few.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Gulf Coast Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1609450787-4-21899029
- Title
- My Brilliant Friend: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 1)
- Author
- Ferrante, Elena; Goldstein, Ann [Translator]
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Acceptable
- Quantity Available
- 3
- ISBN 10
- 1609450787
- ISBN 13
- 9781609450786
- Publisher
- Europa Editions
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2012-09-25
- Size
- 5x0x8
- X weight
- 13 oz
Terms of Sale
Gulf Coast Books
About the Seller
Gulf Coast Books
About Gulf Coast Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Acceptable
- A non-traditional book condition description that generally refers to a book in readable condition, although no standard exists...