Our June Book of the Month is Elena Ferrante’s, My Brilliant Friend. In the acclaimed first novel of her Neapolitan series, Ferrante—called “…one of the great novelists of our time,” by The New York Times Book Review—explores the struggles of friendship beneath the backdrop of tumultuous, post-war Italy.
“Many weeks have passed since I finished this novel and my only wish is that I hadn’t read it yet—it continues to haunt me in all the best ways. The narrator is Elena Greco, her best friend is Lila Carullo, and the story is of their psychologically complex friendship as girls, growing up in a rough, economically divided neighborhood on the outskirts of 1950s Naples. As children, their mutual fears and unusual imaginations bind them to each other. As adolescents, they drift and diverge but always return to their friendship… Dark, atmospheric, and untamed, My Brilliant Friend is brilliant. May it never leave me.”
– Laura, TheBookloft, Great Barrington, MA
Join readers and listeners all month on social media to discuss My Brilliant Friend. Use the hashtag #FerranteFever and find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
For more about the mystery behind Elena Ferrante’s true identity, check out this article from the New York Times.