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Title: My Brilliant Friend (Goodreads)
Author: Elena Ferrante
Translator: Ann Goldstein
Series: The Neapolitan Novels #1
Published: Text, 2013
Pages: 331
Genres: Historical Fiction
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
 

Elena Ferrante has become a literary sensation lately, with the four-part Neapolitan series. These books are a bildungsroman that explores the lives of friends Elena and Lila. My Brilliant Friend follows their childhoods and teenage years, living in Naples during the 1950s. There are speculations that this series is autobiographical but Elena Ferrante is so secretive and does not do interviews, so no one can know for sure.

Naples was the first Italian city to rise up against the Nazi occupation, in fact when American troops landed they found that the city was already liberated. After the war, while Italy was trying to rebuild and recover, a majority of the focus remained in Rome and this southern city did not much get more attention. The Italian Social Movement and neo-fascist movements across Italy caused plenty of political tension.

Having said that, for Elena and Lila, their entire world consisted of the few blocks they grew up in. Not knowing the devastation running across Italy, these two friends focused on their own problems, both having a very tough life with plenty of dark moments seeping into this novel. Do not expect a normal coming of age story, these two brilliant friends have to live through devastating moments and conditions, making this novel not for the faint of heart.

Source; 

http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/historical-fiction/my-brilliant-friend-by-elena-ferrante/

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