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Andrada 🦋

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Andrada 🦋 is Currently Reading

Andrada 🦋 is currently reading

Doctor Jivago

by Boris Pasternak

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Patanjali and Yoga

by Mircea Eliade

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Oct 06, 2025 01:01PM

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My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)

by Elena Ferrante

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read in February 2023

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Andrada 🦋 said: " The Neapolitan Novels are a series of four books written by Italian pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante. Widely considered the best book series of the last decade, the story is a complex dive into the female psyche as it explores themes of female frie The Neapolitan Novels are a series of four books written by Italian pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante. Widely considered the best book series of the last decade, the story is a complex dive into the female psyche as it explores themes of female friendship, academia, marriage, motherhood, class struggles, career, poverty, patriarchy and heartbreak.
A bildungsroman at its core, following the friendship between Elena and Lila from their childhood through their old age, the series is also a chronicle of Italian society through the decades, from the outskirts of Naples to northern cities like Florence and Milan.
“My Brilliant Friend” is the story of their childhood up until their teenage years. “The Story of a New Name” follows Elena and Lila through their late teens and early 20s. In “Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay” we see their maturing process. Finally, “The Story of the Lost Child” portrays Elena and Lila’s lives through their 40s up to their 60s.
While Elena and Lila are opposites of one another, they are two sides of the same coin. Their looks, personalities and life courses are entirely different, yet they understand each other on a deep level and are dependent on each other. Elena is the narrator of the series, therefore we get to see her entire spectrum of emotions towards Lila, from tenderness and admiration to jealousy and frustration. We never get to see Lila’s perspective except as told by Elena. While Elena is a mirror reflecting the struggles and turmoils of women within the conflicted Italian society, Lila remains a mystery, the source of fascination and obsession of Elena and of those around her.
We see the girls playing various roles: the young child, the student, the wife, the mother, the divorcée, the mistress, the career woman, the social activist.
Through these four Neapolitan novels, Ferrante not only depicts an incredibly vivid social commentary, but also brilliantly describes the depths of the experience of girlhood and womanhood in all their stages. However, in the end, there is a question that remains unanswered: which of the girls is the brilliant friend? ...more "

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(page 55 of 331)
— Aug 27, 2025 04:22AM

Jul 16, 2023 04:02PM · see review

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