{"id":70882,"date":"2017-04-06T13:27:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T02:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=70882"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:27:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T02:27:57","slug":"review-brilliant-friend-elena-ferrante-tv-adaptation-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2017\/04\/06\/review-brilliant-friend-elena-ferrante-tv-adaptation-come\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante | TV adaptation to come."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"John Purcell’s review<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why do I put off reading books which come with a great many excellent recommendations? Is it some residue from my adolescent self, standing firm against the coercion of the group?<\/p>\n

Probably something as stupid as that.<\/p>\n

Well, I’m glad I overcame that foolishness when it came to picking up this much lauded, discussed and recommended novel, which is the first in a series of novels by that strangely secretive author.<\/p>\n

My Brilliant Friend<\/em> doesn’t grab you by the throat and demand to be read. It is far too self-possessed for that. This is a story told with quiet precision, a story which unfolds effortlessly, placing you firmly in the setting, the outskirts of Naples, introducing you to two very different little girls who become friends before your eyes. Surrounding them is cast of fully realised characters, with backstories and heartbeats, who continue to live richly even when not directly part of the narrative, their stories continuing offstage, as it were.<\/p>\n

There is something uniquely compelling about this cool approach. This is a story which seems to declare – I don’t need you, dear reader, to exist.<\/p>\n

(By the way, I call balderdash on those who claim that these books are better suited to a female audience).<\/p>\n

Caroline Baum’s Review<\/b><\/p>\n

I had some catching up to do on the rest of the world. It took me until book three in the quartet, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay<\/em>,<\/a> to become gripped by the relationship at the centre of these novels but once I surrendered, that was it. I think I forgot to breathe while reading Part Four, The Story of the Lost Child<\/i><\/a>. It was so tough and gritty, so fierce and ruthless in its brutal psychological honesty about the dynamics between two flawed women of great strength whose fates are intertwined by forces that are almost mythic.<\/p>\n

By the time we reach the final volume, Lila and Elena argue about politics, family, community, friendship with an almost savage intensity. Raw power tears across every page. Tragedy, menace, revenge and grief haunt the final chapters of this epic literary achievement. It richly repays the time invested, building to a crescendo from which the reader, when released, may feel a little bereft.<\/p>\n\n\t\t