"My Brilliant Friend" by Elena Ferrante

Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet is very popular and I was curious to check it out. I decided to at least read book 1 and see how it goes. All I knew about the book going in was that it was about friendship between two girls. The book is written from the point of view of one of the girls - Elena. She and her friend Lila are growing up in post-war Italy and live in a poor neighborhood of Naples. Elena's father is a porter and Lila's is a shoemaker. In elementary school, it becomes obvious that Lila is far better at reading, math and other subjects than the rest of the students. While Elena has to work hard just to stay second best, learning comes easily to Lila and she seems to make no effort at all. Unfortunately, Lila's parents forbid her to continue studying after she graduates from elementary school. Elena continues on to middle school and high school.

The girls' friendship is complicated and at times painful. Elena constantly feels inferior first in intelligence and later in looks and love life. She truly feels Lila is the smarter and more beautiful of the two of them. However, this competition with her best friend is what pushes her to study harder, to always aim higher and to continue dreaming of a better life. We never get to glimpse what goes on in Lila's head, but at one point in the book, she turns to Elena and calls her "my brilliant friend" - the words Elena would just as readily apply to Lila. Ultimately, both girls do everything they can in their own, albeit different, ways to escape poverty and the confines of the neighborhood plagued by violence, jealousy and settling of scores. The book ends with Lila's wedding. At 16, she marries the neighborhood grocer - a seemingly successful match that will take her out of poverty. However, Elena realizes that getting out of their circumstances is not that easy. She also feels more acutely than ever before that she does not belong in the neighborhood. She has no one to talk to about the things she learned at school, and even Lila is no longer interested in intellectual pursuits.

I must say it took me longer than I thought it would to get through the book. It is a slow read, and some sections in the middle of the book felt too drawn out. However, the narrative picked up and got more interesting towards the end, and I am curious about the rest of Elena's and Lila's story. 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth reading.