A Amiga Genial

I had already come across several opinions about Elena Ferrante's books, but I had never read any of them. On my 30th birthday, my cousin gave me My Brilliant Friend. Without much expectation, I started reading and finished the book in 3 days!

I really enjoyed the story of Elena and Lila, who captivated me with the adventures and misadventures of their childhood/early adolescence. Because of this, I’ll quickly have to buy the rest of the trilogy to find out how these characters' stories end.

The plot unfolds in Naples, in a post-war setting, very poor. The constant violence is felt in all aspects of life, whether among family members, friends, neighbors, or acquaintances, where scenes of violence were frequent.

The striking poverty of this neighborhood is felt on every page, whether it’s because it was rare for anyone to study beyond the basics, like Elena, or because of the difficulty and lack of support from families in these cases, as they never wanted their children to study.

The most intriguing character in this story is undoubtedly Lila – extremely intelligent and capable, learning all the school subjects on her own, a merit entirely her own. With a strong, violent, and difficult personality, I’m very curious to see how her life unfolds – will she remain trapped in the constraints of her family life in the neighborhood, or will her sharp intelligence allow her to spread her wings and fly beyond?