Sonja

Great beginning to the Neapolitan Quartet, it perfectly portrays a common female friendship dynamic by following two best friends Elena and Lila throughout their childhood and teenage years. Featuring an unreliable (and naive in nature) narrator in Elena, the reader is often left wondering which of the girls is actually a better friend to the other. The book tells the story of this friendship against the backdrop of a poor neighbourhood in Naples that is on the surface slowly changing with the times, yet in its core remains the same corrupt, violent and tough district. As such, the reader can immerse itself in a historical Italian setting while empathising with the neighbourhood children's tough upbringing and seeing the power (or rather, survival) struggle unravel both between the young and old generations.

The third book in the Neapolitan Quartet sees the power dynamics of Elena and Lila's friendship shift, largely due to Lila separating from her husband and ending up a factory worker, whereas Elena is paving a literary career. As such, Elena has successfully left the neighbourhood and its poverty behind while Lila has lost her short-lived riches and privileges as well as her first love. It is interesting to see how the characters' lives change even further in time both due to personal choices and the world changing (f.e. the workers' movement and the advent of computers). Mostly, it is pleasant to read that Elena's efforts are finally rewarded and some good luck is thrown her way, as well. The book is leading up to a fantastic finale in the final part.

A marvelous end to the Neapolitan Quartet, it sees Elena return to her childhood neighbourhood in Naples and become closer than ever with Lila, both simultaneously pregnant. Sadly, the happy content times are suddenly over when a tragedy occurs which changes Lila forever. The final part is overall a pleasure to read with many independent storylines coming to an end and characters finding closure. One of my personal favourite conclusions is how Elena realises that Nino was never so amazing as she imagined him to be, but rather a self-serving and narcissistic man who got as far in his career as he did only thanks to taking advantage of women who admired him. The only thing I did not enjoy, was the epilogue - it could've sent a more substantial message...but maybe, because Elena had stopped telling the story of Lila and others, she didn't have anything more interesting to say in the end, because she wasn't so original or brilliant after all? All in all, I am very satisfied with how the quartet ended.

Following "My Brilliant Friend", Elena and Lila become young adults and are confronted with new problems, opportunities and most importantly, self-images. It is, however, my least favourite part of the Neapolitan Quartet - compared to other parts it drags quite a bit and feels stuck in the period of Ischia. In addition, it is hard to sympathise with any of the characters in this volume, because all of them are acting on urges rather than making any rational decisions which leads them to disastrous results. Even more so, the events this part focuses on seem almost irrelevant by the end of the quartet (other than laying the basis for Elena's literary career). It is nevertheless a worthy read to get to the better parts of the quartet.

”The Vegetarian” is a difficult read. It doesn’t tell a pretty or comfortable story, but forces the reader to face the patriarchal society in place and as the cause of seemingly unrelated events. In the centre of the story, Yeong-hye is breaking free of the social norms and standards set by her father, husband and other males by making the innocent choice of becoming a vegetarian. As the circumstances evolve, she is eventually perceived as (or maybe actually driven to become) mentally ill, therefore left by her husband, abandoned by her parents and abused by her brother-in-law. Personally, I found that I was complicit as a reader in normalizing a patriarchal mindset because up until the third section of the book I did not fully realize myself how every female character’s life trajectory was rooted in and impacted by their male counterparts’ influence and control. I think it is a brilliant study of our society and a necessary read for everyone, just beware of the unsettling feeling it leaves you with.