My Brilliant Friend

I've been hearing a lot about Ferrante lately. Her latest book made up the long tail of a bunch of best of lists for 2014 as well as topping translated reads. Ferrante is a pseudonym and the author makes Salinger seem downright social in comparison. This is the first book in the Neapolitan series which follows the lives of Elena Greco and Raffaella (Lila) Cerullo. Book one gets as far as their teenage years starting from when these frenemies are first introduced.

It's a luxuriously paced Bildungsroman that explores class rifts, how your community and friends define you and yet force you to define yourself in opposition to them. Nothing much really happens here and somehow it avoids being a plodding reminiscence. I'm actually surprised how much I liked this book and will be picking up the rest in the series.