My Brilliant Friend

By Elena Ferrante

The story of two friends growing up together in Naples. The first in a series.

So Elena and Lila are the same age and go to the same school. They are both intelligent girls but live in a society that doesn't particularly value females beyond their traditional roles as wives and mothers.
Of the two girls, Lila is the wildest, the bravest and the smartest. Her intelligence and courage inspire her friend Elena and make her a better person. Without Lila, Elena would have just settled into the role society expected of her. But with Lila, Elena stretches her intellectual wings and becomes quite the scholar, even gaining entrance to higher education as a young teenager.
But since Elena is a smart girl, she eventually realizes that Lila is actually the one with the superior mind. She realizes that without Lila, she herself would probably be just average. And as the two girls enter into their teen years, Lila blossoms into a willowy beauty. While Elena sees herself as unattractive, with a broad face, big nose, acne and glasses. Elena also realizes that she has always been the follower to Lila the leader, always wanting Lila's approval and admiration.
Both of the girls, growing up poor in the 1950s, have to deal with the rampant violence and abuse that is a normal part of life in their world. Men beat their wives, beat their children, screaming abuse, breaking furniture, throwing dishes. Lila's father throws her out a window during an argument and her arm gets broken. No one gets arrested, no one gets punished, this is just the way things are there. Women and children walking around with black eyes and bruises are a common sight, no big deal. Spats with neighbors turn into vendettas. Rage is everywhere.

The abuse and violence was too much for me. I really didn't care for any of these people. Lila is a pill and Elena is a zero. Their society is repulsive. Their willingness to abuse and to tolerate the abuse was dispiriting. I was just tired of the lot of them towards the end of the book, which has a very abrupt ending. I guess it is designed to lead you on to the next book. But I am not interested in finding out anything more about any of them.