Book Club Guide

My Brilliant Friend

by Elena Ferrante · 2011 · Literary Fiction

Key themes

Female friendship as love, rivalry, and the mirror you can't look away from
Naples as a place — its violence, its beauty, its grip
The brilliant girl who escapes and the equally brilliant one who cannot

About this book

In 1950s Naples, two girls — Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo — form the friendship that will shape both their lives. Lila is brilliant and fierce and will not escape the neighbourhood; Elena, quieter and more pliant, will. The first of Ferrante's four Neapolitan novels is about female friendship, class, ambition and the specific violence of poverty in post-war Italy.

Published in Italian in 2011 and in English in 2012, My Brilliant Friend is the first of the Neapolitan quartet. 'Elena Ferrante' is a pseudonym; the author's identity remains unknown despite extensive investigation by journalists.

Discussion questions

Elena and Lila's friendship is competitive, dependent and transformative. How does Ferrante show the specific complexity of close female friendship — and what does it share with and differ from romantic love?
Lila is described as the most brilliant person Elena has ever known — and she will not leave the neighbourhood. What is Ferrante saying about intelligence and fate, and about the structures that prevent talent from becoming destiny?
The Naples of the novel is physically violent and economically brutal. How does the setting function — as context, as character, or as the third term in Elena and Lila's relationship?
Ferrante is a pseudonym — no one knows her real identity. Does knowing this affect how you read the novel — and what does the anonymity preserve?
The Neapolitan novels have been enormously popular across the world. What does My Brilliant Friend offer readers regardless of whether they know Naples or the period — what is universal in it?