My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

The last of the Neapolitan novels only came out a few months ago, but I feel like I'm late coming to Ferrante. Last year, she was everywhere and the near-universal praise of her books left me unsure whether I wanted to read or avoid them. My dad gave me the first three volumes, as well as her The Days of Abandonment, some time ago and they've been sitting on my shelf, largely forgotten, since. Last Friday scanning quickly for something to read, I first pulled out The Days of Abandonment, then wondered why I was putting off starting the Neapolitan novels and pulled out My Brilliant Friend instead. Some books are better than others for reading on the train, or other places where there are lots of potential distractions. Just before starting Ferrante, I tried for 2 days to read The Book of Disquiet on my commute, but I decided it was more of a weekend-in-a-cabin read than a subway read. My Brilliant Friend was totally absorbing. I read it from platform, to subway, to street during all my commutes for the last week. I read it for 2 hours in my doctor's waiting room despite the pop soundtrack in the background (something I would normally find exceedingly distracting). At the same time, I had no particular urge to read it once I was at home. (I did in fact finish it right before bed last night, but mostly to get it out of the way and start a fresh book this morning.) It's not usual for me to find a book so absorbing and yet not to want to lie on the couch and read it all day during the weekend. In the case of My Brilliant Friend, I think this has mostly to do with the simplicity - for lack of a better word - of the story. This isn't a criticism! There were life-changing events, there was drama, and yet it was somehow very quiet. I wasn't compelled to keep reading for hours to find out what happened next. Instead, I was content to put the book away when I got home and to be instantly reabsorbed in the book when I pulled it out on the subway the next morning.