My Brilliant Friend (All reviews)

Sep 21 2019
The 100 best books of the 21st century
— The Guardian
Nov 19 2018
From Fellini to Ferrante: the cinematic vision of My Brilliant Friend
— The Guardian
Nov 15 2018
How Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend became a TV drama
— The Times
Nov 15 2018
‘My Brilliant Friend’ Review: Ferrante Adaptation Packs an Emotional Wallop
— Rolling Stone
Nov 11 2018
‘I fell in love with Lila’: on the set of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend
— The Observer
Nov 11 2018
My Brilliant Friend Television Series: Everything You Need To Know
— Vogue UK
Aug 30 2018
The Greatest Literary Work of the Last Decade Will Be a Gorgeous HBO Series
— Esquire
Sep 26 2017
Jonathan Franzen: 'I defy anyone to finish it without wetting the pages with tears'
— The Guardian
Sep 11 2017
Seven European bestsellers you should read in 2017
— BBC Radio 4
Jul 11 2017
Best holiday reads 2017, picked by writers – part two
— The Observer
Jun 28 2017
Seven European bestsellers you should read in 2017
— BBC Radio 4
Jun 22 2017
Sausages and greens, Napoli-style, from Rachel Roddy
— The Guardian
Jun 12 2017
SIX NOVELS THAT NAIL THE BFF RELATIONSHIP
— The Debrief
Jun 8 2017
Future Classics: 50 Literary Greats
— Barnes & Noble
Jun 8 2017
Ferrante's Secret Mirror
— Public Books
Apr 10 2017
Why Readers Love Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels
— Aspen Institute
Mar 22 2017
My Brilliant Friend, theatre review: Ambitious, satisfying attempt to realise Elena Ferrante's world
— Evening Standard
Mar 19 2017
My Brilliant Friend review – intensity wins through
— The Observer
Mar 14 2017
My Brilliant Friend review – triumphant staging of Elena Ferrante's quartet
— The Guardian
Mar 12 2017
My Brilliant Friend: a fleet, sleek adaptation of Ferrante's novels – review
— The Telegraph
Mar 8 2017
Elena Ferrante’s Naples Novels to Make Their Way to TV
— The New York Times
Mar 4 2017
How on earth do you put 1,600 pages of Elena Ferrante on stage?
— The Spectator
Mar 1 2017
From page to stage: Meet the woman bringing the mysterious Elena Ferrante to life
— The Telegraph
Jan 13 2017
‘Elena Ferrante was more challenging than Tolstoy’
— The Times
Jan 11 2017
Casting announced for Elena Ferrante stage adaptation
— The Stage
Dec 1 2016
Romantic notions: does fiction warp our thinking about love?
— The Irish Times
Nov 26 2016
Best books of 2016 – part one
— The Guardian
Nov 21 2016
The World Tonight
— BBC
Oct 6 2016
Elena Ferrante’s ‘My Brilliant Friend’ Goes From Page to Stage
— The New York Times
Aug 6 2016
Sister act: female friendship in fiction from Woolf to Ferrante and Zadie Smith
— The Guardian
Jul 25 2016
The subtle art of translating foreign fiction
— The Guardian
May 22 2016
In search of Elena Ferrante’s Naples
— The Irish Times
May 12 2016
Spurn the Translator at Your Own Peril
— The Millions
May 12 2016
Man Booker Shortlist: Translating Elena Ferrante
— BBC
May 11 2016
Man Booker Shortlist: Elena Ferrante On Using A Pseudonym
— BBC
May 10 2016
Translated fiction sells better in the UK than English fiction, research finds
— The Guardian
May 8 2016
Man Booker Shortlist: Elena Ferrante's Naples
— BBC
May 8 2016
Elena Ferrante's Naples
— BBC
Apr 9 2016
What Elena Ferrante’s writing means to me
— The Literary Sofa
Apr 4 2016
Pseudonyms, puzzles and privacy
— The Oxford Culture Review
Apr 3 2016
The epic task of bringing the enigmatic Elena Ferrante's books to life
— The Guardian
Mar 22 2016
Best foreign books translated into English
— Culture Whisper
Mar 16 2016
BBC Newsnight
— BBC
Mar 8 2016
Elena Ferrante’s insistence on anonymity is an absolute necessity
— The Hindustan Times
Mar 1 2016
March Book Club: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
— The Times
Feb 28 2016
How Karl Ove Knausgaard and Elena Ferrante won us over
— The Telegraph
Feb 26 2016
Jeffrey Archer: 'Elena Ferrante does for Naples what Dickens did for London'
— The Independent
Feb 19 2016
Elena Ferrante: 'Anonymity lets me concentrate exclusively on writing'
— The Guardian
Feb 8 2016
Ebook reviews: Discovering new worlds with #womenintranslation
— The Irish Times
Feb 2 2016
Savage Fury: Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Room of One’s Own
— Erratic Dialogues
Feb 2 2016
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman
— Erratic Dialogues
Jan 30 2016
Katherine Hill on Saving Books, Literary Power, & Ferrante Fever (Part 4)
— Writerly States
Jan 28 2016
108. Some Books I Read in 2015
— Ursula K. Le Guin's Blog
Jan 28 2016
The Ideal Marriage, According to Novels
— The New Yorker
Jan 26 2016
Parallel Lives? Elena Ferrante’s Naples and My West New Rochelle
— Metro Politics
Dec 21 2015
Danielle McLaughlin: ‘I think we need different books at different times’
— The Irish Times
Dec 21 2015
The mystery of our favourite writers
— The Hindu
Dec 16 2015
The Books We Loved in 2015
— The New Yorker
Dec 15 2015
FERRANTE, IN HISTORY
— Public Books
Dec 9 2015
What’s the Best Book, New or Old, You Read This Year?
— The New York Times's Sunday Book Review
Dec 7 2015
Fall in love this Christmas with a good book: Something for everyone - our critics select the year’s best novels Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-3344877/Fall-love-Christmas-good-book-critics-select-year-s-best-novels.html#ixzz3td4MBvum Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
— Daily Mail
Dec 7 2015
The books that made my year
— The Pool
Dec 3 2015
Lady Things: Holiday Gift Guide
— Lady Things
Dec 2 2015
Amelia: 10 Things I’m Thankful For This Year
— The Frisky
Dec 2 2015
ESSAY: The storyteller: On Elena Ferrante
— Dawn
Dec 2 2015
Say Hello to My Brilliant Friend
— Sorry Television
Nov 30 2015
100 Notable Books of 2015
— The New York Times
Nov 30 2015
Best books of 2015 – part two
— The Guardian
Nov 30 2015
Best books of 2015 – part one
— The Guardian
Nov 28 2015
What 50 of our best writers read in 2015 and why
— Herald Scotland
Nov 25 2015
Readers’ Review: “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante
— The Diane Rehm Show
Nov 24 2015
Waterstones prepares for new chapter as bookshop chain returns to profitability
— The Guardian
Nov 24 2015
STUFF I’VE BEEN READING
— The Believer
Nov 20 2015
Friends and Other Enemies
— The Wall Street Journal
Nov 18 2015
What are top reads this Christmas? Suffolk book shop owner shares his recommendations
— East Anglian Daily Times
Nov 14 2015
Notes from last night: “On Elena Ferrante: Jhumpa Lahiri & Ann Goldstein in Conversation”
— Author Stalker
Nov 13 2015
Waterstones Book Of The Year Shortlist 2015
— Waterstones
Nov 13 2015
Ferrante Fever
— The Hindu
Nov 5 2015
I Love Dick is one of the most important books about being a woman – no wonder it’s being dismissed
— The Independent
Nov 3 2015
The Impersonal Is Political
— Slate
Nov 3 2015
The Guardian view on the Baileys women’s prize for fiction – still needed, 20 years on
— The Guardian
Oct 22 2015
Food in books: the pistachio cream puffs in Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend
— The Guardian
Oct 21 2015
4x4th Estate: Lost In A Good Translation
— 4th Estate
Sep 29 2015
The Rites of Women
— The Junket
Sep 17 2015
James Franco instagrammed his recent Ferrante fever affliction. Teenage girls the world over rush out to buy MY BRILLIANT FRIEND.
— James Franco on instagram
Sep 14 2015
ReadingGroupGuides.com’s September, “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?”: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is the prize
— ReadingGroupGuides.com
Sep 14 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is #21 on the Nielsen list.
— Nielsen list
Sep 1 2015
Waterstones' latest Book Club titles revealed
— The Bookseller
Aug 31 2015
"But while the relationship between protagonists Elena and Lila is the story’s heart, there’s another character exerting a strong influence on their lives: the city of Naples, which is portrayed in gritty detail throughout the novels."
— TIME
Aug 28 2015
"These are Elena Ferrante's women trapped in a Lars von Trier film."
— New Republic
Aug 27 2015
Off the Shelf’s 11 Binge-Worthy Literary Series: THE NEAPOLITAN NOVELS
— Off the Shelf
Aug 25 2015
"Ferrante had brought the story, the lives she was excavating, to a conclusion that, while it does not answer all the questions, or even many of them, feels the way life feels."
— Foyles
Aug 23 2015
22 Essential Women Writers to Read in Translation: Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels
— Flavorwire
Aug 20 2015
"What Are Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels About? Hint: It's Not Ice Cream"
— Bustle
Aug 13 2015
10 Great Books To Read Now Based On Your Favorite Titles As A Kid (That, OK, You Still Love Now, Too): MY BRILLIANT FRIEND
— Bustle
Aug 11 2015
"More than that, however, the letter is an affirmation to those of us torn between publishing and our privacy, showing us that having our careers doesn't necessitate the end of our lives as private citizens."
— Bustle
Aug 10 2015
"... it’s refreshing to see a writer committed to dodging the bandwagon at every turn."
— Electric Lit
Aug 3 2015
"Ferrante’s writing is rich, honest and addictive."
— Scout Magazine
Aug 1 2015
"They’ve got love, life, politics, friendship, a window into an unknown world and fantastic writing – they are the best thing I’ve read in years.”
— The Sunday TImes
Aug 1 2015
"Not only do they provide an intimately written description of a female friendship, clear as life, but together they form a female Künstlerroman, a woman’s story of coming of age as an artist in a male-dominated world..."
— How We Spend Our Days
Aug 1 2015
London Review of Books Bookshop's Author of the Month: Elena Ferrante
— London Review of Books
Jul 30 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is #3 on the London Review of Books list of weekly bestsellers.
— London Review of Books
Jul 30 2015
MBF is at #1 in the Bookseller’s Small Publishers Top 20 chart - 7/27/15
— Bookseller’s Small Publishers
Jul 27 2015
MBF is also #5 on the Original Fiction Top 20 and at #9 on the Heatseekers Top 20. 7/27/15
Jul 27 2015
Ferrante and the Neapolitan novels featured as recommended books in translation in the article, “Books: Get lost in translation on exotic holidays in the sun” in The Independent.
— The Independent
Jul 24 2015
"What I found really interesting was the aspects of the competition verses the companionship of the girls ... and how each girl tries to keep both dynamics going yet also trying to figure out their futures..."
— Savidge Reads
Jul 15 2015
"Ferrante reads like a brilliant American HBO tv series - multi layered, enticing, sexy, threatening, exciting - you don't have to wait for the next week's episode, it's there right in front of you on paper."
— Daunt Books
Jul 13 2015
"The most incredible thing about Ferrante’s writing is that it operates on two levels; that is, she is writing the story of a character who is writing a story."
— Raging Biblioholism
Jul 12 2015
"Ferrante’s writing style, which is candid, intimate and seems almost effortless."
— Bookish Ramblings
Jul 8 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND moves up to no.7 on this week’s NAIBA Indie Bestseller List.
— NAIBA Indie Bestseller List
Jul 7 2015
"These stories save us from the tired spectacle of women fighting over some man or fighting to redeem him."
— The Washington Post
Jul 6 2015
"It’s a juicy novel, it’s a novel to make you stay up too late, it’s a complex novel, and it isn’t easy to read—though it certainly is readable."
— Asymptote
Jul 5 2015
Best reads on the beach: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND
— The Sunday Times
Jul 4 2015
"... the book focuses on the small, everyday events of Elena and Lila’s lives to tell a much more expansive story about their friendship and rivalry."
— A Little Blog of Books
Jun 30 2015
"Through her characters and their situations, Ferrante clearly and evocatively presents the choices, problems and possibilities for young girls and women."
— L.A. Public Library
Jun 30 2015
Blackwell Bookstore’s Current Top Ten Chart: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND
Jun 29 2015
"Forensically observed, truthful, rich and rewarding, this is an unforgettable reading experience. Brava also to Ann Goldstein, the translator.”
— The Daily Mail
Jun 29 2015
Reading Room’s 6 Great Italian Authors to Discover: "My Brilliant Friend is a ravishing, wonderfully written novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime."
— Reading Room
Jun 29 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is number 6 on the list of top-selling books at Battenkill Books, Cambridge during the week of June 28th
Jun 29 2015
Jennifer Morrison recommends: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
Jun 23 2015
"Ferrante has created 2 of the most dynamic & intelligent female protagonists of our (or maybe any) time."
— The Point Mag
Jun 23 2015
Sybil Steinberg of Publishers Weekly “June 2015” list: The Neapolitan Novels
— Publishers Weekly
Jun 22 2015
My Brilliant Friend: Jill, June 22: "”In this novel, female friendship takes center stage, as a social relation equally mysterious, difficult, and precarious as the bonds we most often, most exclusively, attribute to romantic love.”
Jun 22 2015
"Ferrante has captured the intensity of childhood friendships – their all-consuming nature, the passions and the near romantic obsession – brilliantly."
— The Guardian
Jun 22 2015
Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore’s Summer Reads 2015 Jason's Picks: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND
Jun 19 2015
25 Great Literary Series to Replace Your TV Habit This Summer: The Neapolitan Novela
Jun 18 2015
"Ferrante’s writing is crisp and precise, evoking the intensity of childhood and adolescence but without ever being subsumed by them. "
— GoodbyeToAllThis
Jun 16 2015
"Elena Ferrante – whose agile prose has found her not a few (well-deserved) admirers in our recent Summer Books feature – Italian literature has been having a rather tough time of it in recent years..."
— The Times Literary Supplement
Jun 10 2015
30 Books You Need to Read Before You Turn 30: "This novel not only brings to life the pleasures and difficulties of intimacy, but also the stubborn nature of fate."
— HuffPost Arts & Culture
Jun 8 2015
Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend — Discovering the sociability, the congeniality of NAPLES
Jun 8 2015
An Interview with Elena Ferrante: "Whenever a part of you emerges that’s not consistent with some feminine ideal, it makes everyone nervous, and you’re supposed to get rid of it in a hurry."
— The Paris Review
Jun 7 2015
"6 Unsung Novels You Should Read this Summer" by Suzanne McGee
— The Fiscal Times
Jun 4 2015
"The Power of Female Friendship"
— The Lit Hub
Jun 4 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND is no.1 on Turnaround Publisher Services May bestseller list!
— Turnaround Publisher Services
Jun 3 2015
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND featured first on Nick Moran’s “The Millions Top 10: May 2015” list on The Millions.
— The Millions
Jun 2 2015
"This is a novel about humanity, about growing up in a rapidly-changing world, about dissatisfaction with one’s station in life."
— Turnaround Publisher Services
Jun 1 2015
"The mystery seems to be working for her—though it’s earned her some scorn from the press—and she represents a particular fantasy: that of being able to produce one’s work entirely in peace."
— Andrea Dunlop’s blog
May 16 2015
"With Friends Like These, Who Needs (the word) Frenemies?"
— Book Riot
May 7 2015
"Both Szabo and Ferrante have created magnificent, outsize portraits of women to which their writer-narrators are destined to miserably compare themselves."
— The Rumpus
Apr 30 2015
"Ferrante’s remarkable achievement so far is to combine the 'large, loose, baggy monster' mode of novel and feminist polemic, without killing the appeal of the first or the force of the second."
— New Humanist
Apr 28 2015
Taking off the mask: Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels: In these compelling books, the Italian writer - whose real identity is hidden - combines the novel with feminist polemic.
— New Humanist
Apr 25 2015
Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgaard are writing true life in fiction: "Together they weigh two kilograms, stand as high as a hedge and are so good they make other writers sigh heavily and wonder about another line of work."
— The Star
Apr 24 2015
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante is #1 in Norway!
Apr 20 2015
"At the core of the Neapolitan Novels is an exploration of the vibrant, competitive, demanding friendship between Elena and Lila."
— Fairfield Books On Station
Apr 19 2015
"This is a novel of friendship and discovery, a coming of age novel in which two girls grow up to young womanhood with an ever gradually expanding realisation of their potentialities."
— Heavenali
Apr 15 2015
Elena Ferrante versus Italy: How the novelist's global success has rattled Italy's stale, male establishment
— Little Atoms
Apr 7 2015
"My Brilliant Friend" by Elena Ferrante – A Unique Friendship Blossoms in 1950s Italy
— Food for Bookworms
Mar 16 2015
Namara Smith's Review of The Neapolitan Novels on Bookforum
Mar 10 2015
Flavorwire: "Ferrante...made me take myself and my complex feelings about my many years of forgotten and enduring friendships seriously...I can't think of a greater feminist achievement for a piece of literature."
Feb 20 2015
BookRiot: "If #ferrantefever is any indication, the Neopolitan novels are gripping and impossible to put down."
Jan 14 2015
Slate's Audio Book Club Discusses My Brilliant Friend
Dec 2 2014
Next City: 10 Great Novels Every Urbanist Should Read
Oct 28 2014
#9 on The L.A. Times Bestseller List
Oct 15 2014
#7 on NAIBA Indie Bestseller List
Sep 19 2014
#13 on the New England Indie Bestseller List
Sep 19 2014
#9 on the New Atlantic Indie Bestseller List
Aug 15 2014
Vogue: My Brilliant Friend helps "female friendship get its literary due."
Aug 7 2014
Mona Simpson at Refinery 29: "She's a Neapolitan Alice Munro."
Aug 6 2014
The Writes of Woman: "A compelling novel."
Jul 17 2014
Wisconsin Public Radio: Books Worth Reading
Jun 19 2014
Esquire: Books Every Man Should Read
Jun 19 2014
Mona Simpson at B&N Review: "Elena Ferrante is the Italian Alice Munro."
May 27 2014
A Year of Reading the World: "An enthralling reading experience, reminiscent of those childhood immersions in a story that turn the volume of the real world down to a whisper."
May 22 2014
Public Books: Public Picks 2014
May 16 2014
Tin House: "[Ferrante] holds nothing back from her portrayal of gender and culture and her writing is able to truly speak for itself."
May 1 2014
Everyday eBook: "Elena's voice is meticulous, elegant and analytical on the surface but pulsing with barely contained emotion."
Nov 16 2013
The Age: "ask uncomfortable questions about how we live, how we love, how we singe an existence in a deeply flawed world that expects pretty acquiescence from its women."
Oct 29 2013
Waxwing: "one of the most immersive, fascinating, and disquieting novels that I’ve read in the last few years."
Oct 24 2013
Melbourne Review: "Ferrante bewitches with her tiny, intricately drawn world"
Oct 24 2013
Time Out Melbourne: "Ferrante’s prose is deeply passionate"
Aug 31 2013
The Australian: "[Ferrante's] gritty, ruthlessly frank novels roar off the page with a barbed fury"
Jul 29 2013
Readings Australia: "[Ferrante's] prose is stunning and polished, yet retains a raw, stripped-back feel."
Jul 11 2013
Mary Whipple Reviews: "Elena Ferrante creates a vivid picture of Neapolitan life."
Jun 27 2013
Tony's Reading List: "My Brilliant Friend is a book which makes for compelling, compulsive reading..."
Apr 5 2013
Vol. 1 Brooklyn: "Its level of detail, both spatial and in terms of characters major and minor, is practically Dickensian."
Mar 14 2013
Tolstoy is my Cat: "Sharp and honest and pulsating with life."
Feb 8 2013
The Europa Challenge Blog: "[Ferrante's] Naples is bursting with color and life."
Feb 5 2013
Campus Circle's Valentine's Day Reads: "Captivate[s] and tease[s] until you are wrestled into submission."
Feb 1 2013
Times Literary Supplement: "Cinematic in the density of its detail."
Jan 27 2013
Mirabile Dictu: "Rich in detail, it is a witty, moving...chronicle of the friendship of two girls."
Jan 25 2013
The Awl: "Get on the Elena Ferrante Bandwagon"
Jan 21 2013
The New Yorker: "Her novels are intensely, violently personal, and because of this they seem to dangle bristling key chains of confession before the unsuspecting reader."
Dec 6 2012
Publishers Weekly - Interview
Nov 9 2012
Boston Bibliophile: "Subtle and artfully crafted book."
Nov 9 2012
The Boston Globe's "New and Recommended" list: "Four phantasmagoric, disorienting novels."
Oct 22 2012
The Barnes and Noble Review: "This gorgeous novel should bring a host of new reader's to one of Italy's most acclaimed authors."
Oct 20 2012
The Boston Globe: "Everyone should read anything with [Elena Ferrante's] name on it."
Oct 4 2012
Vogue: "One of the more nuanced portraits of feminine friendship in recent memory."
Oct 1 2012
San Francisco Chronicle: "Ferrante, beautifully translated by Ann Goldstein...writes with a ferocious, intimate urgency."
Sep 19 2012
Bibliophile By The Sea: "The translation is excellent...the author is a master of creating a wonderful sense of place."
Sep 18 2012
Shelf Awareness: "Ferrante draws an indelible picture."
Sep 1 2012
Booklist: "A compelling and moving coming-of-age story"
Aug 27 2012
Publishers Weekly: "More than a conventional up-from-poverty tale."
Jun 25 2012
Three Guys One Book: "Europa Editions is the small press with the big books."

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My Brilliant Friend

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