My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel by Chiara Lagani (Adapter), Mara Cerri (Illustrator), Ann Goldstein (Translator), Elena Ferrante (Original author)
Every so often I find a book, movie, song, or some form of entertainment that I both love and hate equally at the same time. All I’m going to say about My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel the story is that it is a personal read that you love or not. I wonder how much it differs from the novel(s) and if more is told in them about what happens to the characters as things are left on an open note.
What I will talk about is the artwork. Mara Cerri has a talent that I both love, enjoy, am envious of and it makes me ill. Okay, that sounds horrible, but really it is a good thing. I feel the art. It comes alive in ways that hurt you. They are beautiful, the colors and flow and lines and all of the pieces come together to make you taste things. I used all the senses. I could obviously see them clearly. But yes, I could hear and smell them and taste them and feel them. They were wisps of smoke and solid. There are not a lot of small details but what is there screams out “I am important, pay attention to me.” The same goes for the colors. Mostly pastels, they pop off the page and bleed into it.
In other words this was one of the most physically exhilarating and exhausting experiences I have had with reading a graphic novel recently. As the song goes, “Hit me baby one more time.” But I really do not think I could handle another reading.
