In the second novel of her trilogy, Ferrante continues the story of Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo, two Neapolitan girls born in 1944 Italy into poor families in a working class neighborhood. When we left them in My Brilliant Friend, 16-year-old Lila had married the prosperous grocer Stefano, the son of the “ogre” Don Achille. Elena, no match for her friend in looks but a successful and hardworking student, feels that her world is falling apart. Her best friend, with whom she expected to work […]
This Brilliant Novel
Have you ever had a friend who seemed effortlessly brilliant, talented and successful in every endeavor, an attention magnet who intimidates just about everyone? I had a friend like this a number of years ago, and perhaps that’s why I loved this book so much and look forward to the next two volumes. Set in a small town outside Naples in the 1950s, My Brilliant Friend is narrated by Elena Greco, friend to the fearless Lila Cerullo. The story begins in current time, with Lila’s […]
Spark of Hope in New YA Novel
This new YA novel has the makings of another multi-book blockbuster like Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but it’s not derivative or formulaic. Sabaa Tahir makes beautiful use of her cultural background (the child of Pakistani immigrants in the Mojave Desert, an outsider who did not feel particularly brave growing up) and vivid imagination to create a world that is dominated by dark spirits and a powerful militaristic elite. The Martials (who remind me of the Spartans) have ruled ruthlessly for 500 years; they’ve enslaved […]
The Birth of the Bimbo
… kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond and safire bracelet lasts forever. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was one of the most popular books of its day. First serialized in Harper’s Bazaar in 1924 (published as a book in 1925), it was an immediate hit among the general public and was widely acclaimed among writers such as George Santayana, H.L. Mencken, William Faulkner, and Edith Wharton. Gentlemen seems to have been the inspiration for the “dumb blonde” trope, immortalized by Marilyn […]
It’s about more than the sinking of the Titanic
This novel, published in 1996 and winner of the Whitbread Prize (shortlisted for the Booker), is set on the Titanic’s fateful voyage, and it is about loss, but not just the loss of those who set sail. Every Man for Himself is about the loss of love, the passing of an old world, and the painful birth of the new one as exemplified by our 22-year-old narrator. Morgan has known both deprivation and privilege, having had a foot in both worlds. Yet, he is not […]
Jane Austen Meets Harry Potter
Being the Correspondence of two Young Ladies of Quality regarding various Magical Scandals in London and the Country This delightful novel, the first of a series, predates the Harry Potter novels by over 10 years. Wrede and Stevermer wrote and published Sorcery and Cecilia in 1986. I would have been in college at that time, which might explain why I completely missed out on this series, geared toward young readers (early teens-ish). Still, as with HP, a well written story attracts readers of all ages, […]
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