Although I know most college students are busy and do not have much time to watch TV, there is one show that I think more people should take the time out out of their day to enjoy. Yes it is in Italian, and the pilot may get off to a slow start; but the storyline and setting are not something to be missed out on. I am talking about My Brilliant Friend just starting it’s fourth season on Max of course — a compelling drama with a rich story to tell that makes it worth struggling along to subtitles. But before you can talk about the mastery of the show you have to talk about the mastery of the author Elena Ferrante.
I’m pretty sure I found out about Elena Ferrante through Tik Tok, which is quite embarrassing to admit, but it doesn’t make her any less of a talented writer. I read her books the Neopolitean novels for the first time at 14, and truthfully I still think about her books constantly. Maybe part of that is because it was one of the first “grown up” author’s I read, but I like to think that there is something special about her novels. I know no other book series will ever be able to influence me as much. On the surface it seems like a classic unoriginal quartet, a simple story about friendship that follows two girls throughout the course of their life. But that last part is exactly what separates these novels apart. Their scale.
You get to watch the two main characters, Elena (yes that probably was intentional) and Lila, from the age of 6 all the way to the age of 60. You get to see them grow up and mature in a way that most other books just can’t or won’t. It takes patience to wade through these characters entire lives. Some parts really are boring, like the many chapters spent on the logistics of Lila’s shoe business. Not many authors would expect their readers to care about the mundane parts of their character’s lives so they cut them out. But Ferrante doesn’t because she is committed to realism. Just like how you can’t fast forward through the boring parts of your life you can’t fast forward through theirs. Life is long and hard and sometimes interesting sometimes not — everyone knows this sentiment to be true in their own life and it is also true in the Neopolitan Novels.
Ferrante is dedicated to realism in so many other ways besides just scale though. Her characters are flawed and complex, some of them mature and grow for the better and others for the worse. They will drive you insane with their terrible choices and many many mistakes. But I’m not able to talk much about these aspects of her work because you just have to watch or read it for yourself.