Week Six: My Brilliant Friend CBBC, Wrap-Up

Week One, Prologue & Childhood
Week Two, Adolescence Chapters 1 - 16
Week Three, Adolescence Chapters 17-30
Week Four, Adolescence Chapters 31-45
Week Five, Adolescence Chapters 46 - 61

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Welcome to our wrap-up for the Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) for My Brilliant Friend. 

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Did you all know that, in addition to being an HBO television show, My Brilliant Friend has been adapted into a graphic novel? Is there anyone out there who is surprised to learn that I immediately grabbed a copy from the library as soon as I heard this news? Also, is anyone surprised that there are five copies in our library system and all of them are available? 

Source

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MBF Questions to ponder:

1) Which character in the book are you most like? Why? 

2) Nicole made this comment last week: 

I had an epiphany when I started this part, and I actually went back and reread some of the previous chapters: I was reading this all wrong. When I read it like a regular book, I found myself absolutely slogging. When I read it as a symbol for Italy, post-World War II, it was fascinating. I read it as all the characters were symbolizing different parts of Italy - education (Elena), beauty and fashion industry (Lila), automotive, agricultural, export industries, etc. Also - the mafia. I felt like this was foreshadowing for the mafia's hand in the running of the country. When I read it like that, I felt that it was very powerful and interesting. When I read it just as a story, not at all. I wish I had thought to do that at the beginning of the book, it would have made for a much better reading experience for me.

What do you think of this reading of the book? 

3) Let's discuss Tina and Nu, the dolls from the beginning of the book. Do you think that the way the girls played with the dolls is reflective of the violent, uncertain home lives they had at home? Is this why Lila was so cruel in their play?

4) In general, this novel seems pretty dark, but there are moments of happiness, like when Lenù first goes to the beach. What are other moments of happiness or levity that come to mind and how do those moments balance some of the darkness in this book?

5) Is this truly a story about "frenemies" or is it a story about friends who actually encourage one another to be the best that they can be? 

6) This book was much more polarizing than A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, our first CBBC read, despite a lot of similar themes of urban poverty, the importance of education, and tough family circumstances. What made this one so much more challenging? 

7) For those of you who haven't read any of the other books (it's a quartet), what do you think happens in the following books? What's going to happen with these girls?

8) What scene/quote/character from the book seems like it's the most memorable to you? 

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CBBC questions to ponder:

1) What book should we read next? (It probably won't be until summer. Don't worry - no homework until then!)

2) I'm still trying to figure out the pacing for these book clubs. Was this too many pages, too few pages, or just the perfect number of pages each week?

3) Is there any other constructive feedback you'd like to offer about the running of CBBC?  Please don't say stop talking about hats - I honestly cannot do that for you!

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And that is our first quarter CBBC in the can. I appreciate all of you who participated (especially those of you who didn't like the book!) and I cannot say how much it means to me that you all read and post and send me photos. As some of you may know, things are challenging for me in my personal life and having these smart, fun discussions about a book I really love has been a great distraction from less fun things in my life. Here's to another successful session of CBBC!

Week Five: My Brilliant Friend CBBC, Adolescence Chapters 46-62

Past discussion:

Week One, Prologue & Childhood

Week Two, Adolescence Chapters 1 - 16

Week Three, Adolescence Chapters 17-30

Week Four, Adolescence Chapters 31-45

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What happened in these chapters?

Lila sets a wedding date (March 12! - crazy timing!) and gets married. Meanwhile, Lenù has found herself in a relationship with Antonio. In the final scene, Marcello Solara walks into the wedding wearing the handmade shoes Antonio had bought from the Cerullos. 

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Lines of note:

"I meant only that you are good at making yourself liked. The difference between you and me, always, has been that people are afraid of me and not of you." (page 294)

I thought this was a fascinating line because it doesn't really strike me that Lenù is particularly savvy about other people's emotions. A retelling of this book from Lila's perspective would be so interesting. 

Lila told me that, on seeing the shoes she had designed years earlier made real, she had felt a very violent emotion, as if a fairy had appeared and fulfilled a wish. The shoes really were as she had imagined them at the time. (page 304)

This was striking because there's not much whimsy in this book. A fairy!  

Next to her was the wedding dress, which looked like the body of a dead woman..." (page 312)

Even I caught this metaphor about Lila's wedding day.

With them I couldn't use any of what I learned every day, I had to suppress myself, in some way diminish myself. (page 319-320) 

Interesting. I certainly felt this way at times when I would go home. I have a particular family member who refers to me as the "one with the stick up her ass" because I do not laugh at their crude, mean, and often times appalling inappropriate jokes. I sometimes feel like I try to melt into the shadows at family events so I don't have to explain myself.

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

It was no longer a matter of dresses or hats or scarves or jewelry. (page 291)

In the houses of the neighborhood the mothers, the grandmothers had been working for months to make dresses, to get hats and purses, to shop for a wedding present, I don't know, a set of glasses, of plates, of silverware. (page 303)

Only now, as I write, do I realize that Fernando at that time couldn't have been more than forty-five, Nunzia was certainly a few years younger and together, that morning, he, in a white shirt and dark suit, with his Randolph Scott face, and she, all in blue, with a blue hat and blue veil, made an impressive sight. (page 314)

In case you didn't know (and I certainly didn't), Randolph Scott was an American film actor who was in more than 100 films, most of them westerns. 

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Last week's homework:

I got really excited when the title showed up in the text.

"Not for you; you're my brilliant friend, you have to be the best of all, boys and girls." (page 312)

It's a bit interesting because I think that for most people they would think that the "my brilliant friend" in the title was Lila, not Lenù. 

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Thing I looked up:

Oblomov - A 1859 novel written by Ivan Goncharov as a satire of the Russian intelligentsia. 

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Questions to ponder:

1) What does the last scene mean? Is it just as simple as the Solaras as now the new moneylenders/loan sharks in the neighborhood and now Stefano is indebted to them, so, by proxy, is Lila?  Is it just foreshadowing of their marriage because Stefano promised that Marcello wouldn't be at the wedding? Or is there deeper meaning here?

2) Did you find this ending satisfying? It's the first of four books, so there's more to the story of these two young women, but do you think this book stands on its own? (I don't usually put my own opinion here, but I feel like the prologue promises us a mystery story and then doesn't deliver.)

3) There's still so much competition here between these girls, but it feels like Lila really softens by asking Lenù to help her with the wedding planning because Lenù is so good at handling people, by noting that Lenù is her "brilliant friend," and by acknowledging that Lenù's performance at school is something she is proud of her for. What is the reason for this turnaround, do you think? 

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Next week's homework:

What do you want to talk about in the wrap-up next week? Are there questions you want me to ask? Are there themes you think I've ignored?  

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

Week Four: My Brilliant Friend CBBC, Adolescence Chapters 31-45

Past discussion:

Week One, Prologue & Childhood

Week Two, Adolescence Chapters 1 - 16

Week Three, Adolescence Chapters 17-30

   

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What happened in these chapters?

The Sarratores arrive at the beach and Nino does not like his father. While Lenù and Nino get along, Lenù ends her vacation early after Donato Sarratore sexually assaults her. Meanwhile, Marcello Solara is attempting to get into Lila's good graces through bribing her family. But then Stefano (son of Don Achille, who hangs over this novel despite his early death) buys the handmade shoes, gets engaged to Lila, and expands the shoemaker's shop. There is a debate about whether or not Lila has whored herself out with similar-aged people in the neighborhood. Lenù continues to do almost obnoxiously well in school. 

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

If I said something about the Very Holy Trinity, she with a few hurried by good-humored remarks cut off any possible conversation and wen ton to show me Stefano's presents, the engagement ring, the necklace, a new dress, a hat, while the things that I loved, that made me shine in front of the teachers, so that they considered me clever, slumped in a corner, deprived of their meaning. (page 261-262)

That is a lot of commas in one sentence.

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Lines of note:

Meanwhile, I felt better and better, I couldn't believe that life could be like this. Maybe, I thought, the girls of Via dei Mille - the one dressed all in green, for example - had a life like this. (page 217)

I asked you all about your first vacation without your parents last week and I enjoyed reading all the responses about going places with friends. This sentences reminded me of all your stories and the sheer freedom it often invoked.

I devoted myself to taking care of Nino. (page 220) 

AND

I bound myself instead to the Sarratore family. (page 224)

I think this is interesting stuff. Lenù has to be "soulmates" with someone, right? First it's Lila, but when Lila isn't it around, she shifts her attention elsewhere. Someone in the comments early on asked what exactly Lenù is missing in her life that she's looking for in her relationship with Lila and I think this provides us with a clue. She's so unaware of who she is, what her own interests/thoughts are, that she needs a foil. 

...she expressed herself in sentences that were well constructed, and without error, even though she had stopped going to school, but - further - she left no trace of the effort, you weren't aware of the artifice of the written word. (page 227)

Oh, I love this description so much. I am, like Lenù, super envious of natural writers. How can you be funny and smart and make it seem so easy? I can slave for a long time over writing and it still sounds like an AI wrote it. Hey, maybe I am AI!!

"Repay in what sense?"
"Give you money."
She smiled, then said proudly, "There's no need. I do what I like now with money." (page 259)

Oh, no. That doesn't sound good, does it?

When you saw her, she gave off a glow that seemed a violent slap in the face of the poverty of the neighborhood. (page 264)

I like the juxtaposition of the words glow and poverty here. There's sometimes a romanticism that people place on living in poverty and I feel like this sentence gets at the heart that sometimes the way out of poverty is the least romantic thing.

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Last week's homework:

Did you do a close reading for this week's passages.  Tell us all about it!

As a reminder, here's what the questions for lectio divina look like:

1) Narrative: Look at the quote and describe its place in the narrative. 

2) Symbolism: What metaphors are hidden in the text? What symbols do you see?

3) Reflection: How does this text speak to you in your life today?

4) Invitation: What action are you going to take?

My homework!

My sentence: I went home and showed them the notebook, full of guilt for the expenses that glasses would involved (page 257)

1) This is when Lenù's teacher realized she needed to see an eye doctor because she couldn't see the board in the classroom and the teacher wrote it down in her notebook and had her parents sign it.

2) I think the two things that this really showcases are guilt and expenses. There is so much guilt in this section of the book. She feels guilty because she sort of enjoyed Donato Sarratore's touch, because she enjoyed the beach too much, because she's going to cost her parents too much money. She feels guilty because she's self-conscious about her body, because she doesn't always come out ahead in comparisons with Lila, because she's been allowed to continuing school and Lila hasn't. 

I think it's also an indication of how much money plays a role in this entire book. The girls are always worried about money. How much money will cost to get books for school? To finally move out of the neighborhood? That constant need for money is the thread that ties all the storylines together. 

3) I probably need to make an appointment to see the eye doctor! I only have one box of contacts left.

4) I'm going to call and make an appointment.  Ugh. I hate it already.

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Things I looked up:

The Avellinese (page 218) - Inhabitant or native of Avellino, which is in southern Italy, east of Naples

orzata (page 230) - Sweet syrup made from almonds and sugar with a little rose and/or orange flower water. It has a pronounced almond taste and is used to flavor many cocktails.  

How much is 25000 lire today?  (page 244) - I think, if I did the conversions correctly (a big if), it's roughly 57,500 USD today, which is quite a chunk of change. This seems like...too much money.

Princess Soraya (page 268) - Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary was briefly Queen of Iran in the 1950s. 

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Questions to ponder:

1) Let's discuss the role of fathers in this section. Don Achille looms large, as does Donato Sarratore. It felt a bit like the sins of the father are visited upon the sons in a way. What is your interpretation of the theme of fatherhood in this section? And what do you think about how Lenù's family is essentially absent from it?

2) One of the things I am loving about this book is its universality paired with its specific nature. It is highly specific to a time and place, but yet the feelings and situations that we see with Lenù are universal, including, unfortunately, the incident with Donato Sarratore at the beach. What impact do you think that will have over her in the long term?

3) What is the role of the shoes in this story? How does it compare to the role of the dolls in the early chapters?

4) How do you think this book is going to end? How do you want it to end? 

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Homework for next week:

Okay, friends, here's your homework. Pick one word/phrase/sentence from next week's readings that speaks to you in some way. Maybe it's just that it sounds pleasant or unpleasant to you. Maybe it feels like it sums up the book. Maybe it resonates with you on a personal level. Maybe it made you have all the feeeeeelings. Maybe it pissed you off. Tell us what the phrase was and why it spoke to you..

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Week Five
Monday, March 4 (update: this originally said March 1 - it is March 4 for sure, for sure)
Adolescence, Chapters 46-62 (pages 270-331 of the paperback Europa edition, timestamp 10:06:54-end on audiobook)

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

Week Three: My Brilliant Friend CBBC, Adolescence Chapters 17-30

Past discussion 
Week One, Prologue & Childhood

Week Two, Adolescence Chapters 1 - 16

Welcome to the second week of our Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) on My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. This week we're focusing on the third quarter of the book, Chapters 17-30 in the Adolescence section. 

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More photos of books people are reading!

Audiobook from Suz and a real physical book from Elisabeth

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What happened in these chapters?

Elena goes to high school! She does well, but mostly because she's trying to keep up with Lila who is somehow doing the same work while she's working at the shoe shop.  Rino is obsessed with getting a fireworks display that's bigger than the Solaras' display, but as the celebration unfolds, violence breaks out. Rino shows the shoes he and Lila designed and constructed to his father and violence breaks out. Marcello Solara begins pursuing Lila and eventually asks her father if he can marry her. Meanwhile, Rino puts the shoes in the shop window to sell them. In the last pages of this section, Lenù gets to go to the sea and has an absolutely marvelous time and then learns that the poet from her neighborhood will be coming to the same place she is staying!

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Hat mentions (why hats?)/last week's homework:

When the couple went by Rino made a vulgar comment on what the young woman in green should do, with the bowler hat, and Pasquale stopped, he was laughing so hard, and leaned against the wall with one arm. (page 194)

Both Rino and Pasquale seem quite unpleasant to be around. We know from the prologue that Lila names her son Rino - why would she name him after her hot-headed brother?  

Did you find your scavenger hunt word in the book?  

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Lines of note:

Now it seemed that money, in her mind, had become a cement: it consolidated, reinforced, fixed this and that. Above all, it fixed Rino's head...She no longer spoke of money with any excitement, it was just a means of keeping her brother out of trouble. (page 179)

Again, with Rino being out of control. As someone with a troubled relationship with a sibling, I am not certain why Lila has such a loyalty towards Rino.

The image of power had passed in a flash, four young people in a car - that was the right way to leave the neighborhood and have fun. Ours was the wrong way: on foot, in shabby old clothes, penniless. (page 192)

I didn't purposefully pick out quotes with a theme of money/poverty, but lined up with the above quote, it's a bit of a mini-motif. 

Gradually I persuaded her to go home, she couldn't stay hiding there forever. I went with her, counting on the fact that my presence would protect her. But there were shouts, insults, some blows just the same. (page 203)

I appreciate that most of references to violence in this book are not graphic, but this really is indicative of how much abuse these girls go through, isn't it? Along with "Every time Lila and I met I saw a new bruise" on the following page. 

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Thing I looked up:

Barano: I really just wanted to know how far away the seaside place that Lenù visited was. It's apparently still considered a municipality of Naples, but the island it's on, Ischia, is about 30 kilometers southwest of Naples proper. 

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Next week's homework assignment:

Let's do a close reading practice!  Lectio Divina ("sacred reading" in Latin) is a close reading practice based on a monastic Christian tradition, but we can apply it to non-theist works. It's a four-part process. This may not be precisely how you'd do this if you were at your local Bible study, but here's the guidance I'm offering you, based on information from here. 

First, flip through the chapters and wherever your finger lands on the page, you'll engage that word or phrase at four different levels.  

1) Narrative: Look at the quote and describe its place in the narrative. 

2) Symbolism: What metaphors are hidden in the text? What symbols do you see?

3) Reflection: How does this text speak to you in your life today?

4) Invitation: What action are you going to take?

Example:

I flipped to this sentence on page 165 in this week's readings: He became red in the face, he swelled up around the eyes and cheekbones.

1) Narrative: This is Rino getting angry with Lenù and Lila when the girls told him that the shoes he had made were damp after going over some water. He became angry because he didn't like the criticism and felt like Lila was holding back the project's timeline with her need for perfection.

2) Symbolism: I think the words "red" and "cheekbones" are super interesting here. We just had Valentine's Day last week, so red is often associated with love and passion and in Asian cultures it can symbolize good fortune and joy. But that same passion can be linked with anger and violence, like it is in this passage. Red as a way to describe blood, seeing red, etc. I also think cheekbones has this same dichotomy of meaning. Frequently people with good cheekbones are seen as attractive, right? But there's also the idea that cheekbones are often broken in fistfights. So the link with light and dark appear with both words.

3) Reflection: This definitely made me stop to think about how my body reacts when I'm angry or upset. What physical changes manifest? My heartrate goes up, my body starts shaking as adrenaline surges through my body, and my mouth gets dry. I tend to tear up and cry when I'm sad or angry. 

4) Invitation: I'm going to try to react better when I'm angered. I do have a quick temper (I'm also super quick to apologize for being a jerk), but I can and should be better able to control my reactions, both mentally and physically. 

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Questions to ponder:

1) Now that these kids are old enough to leave the neighborhood once in a while, we see more of Naples outside of their neighborhood. What role does Naples have in this story? How would this be a different book if it had been set in Amsterdam or Los Angeles? What about the timing of  it as post-WWII?

2) We're halfway through the book now. For new readers, where do you think this story is going? For people who are doing a reread, have you noticed or learned anything new on this read?

3) The framing of this book is that Adult Lenù is writing about her relationship with Lila. Why doesn't Adult Lenù reflect more about the events in the book? She is mostly just reciting facts and rarely gives hints as to how she felt about it then (or feels about it now) or what impact it had on their friendship. Do you have an explanation for how little the author makes use of the framing device?

4) Lenù gets to go on vacation! What's the first time you remember going someplace to relax without your parents? 

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Week Four 
Monday, February 26
Adolescence, Chapters 31-45 (pages 212-270 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 3575 on a Kindle, timestamp 7:37:34 - 10:06:54 on audiobook)

Week Five
Monday, March 4 (update: this originally said March 1 - it is March 4 for sure, for sure)
Adolescence, Chapters 46-62 (pages 270-331 of the paperback Europa edition, timestamp 10:06:54-end on audiobook)

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

Week Two: My Brilliant Friend CBBC, Adolescence Chapter 1 - 16

Past discussion 

Week One, Prologue & Childhood

Welcome to the second week of our Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) on My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. This week we're focusing on the second quarter of the book, Chapters 1-16 in the Adolescence section. 

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Last's week's homework assignment: Last week I asked everyone to send me a photo of their book/reading spaces for a collage. You'll see several collage throughout this post. Thanks to everyone who sent in a photo! If you didn't get yours in this week, feel free to send one along for next week.

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Top: Sarah wants us all to know that Thriftbooks has some deals, Stephany wants you to find BOTH of her cats in this photo; Bottom: San's duvet looks a lot like mine, and we need to count how many books Suzanne has in her photo

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What happened in these chapters?

The girls start to grow up. Lila isn't in school, Lenù is not doing well in school. Lila starts working at her father's shoe store, Lenù is showing her new breasts to boys for money. No one talks to these girls about what to expect from puberty and they discuss starting menstruation amongst themselves. Eventually, with the help of some tutoring from Lila who has been studying on her own, Lenù gets her act together and starts being successful in school.

But, really, this is about boys. Pasquale, Enzo, those no-good troublesome Solara boys, and Lila's brother Gino are all in the mix. There's random violence (what did the Solara boys do with Ada?), unwritten rules of etiquette that no one really understands because the adults didn't warn the girls about their periods, how are the girls supposed to know what's going on with who they can and cannot talk to or dance with, and Lenù finally gets to see Naples outside of her squalid neighborhood. 

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Top: Melissa who has a copy with a tv show cover!, Maya who has the coziest, brightest space; Bottom: Kyria who was the first to email me - let's give her gold stars for not procrastinating, and Lindsay whose pillow looks a lot like my couch pillows

Hat mentions (why hats?):

And now he was on the construction site near the railroad and we sometimes saw him climbing up the scaffolding of the new buildings that were rising floor by floor, or in a hat made of newspaper, in the sun, eating bread with sausage and greens during his lunch break. (page 109-110)

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This week's homework assignment: Scavenger hunt! I want you all to pick a word that you're going to look for in next week's reading. I do this with the word "hat." Pick a common word and see how often it appears in the text - e.g., dog, orange, skirt, table, vault, etc. - and then report back next week. Bonus points if you tell us in the comments this week what your word will be. I call the word hat.

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Top: My audiobook and my reading setup, complete with cat, couch, scarf, pen for taking notes, and Craft hat; Bottom: Nicole's setup and the super handsome and happy Rex.

Lines of note:

I basically noted lines about puberty and Lila and Lenù's relationship this week.

On growing up:

One afternoon I really fell asleep and when I woke I felt wet. I went to the bathroom to see what was wrong and discovered that my underpants were stained with blood. Terrified by I don't know what...(page 93)

Oh, poor thing. I can't believe no one warned her!

I got fat, and under the skin of my chest two hard shoots sprouted, hair flourished in y armpits and my pubis, I became sad and at the same time anxious...I cried often, without warning. My chest, meanwhile, became large and soft. I felt at the mercy of obscure forces acting inside my body, I was always agitated. (page 96)

The line "at the mercy of obscure forces acting inside my body" really hit home. It feels like just when you've got your body figured out, there's a new change. 

My mother said that I was indecent with those big breasts I had developed, and she took me to buy a bra. She was more abrupt than usual. She seemed ashamed that I had a bosom, that I got my period. The crude instructions she gave me were rapid and insufficient, barely muttered. (page 102)

I just can't with this parenting. Lenù's mother is making Katie Nolan look like a saint. 

...I expanded like pizza dough. I became fuller in the chest, the thighs, the rear. (page 112)

What an image. Pizza dough indeed. I still have stretch marks on my thighs from puberty.

...I would slowly feel that the novels I read were pointless and that my life would bleak, along with the future, and what I would become: a fat pimply salesclerk in the stationery store across from the parish church, on old maid employee of the local government, sooner or later cross-eyed and lame. (page 121) 

When I was younger, I used to joking say that I would move to Nebraska and work at a Payless Shoes if all went wrong in my life. I think of the stationery store as equivalent to my Payless plan. 

Was it possible that only our neighborhood was filled with conflicts and violence, while the rest of the city was radiant, benevolent? (page 137)

When I was a young teen, I really thought anywhere would be better than my home and my small town. The writing in this book is just so evocative of a time. 

...Ada, Carmela, and I myself - especially after the incident with the Solaras - had learned instinctively to lower our eyes, pretend not to hear the obscenities they directed at us, and keep going. (page 145)

Oh, man. The number of times I did this when men would shout at me when I lived in Minneapolis. Ferrante's observations are so keen and universal. 

On the relationship between Lila and Lenù:

I soon had to admit that what I did by myself couldn't excite me, only what Lila touched became important. (page 100)

No one understood us, only we two - I thought - understood one another. (page 106)

I realized that with those last words she had admitted that I was important to her, and I was happy. (page 119)

Would she always do the things I was supposed to do, before and better than me? (page 142)

Why does the Europa edition have this terrible cover, I ask you? On the left, we have Jules and her awesome bookmark that she wrote the schedule on; on the right we have Diane who leaves her book all over the house, including in the bathroom, and Jacquie who doesn't have a blog, but is obviously a public library user, so obviously is welcome at all our CBBC events

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Things I looked up:

lupini (page 134) - a type of beans that are members of the pea family - my friends, I have got to learn more about international cuisine is the lesson from these chapters

mazurka (page 140) - Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo

Albergo dei Poveri (page 137) - apparently a landmark building in Naples - also, I literally know nothing about Naples - built from tufo (last week's thing I looked up!) and brick, it's the second largest public building in Europe

Source

Maschio Angioini (page 137) - Also called Castel Nuovo, a medieval castle in central Naples first erected in 1279 - can you even imagine a building this old?  

Little john at Italian Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Castel dell'Ovo (page 138) - Seafront castle in Naples, the oldest castle in Naples (!)

Source

"acting the grandee" (page 146) - grandee is a nobleman of highest rank in Spain and Portugal

cassata (page 147) - Traditional Sicilian cake made of a round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices or liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese and candied fruit. It has a marzipan shell, pink and green colored icing, and decorative designs. It sounds and looks repulsive to me, but I bet I'd eat it if you put it in front of me.

By fugzu - Flickr: cassata siciliana, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12851843

sfogliatelle (page 147) - Sometimes called a lobster tail in the U.S., it's a puff pastry with a shell or lobster tail shape

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Top: Anne listens to her audiobook on her awesome couch; Bottom: Jenny covers up poor Muffin who should be the star of the show, Birchie is reading it on a Kindle while Doggo sits on her feet (I made the part up about Doggo, but I assume it's true)

Questions to ponder

1) What's up with these girls? Why does Lenù want Lila's attention so much? Is Lila a narcissist or a psychopath?  

2) How much do we believe the facts as presented here? Is Lenù such an unreliable narrator that we can't trust the things that are happening?  

3) Let's talk books! Little Women keeps coming up as a book the two of them read together and separately. Lenù is so impressed that Donato Sarratore wrote a book of poetry and had it published. What is the significance of all this to the story? (So many parallels to Francie and her library trips and her Walt Whitman love here.)

4) What's your scavenger hunt word for next week's homework?!

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Week Three
Monday, February 19
Adolescence, Chapters 17-30 (pages 153-212 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 2761 on a Kindle, timestamp 5:21:06-7:37:34 on audiobook)

Week Four 
Monday, February 26
Adolescence, Chapters 31-45 (pages 212-270 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 3575 on a Kindle, timestamp 7:37:34 - 10:06:54 on audiobook)

Week Five
Monday, March 4
Adolescence, Chapters 46-62 (pages 270-331 of the paperback Europa edition, timestamp 10:06:54-end on audiobook)

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

Week 1: My Brilliant Friend CBBC

Welcome to the first week of the Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) where we will be discussing My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels #1) by Elena Ferrante! I'm happy you are here and making this journey with all of us. As always, the ground rules for CBBC are:

1) Don't apologize. Don't apologize for having a lot or a little to say in the comments. Don't apologize because you're not an expert on something. Don't apologize because you don't have a doctorate in English literature. Don't apologize if you fall behind or can't keep up. Have fun and say what you have to say. You and your thoughts are important.

2) Feel free to come back and respond to comments more than once! I love it when there's a dialogue in the comments.

3) Have fun reading, thinking about the book, and discussing it! Don't feel limited to my discussion prompts - talk about whatever you feel like talking about.

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Who is Elana Ferrante?

Elana Ferrante is a pseudonym for an Italian author. Because of the anonymity of the author, there's little known about her. She (presumably the author is a woman) has done interviews and said she was born in Naples as the daughter of a seamstress and had three sisters. Her first novel in Italian was first published in 1992 and the first time her work was translated to English was 2004. The author has remained anonymous since her original publications. With the meteoric rise of the popularity of the Neapolitan quartet, there have been a few serious investigations into the identity of Ferrante, including suggestions that the author may be Anita Raja, a Rome-based translator, a professor named Marcella Marmo, or Raja's husband Domenica Starnone. 

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What happened in these chapters?

In the prologue, we are introduced to Elena, called Lenuccia or Lenù. She's in her sixties and her friend Lila is missing. Lenù starts writing the history of their friendship.

In the childhood section, we are introduced to the Naples of Lenù's childhood. It is violent, dirty, and corrupt. Into these reminiscences of domestic violence, random street fights, and poverty, we learn about how two little girls become friends. It's a complicated friendship, full of jealousy and competition. Lenù is agreeable, pleasant looking, and smart, but not too smart. Lila is clever, badly behaved, and always disheveled and dirty.

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Hat mentions (why hats?):

If she took a bottle top and put it on her doll's head, like a hat, I said to mine, in dialect, Tina, put on your queen's crown or you'll catch cold. (page 30)

Lidia Sarratore appeared dressed as if to go to a party, she had even put on a summer hat, of blue straw. (page 60)

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Lines of note:

At the fourth flight Lila did something unexpected. She stopped to wait for me, and when I reached her she gave me her hand. This gesture changed everything between us forever. (page 29)

Do you have a moment that, in retrospect, changed everything in a relationship?

 I was small and really my doll knew more than I did. (page 30)

This line made me laugh.

Their anger frightened me, I was frightened above all by the thought that Don Achille might have ears so sensitive that he could hear insults even from far away. I was afraid that he might come and murder them. (page 35)

Is Lenù an unreliable narrator or do we think this could happen? Is Don Achille truly a murderer? 

...from the first day, school had seemed to me a much nicer place than home. (page 44)

For my ATGIB readers, this was an interesting parallel to Francie's first horrific experience at school. It is interesting that both Lenù and Francie are both so excited about school and learning. There are so many parallels in these books - tough relationships with mothers, city living in apartments, violence all around - that I don't know if I would have realized before CBBC.

Trained by our schoolbooks to speak with great skill about what we had never seen, we were excited by the invisible. (page 74)

...distance - I discovered for the first time - extinguished in me every tie and every worry...(page 78-79)

This one really hit me when I was listening to the audiobook. I think because of things happening in my personal life right now, the theme of being away from loved ones is striking hard. 

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Things I looked up:

City of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius at sunset. Source

Dialect: This first comes up on page 19, but it comes up over and over again.  The neighborhood where MBF is set is isolated from most of Naples by poverty and by language. The dialect that is spoken in the neighborhood is based on Italian, but the differences in accent are so great that the languages don't sound alike to people who don't speak the languages. The characters in MBF move between Italian and dialect depending on the social situation. 

cotognata (page 36): We might call this quince paste and it's somewhere between a jam and a jelly

cockade (page 42): ornament consisting of or imitating a rosette or knot of ribbon, worn usually on a hat as a badge of office or party, as part of a livery dress, or as decoration

tufa (page 74): a variety of limestone

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Questions to ponder:

1) On the day Lila and Lenù skip school, there's the line, "When I think of the pleasure of being free, I think of the start of that day..."(page 75)

What do you think of when you think of "being free"? 

2) If you're a brand new Ferrante reader, where do you think this book is heading? What's being foreshadowed here?

3) If you're rereading this book, what did you notice this time around that you didn't before?

4) What do you make of the anonymity of the author? Does it take away from or add to your reading experience? Do you think it's important to know about an author's background when reading their fiction? Do you think it's ethical for journalists to attempt to figure out who the author is?  

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Homework for next week:

How are you reading this book? Paperback, ebook, audiobook? Where are you reading it? If you have a photo of your book (maybe in the cozy chair where you read!) you'd like to share with the rest of the group, send it in and I'll make a collage for next week.  dominique100 @ hotmail dot com

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Upcoming CBBC schedule:

Week Two
Monday, February 12
Adolescence, Chapters 1-16 (pages 89-153 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 1935 on a Kindle, timestamp 2:39:35 - 5:21:06 on audiobook)

Week Three
Monday, February 19
Adolescence, Chapters 17-30 (pages 153-212 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 2761 on a Kindle, timestamp 5:21:06-7:37:34 on audiobook)

Week Four 
Monday, February 26
Adolescence, Chapters 31-45 (pages 212-270 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 3575 on a Kindle, timestamp 7:37:34 - 10:06:54 on audiobook)

Week Five
Monday, March 4
Adolescence, Chapters 46-62 (pages 270-331 of the paperback Europa edition, timestamp 10:06:54-end on audiobook)

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

CBBC Starts Next Week

 

I know it seems crazy, but the February edition of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) starts NEXT WEEK.  Remember your assignment to read My Brilliant Friend is the Prologue AND Childhood (pages 1-85 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 1029 on a Kindle). When we did CBBC last summer, I had read the pages and written the posts a week in advance and, as of when I'm writing this, I have not even started reading the book yet because life has gotten hectic. If I can read it AND write up a post, you can read it, I promise!!

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Do you remember when I was doing that project where I wrote something on this blog every day for a year? The very first post was me posing with a bison sculpture? It made me chuckle when I saw this bison sculpture in a random rest area in Indiana.

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What's the last bison sculpture you saw? Have you ever seen a real one?

The Vote is In: February 2024 CBBC Unveiled

Before we get started with the main event, Happy MLK Day and Happy National Hat Day to those who celebrate either one.

Unveiling this cool CBBC logo Elisabeth made for me!

The votes were tallied and the winner is My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan #1) by Elena Ferrante. 

It was a close vote, but no worries, LM Montgomery fans, I'm sure we'll get to Anne someday!

So, here is the plan as of now, but I will take feedback if you feel like it needs to be adjusted.

Week One:
Monday, February 5
Prologue AND Childhood (pages 1-85 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 1029 on a Kindle)

Week Two:
Monday, February 12
Adolescence, Chapters 1-16 (pages 89-153 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 1935 on a Kindle)

Week Three
Monday, February 19
Adolescence, Chapters 17-30 (pages 153-212 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 2761 on a Kindle)

Week Four 
Monday, February 26
Adolescence, Chapters 31-45 (pages 212-270 of the paperback Europa edition, up to location 3575 on a Kindle)

Week Five
Monday, March 4
Adolescence, Chapters 46-62 (pages 270-331 of the paperback Europa edition)

Week Six
Monday, March 11
Wrap up!

Here's the Europa edition that I have. 

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All right, that's that. Who's excited? What's your plan for getting the book?