Books about growing up are common; 'buddy friendships' are a somewhat rarer topic. This story of the friendship between two girls, is told with a feminine sensitivity difficult to imagine (as some do) that the author of this pseudonymous book could be a man. It is, however, not the relationship which makes the story special; in fact, the lives of the two protagonists seem to be two trajectories fated to intersect at various stages, rather than the unity suggested by the very word ’friend'. The grimness and violence of the city are a good backdrop to this tragic story, and even in translation the language is vibrant and precise. There are some graphic details of sexual activity.
C.C. (U.K., 2016)
The first volume in the Neapolitan Novels saga. When her lifelong friend Lila disappears aged 66, Elena decides to write down the story of their friendship. This first part is about their childhood and adolescence. Described with realism and well-evoked atmosphere, the action takes place in a poor part of Naples in the mid-twentieth century. It is a closed neighborhood offering little chance of improvement; the two adolescents immediately start to wonder whether studying will really enable them to earn their living. Lila soon drops her schooling and, with her family and her future husband, sets up a shoe business and gets married at sixteen. Elena, who has the same level of intelligence, decides to continue with her studies. Whether you learn more by studying or by living, is a question that each of the two will answer in her own way. The novel is packed with little events, emotional switchbacks, vivid conversations on the life of the neighborhood, studies, boys, love, etc. Before this came the pranks, and fertile imagination, of a not very happy childhood. The author brings out the deep and complex friendship between Elena and Lila, their permanent rivalry and mutual support, their jealous competitiveness. The psychological aspects are well depicted. The book is written well, in a simple, detailed style that brings life in a poor neighborhood alive for the reader. It includes some brief erotic passages.
R.I. (Spain, 2016)