My Brilliant Friend

Just before the HBO Series adaptation debuted in 2018, I borrowed the first volume of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet and always meant to get around to the other three. Last year the New York Times crowned My Brilliant Friend as the Best Book of the 21st Century so far. Then Amazon put the four ebooks in the series on sale for $3.99, $3.99, $10.35, and $1.99.

Thanks to a mind susceptible to suggestion, I bought all four and have now gotten around to the other three. This lifelong portrait of two frenemies, if I may coin the worst synopsis possible, really is worth reading.

Since many of the finer details had left my memory, I re-read My Brilliant Friend before moving forward. Of the almost 600 books I’ve logged to Goodreads, this is just the 15th I’ve marked as ‘read-twice.’ My 2.5% re-reading rate makes it hard to get too worked up about my ebook purchases only being leases. Meanwhile, when I check out ebooks from my public library, I have anxiety about increasing hold lines for book leases which are much more expensive.