What I Talk About When I Talk About Elena Ferrante

A Ferrante fangirl moment in celebration of that NYT #1 pick.

I grew up with a best friend. We met at the neighborhood park when we were both eighteen months old. Over the years, we played pretend. We “rescued” barnacles off rocks at the beach. We took ballet lessons. We made Photo Booth music videos that I hope will never resurface. We did all of this together, and to this day (many fights and reconciliations later), she remains one of the most glorious human beings I know. Being around her feels childlike and warm. She’s still, in many ways, my best friend — even though I only spend a few hours with her a year.

Over the last week, the literary internet has been lit about the NYT’s list of “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” To my delight and surprise, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend ran away with the number one spot.¹

My Brilliant Friend² is the first in a quartet called the Neapolitan Novels. The books follow two best friends throughout their lives. They fall apart and fall back together a hundred times, but from page one, you’re rooting for their bond over every other relationship in the novel. The book is, first and foremost, a celebration of friendship. Particularly a friendship between two girls who molt, together, into women.

Grayson and I “practicing” ballet. Thanks for digging up this picture, mom. <3

When I learned that My Brilliant Friend earned the top spot on the NYT list, I felt exhilarated. I love this book. It’s one of those novels that makes me feel happy that novels exist. It’s earnest, painful, honest, raw. It pulls no punches, but it doesn’t cringe away from love either. It’s the kind of book that skims the edges of a life. More trace paper than fiction.

The Ferrante books are as addictive as the neon popsicles of childhood summers. Even after the series ends, you want more more more. Yes, this is because the writing is good; the world well-developed. But, as Molly Fischer wrote for The New Yorker back in 2014, there’s something else at play here.