European Book Club: My brilliant friend

by Elena Ferrante

Saturday, September 19 - 3pm - 5pm
Vancouver Public Library - Kitsilano Branch

Organized by the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver and EUNIC Canada-Vancouver, in collaboration with the Vancouver Public Library, the next meeting with the EU Book Club, moderated by Dr. Elisa Segnini, will focus on a best-selling Italian novel.

"MY BRILLIANT FRIEND"
(L'Amica geniale)

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.

The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between the novel's protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.

This novel was followed by three sequels, which completed Ferrante's "Neapolitan tetralogy".

"The real world can drop away when you’re reading her.”— Entertainment Weekly

THE AUTHOR

Elena Ferrante was born in Naples. She is the author of The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. Her Neapolitan novels include My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of the Lost Child, fourth and final volume in the series, to be published in September 2015.

Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym. Her (his?) real identity is unknown!

Light refreshments will follow, courtesy of the Consulate General of Italy.

Admission is free, but please register by e-mail: eubookclub.vancouver@gmail.com.