This month the book club met at the home of Rosenelle Florencechild to discuss My Brilliant Friend, the first book in a four-book series by Elena Ferrante. The author traces the friendship of Elena and Lila, two young girls who grow up in a poor neighborhood of Naples, Italy in the 1950s. The girls challenge, compete and at times undermine each other. Despite this their friendship endures for over 60 years and they provide each other with a comforting shelter from hardship and disappointment. Writing under a pseudonym, Elena Ferrante has been described as Italy’s most famous, unknown contemporary writer.
Many of the book club members were not drawn into the story and in fact were turned off by the level of violence within families and between neighbors. However they agreed that the value of the book club is that it exposes members to books and authors they might not otherwise read.
On March 9, the group will meet at the home of Susan Watson to discuss Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
