Fun
My Brilliant Friend
Dear Kay,
I’ve been anticipating this HBO series from the moment I read about it.
Earlier this year, I listened to the audiobooks of Elena Ferrante’s four Neapolitan novels with one-after-another obsession. If you’re looking for an extraordinary series to listen to, well, here’s my post about the audiobooks.
I have very clear images of the places and people of these novels. Elena Ferrante introduces us to a huge cast of characters inhabiting the gritty Naples neighborhood where Lila and Lenu grow up, and it’s astonishing how well I kept track of all the villainous and heartsore and broken and brilliant people we meet along the way.
Most of the time, it’s a dicey proposition to watch a movie or TV series based on a novel I loved. But I really want to see this world. I want to hear the Italian spoken out loud. I visited Naples once, a few years ago. But it was a quick visit, and I wish I could go back now, having gobbled up these books.
The tricky thing here is that My Brilliant Friend appears exclusively on HBO. And I don’t subscribe to HBO.
I think I just figured out what I want for Christmas.
Love,
Ann
I’ve been watching it and I’m addicted to it. The unfortunate thing though, is that the dialogue is in Italian-in the Neopolitan dialect so you’re reading subtitles!!
It’s a wonderful series – hope you enjoy it – the cast is wonderful and spot on. Hope your Christmas wish comes true. By the way, loved your Knit Stars segment. Happy New Year to both of you.
If you still get DVDs from Netflix it looks like they will have it, I just saved it to my queue. That’s why I keep that DVD service, there are still things I can’t stream, and Netflix has just about everything eventually. And it’s the best/only source for obscure foreign films. And Bollywood….
There are people who add HBO subscriptions and binge watch Game of Thrones, say, and then drop the subscription for another year. Just sayin’. You could do that.
Not saying I am one of those people. I have subscriptions to both HBO and Showtime and find them worthwhile for a variety of movies and shows. (Cough. Escape At Dannemora. Cough.).
I have started watching My Brilliant Friend even though I didn’t like the book. I love listening to the Italian language. It’s not good knitting TV, though, because you have to read the subtitles.
BTW, I’m Nina, not Niba. There seems to be no edit function.
Dear Ann… Do you know about HBO Go? You do not need to add HBO into your television line up. You can purchase HBO Go separately – there an app that runs on multiple devices. And, yes – it is 2000% worth it to get it for My Brilliant Friend. It is stunningly done! (And the knitwear!!)
By an odd coincidence – or perhaps a vague memory that you had recommended this author earlier, Ann! – I have just borrowed the audiobook of My Brilliant Friend through interlibrary loan. HBO is not an option here, but I’ll be starting the book as soon as I finish the two I’m already listening to. I’m starting to read the way I knit…
The lovely thing about My Brilliant Friend is the performances of all the actors. Many of them, including the actresses who play young and teenage Lena and Lila, have little to no experience, yet the performances are fantastic! Kudos to HBO for its willingness to keep the show in Italian with subtitles because it truly helps create the sense of place that Ferrante did in her novels.
There’ll be 4 seasons on HBO, each being one book in the series. I binge watched the extraordinary Season One last week. Can’t wait for Season Two (which is in production now), so I got the second book from the library which I’ll start today.
Season 1 exceeded everyone’s expectations and it is definitely worth going to whatever lengths necessary to see it. Requires close attention because of the subtitles, but even more because of the visual nuances. The audio book is part of the January plan for the great knitting binge,
thank you for giving me a new and exciting series to watch~ happy Christmas to all and a very wonderful new year~
Well…. you can get 1 month free streaming…. and if you happen to have a friend w HBO they can give u their streaming code. I’ve even heard the latter is encouraged but haven’t investigated.
Maybe once I buy a tv which will allow the streaming to be it, I’ll learn all the ins & outs.
I LO❤️E when books do that. And when rarest of all the movie/movie-Esque version enhances the book. Out of Africa did that for me. I knew I wasn’t understanding the written descriptions; seeing the land made a huge difference in my understanding the book.
Now, I’m gonna hunt down that audio! Thanks!
And Happy Christmas!!!!
I started the audiobook but lost interest. Think I need to try it again.
I am always leery when a book is adapted to the screen, big or little; but this series (though there are some tiny changes) was unique. Once you have watched … head over to the Gray Lady (The NYT) as they had a wonderful discussion of the episodes by readers – and fans – of the books among their writers. It was so very interesting.
And yes, the are adapting the next novel in the series ‘The Story of a New Name” … and the young actresses – all four – who play Lila and Lenu are amazing. Some scenes – even when I knew very well what was going to occur – gave me chills. I literally wanted to turn away from the screen the production was so visceral (Lenu on Ischia …)
I just started watching 10 minutes ago. Mesmerizing from the very beginning. Thank you for the suggestion.