Well, having read this I think I got a lot more satisfaction than I ever would from trying to plough through the whole prose piece that it's adapted from. Here we get a pretty snappily-read graphic novel – really, the text is more often than not just one line of captioning narrative per page, and the dialogue word count is very low indeed – that shows two girls become young women in Naples. Our narrator is stuck as a second fiddle to her friend, Lila, who seems precocious, manipulative, a masterful Latin scholar who barely enters school and much prefers forging her own path through life. From the eyes of our guide to all this, Lila comes across as strong yet needy, and we are stuck unable to recognise any brilliance of our own. As such the story, when the women are old enough, can talk of being stuck in a rut, of wanting to improve one's lot and get out of one's neighbourhood of old buildings, boorish boys and so on.

Now, I still cannot really see the fuss and why the four-book original was lauded so much – as I say, this pithy variant is so much more up my street. As a graphic novel it's fine, although it doesn't sell the original (or the TV – or the stage – or the radio show) to me. I have no idea if we'll get the other books adapted in such manner, either, but the biggest take-out is that reviews from people who seem to love the source don't dislike this at all. They are in favour, and not bleating about a huge misinterpretation, or this or that being left out. The critiques currently giving it one star on goodreads are people coming fresh to this, and being left bemused and wondering what the heck the fuss was about.

I'm not that close to their opinion, just as I'm not a sudden convert to things Ferrante. I found a dramatically-conveyed story of teenagerdom, with all the usual tropes – menstruation, sex abuse, you know the type of thing everyone deems necessary for such books these days – and a bit of frisson about how wilful and out of control Lila could get – and then it just crashes to a stop and we're left waiting the rest. And while I'm not urgently twiddling my thumbs until that comes along, at least I have some sense of what the story's about now, and I'd have no objections to returning. This as a stand-alone gets three and a half stars, due to the abrupt stop, but the whole package could eventually earn four stars, should it all get made and all come my way.

4/5

I wanted to dig into this story through the series but fate took me to the graphic novel first.
I have to say this was a very interesting read. Some parts are very deep and in general the tone felt "heavy". The drawings in these book are amazing, I loved the style so much as well as the coloring.

After reading this I'm even more curious to see the series and how the story comes to life through it.
A recommended read if your are into this novels.

Overall, I absolutely loved the book. It had a good story and it was relatable. This graphic novel is a great book of adolescence, growing up, and the choices kids make for their future. The only thing I did not understand was the ending of the graphic novel. I am not sure if there will be other books in the future. But I was just confused as to how the book ended. Otherwise, this book was amazing! The artwork was beautiful!

Without reading the original novel that this graphic novel is based on I had a hard time following the story. The illustrations were beautiful, but there seemed to be details missing from the text. This was certainly not one of my favorites.

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.  This was pretty interesting, but I did find it a little confusing.  However, that's probably because I knew next to nothing going into it.  However, it was beautifully illustrated, with lots of beautiful colour.  I thought that the story was intriguing, but I wanted a bit more from it.

maybe 1.5 stars.... This graphic novel tells the story of a friendship between 2 girls, & is based on a previous original novel which is evidently quite popular & has even been adapted into a HBO series. I hadn't heard of any of these ..... & really felt like I had to muddle along, trying to 'get it' throughout this book...maybe it would've helped if I'd known of the original works? The art work didn't really offer much help to give much of an understanding of the story either, I thought the drawings were often kind of 'blotchy', & I felt like I was muddling through those too. I do appreciate the opportunity to read 'outside my normal box', but this just didn't connect with me....
I did receive a digital galley for review purposes from Europa Editions via NetGalley. The opinions are all my own.

I couldn't really get in to this. The art style was nice, but I didn't love how the people looked and I just felt disconnected and uninterested in what was going on. I had hoped a graphic novel format would be the way for me to read this book but it seems it's just not the book for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

‘My Brilliant Friend: The Graphic Novel’ was a quick and interesting read. The artwork was very well done and the characters and story was very compelling.

Would highly recommend

Rating 4 stars

The graphic adaptation of the well-known book "My brilliant friend" was really hard to put down. The artwork... absolutely amazing! And the story perfectly grasps all sides of human relationships (including the dark ones). A great read overall.

I read My Brilliant Friend a few years ago and I didn’t like it. However, it’s one of those books many readers mention as a favourite so I’ve considered rereading it ever since to try to find what I was sure I must have missed.

I saw this graphic novel adaptation on NetGalley and with it my second chance to experience the story in a different, and quicker, format.

Quick is certainly the word. It’s 257 pages, but light on text, even for a graphic novel, and I can’t have spent more than 10 minutes on it. I may have spent longer looking at the artwork in another GN, but there wasn’t a lot to linger over here. Art is subjective, but I wasn’t a fan of the style; many of the frames felt rushed and unfinished, not to mention there are several frames of plain blue sky and several more of blackness. If the art is supposed to enhance the story, many opportunities were missed here. Also, I question the inclusion of labelled drawings of naked girls to highlight their differences; it felt unnecessary.

As for the story, I don’t remember much from my first reading of the novel. I found it difficult to get interested in and therefore confusing. I thought this adaptation might simplify that, but no such luck. As I mentioned, there’s not a lot of text and it really felt like vital information was missing. The ending is abrupt, though there’s an event that might have had more impact if the characters had been successfully brought to life.

I would not suggest reading this without reading the novel – even for a reader like me who only wanted a refresher, it wasn’t successful in delivering a coherent, interesting story. Neither would I recommend it for the artwork. There’s a chance this graphic novel will find its audience in those who have read and loved Ferrante’s work and want a companion piece.

Thanks, NetGalley and Europa Editions, for this ARC.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Please, bear in mind that this is a review by someone who has not read the original novel and neither has seen the TV adaptation.
What I wanted to see was whether the graphic novel works by itself or not, and I have to say it kind of rests in the middle. The art is simply beautiful and feel like small postcards of a story that feels quite far, as if the reader does not have the authorization to come any closer.
Thus, what we see of Elena and Lila is quite superficial. Is it enough to know who they were, how their relationship worked? It makes you eager to read more about them, which is always good, but some of the facts are blurred. It really happens with the ending, as well.I think it would make a good companion to the original book.

This book stood out to me because it’s based on a novel that was successfully adapted to screen as an HBO series (which I haven’t seen, but it gets a 8.6/10 rating on IMDb). Unfortunately, this book does not work for me. First, the art is not to my liking- paintings that seem at times juvenile and wonky, other times more creepy than haunting. I also think the English translation of the text is extremely clunky. I cringed quite a bit while reading this. It’s a story of friendship that spans years and probably more downs than ups, but I didn’t enjoy the ride. Skip this one.

My Brilliant Friend The graphic novel adapts the start of the Neopolitan novels series into a graphic format and tells the story of Lila and Lenu growing up in 1950s Naples. Told through the eyes of Elena, known as Lenu, the reader follows the complicated friendship of the two girls as they navigate school, social life and first love. The text and choice of colours and hand drawn illustrations and watercolour artwork in this graphic novel effectively work together to convey the bleakness of their childhood in a poor Italian neighbourhood and the social expectations and limitations on young girls.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced ecopy of this graphic novel.

I've never read Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, so perhaps that was my disconnect with the graphic novel. Unfortunately I didn't find the storyline all that engaging and the soft, watercolor type art didn't compensate for the lack of story.