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William Finnegan recommended My Brilliant Friend in Books (curated)

 
My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
3.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"The first volume in the Neapolitan quartet, this one changes in the mind’s eye if you’re pulled, as I am, helplessly through the subsequent books, with its primal scenes from early childhood deepening throughout. Is there a better portrait of friendship in literature than the story of Elena Greco, the narrator, and her brilliant friend, Lila Cerullo? Elena escapes the old neighborhood, and the poverty of postwar Naples, through education, but Lila remains the incandescent figure. The tormented power of their relationship never flags, through “The Story of a New Name,” “Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay,” and the devastating “The Story of a Lost Child.” I hear the TV series is good. The books are a universe."

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
2019 | Drama
Based on a magazine article written by an Esquire investigative reporter assigned a profile on Fred Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is the Tuesdays With Morrie adaptation of the man who guided generations of children through the perils of childhood. Opening in the style of the famed PBS series Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, we begin by learning the story of journalist Lloyd Vogel, a man very much in need of a change in attitude. He harbors a lot of father issues. The editor of Esquire wants him to write one of the articles for an issue on Heroes, but everyone has read his work and is afraid to talk to him. That is,except for the one man in the world who never judges others until he has walked in his shoes. In other words, you need to know a person in order to really be able to know someone. Tom Hanks is a national treasure and perfectly captures the heart and soul of a man who exuberates compassion and willing teaches everyone the most important lesson of life. Matthew Rhys capably plays Lloyd as he comes to grips with all the buried feelings of the childhood he had which turned him into the man he is. Chris Cooper stands out as Jerry, the father who abandoned his family when life became too rough. Overall, the movie is good, and the movie achieves its goal: telling the story of how one person can make a huge difference in the lives of others just by listening.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Those People in Books

Sep 13, 2019  
Those People
Those People
Louise Candlish | 2019 | Thriller
5
7.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
So I was really excited to read my first Louise Candlish novel and while I found this one interesting enough, it wasn't as intriguing as I'd hoped after all the hype over OUR HOUSE. I'm all for neighborhood tensions and drama, but my goodness, it feels like this book took forever. And while I get that this was probably the overall point, these people were mostly all so insufferable that I really didn't care if they all just killed each other!

The book makes some good points about social class, but it does it all so slowly. There are a few twists, yes, but they don't come often enough, and I had a decent idea about a few of them. Maybe the drawn out element was meant to mimic the neighbor's "agony," but good grief. The book is told via police reports and narratives. We learn early on there was an incident in the neighborhood, but don't know what happened or who was involved. I was definitely interested in knowing what went on, which is why I kept plugging away. It's pretty clear early on that nearly everyone has a reason to harm everyone else; kind of makes me glad for my eight acres.

So, overall, while curiosity kept me reading on this one, and I enjoyed a few of the twists, it was definitely a slow read filled with a lot of annoying characters. Maybe if I'm brave enough to pick up OUR HOUSE, it will be more my jam. 2.5+ stars.
  
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