My Brilliant Friend 读书笔记

My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante
Europa Editions
ISBN 978-1-60945-078-6
Elena Ferrante是意大利的一位知名作家。这本书My Brilliant Friend是一个叫做Neapolitan小说系列里的第一本，接下来几本续集是The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of The Lost Child. 我会有这本书完全是被当地的一个Women’s Center的读书聚乐部安利了。个人觉得情节比较单薄，但也有可能只是第一本的关系，情节有可能在后面几本继续展开。从主体上来说，我觉得《七月和安生》同这一系列的书好相似，都是描写从小一起长大的女孩间的亲密无间，不是情人胜似情人的感情。
这个故事发生在意大利。
这本书的主人公叫做Lenu或者全名Lenuccia。她青梅竹马的小女孩叫做Lina or Lila. Lenu的家庭幸福美满，父母都很爱护她;而Lila的父母则是重男轻女，对Lila的教育非常不上心，还会打她。两人的家庭阶级都很普通，Lenu的父亲是搬运工，母亲是家庭主妇，而Lila的父亲是鞋匠，母亲是家庭主妇，哥哥是父亲的帮手。
这本书基本上描写了2人从儿时到16岁的光景。
Lila和Lenu都是十分聪明的小女孩。虽然Lila可能更加聪明，因为她可以自学（通过从图书馆借书）拉丁语，希腊语学得很好，并且还可以教Lenu。2个人从儿时就认识，一起冒险，一起玩耍。但渐渐长大，2人的命运截然不同。重男轻女家庭生活的Lila根本就没有接受教育的机会。虽然她天资聪明，但父母并不愿意让她继续读书。所以她小学就辍学了。而Lenu则是在父母的鼓励下，老师的鼓励下，勤奋地学习，并且一直读书到了高中（之后的小说里应该还会继续深造）。这在当时几乎是难以想象的，因为大部分的女孩子都是小学毕业就去工作进入社会。不过，虽然Lila没有机会上学，却一直很努力在学习：通过向当地的图书馆借书自学，并且效果非常好，几乎比Lenu在学校里学得还要多还要快。
Lila是一个非常不同的女孩，非常有个性也很勇敢。在Lenu因为发育得早被男孩调戏嘲笑的时候，是Lila去保护Lenu,让那些男孩滚蛋。也是Lila虽然被迫辍学，也一直在寻找着发财的机会，自己在设计鞋子的款式，希望有一天能够把自家产的手工鞋推广到全意大利（虽然她的父亲很不认同手工鞋的概念，觉得没有人买手工鞋，机器做的鞋子才有人买，而且生产成本低）。
很快青春期就到来了.Lila渐渐从一个瘦弱的小女孩发育成一个气质超好，并且身段苗条的美人。而Lenu则在青春期遭遇了从金发变成棕发，并且五官没有以前可爱的。因为Lila变得十分美丽，很快旁边的男生和男人就都把目光放在了Lila身上。Lenu对这种情况有着嫉妒，但不明白到底是因为嫉妒那些男人喜欢Lila，还是嫉妒Lila的关注被那些男人分散。
Lenu和Lila在长大的过程中，也接触到了城市的贫富差距。渐渐的从自己的小社区，看到了更大的世界。特别是Lenu在初高中都接触了一些优秀的人， 并且因为一个机会，去了Ischia,在那里遇到Nino,一个长相英俊并且知识渊博的男孩，但这个男孩也喜欢Lila.
而在Lenu在Ischia工作度假时候，Lila却遇到最糟糕的事情：她被当地一个开糕饼连锁店的老板的儿子Marcello给缠上了。Marcello给Lila家里不停送东西，Lila父亲就同意把Lila嫁给Marcello，只是Lila抵死不从。等到Lenu回来，才发现这个糟糕的情况。聪明的Lila和Lenu想到了和Stefano发展关系，用来摆脱Marcello. Stefano是当地一个开超市的男人,禀性比Marcello好。然后Marcello就被Lila的父亲忽视了，因为Stefano同Lila家的鞋店开展了合作：他注资生产了一批手工皮鞋。之后Lila的父亲就同意Stefano和Lila结婚了。婚后的Lila(这时候只有16岁啊我的天）过上了轻松的日子，每天穿得漂漂亮亮买买买。但Lenu和Lila的小学老师说，Lila已经变了，她的美丽已经消失了。
第一本结束。
我觉得这本书还是蛮伤感的。Lila真的是一个很聪明美丽的女孩，只是重男轻女的家庭环境抑制了她。而Lenu则是相反的，家庭环境给她创造了很多机会，也给了她很多鼓励和爱。并且文中对2个女孩之间的感情描写得还比较确实。
接下来摘抄一些句子。
I remember the violet light of the courtyard, the smells of a warm spring evening.
We kept to the side where the wall was, she two steps ahead, I two steps behind, torn between shortening the distance or letting it increase.
Adults, waiting for tomorrow, move in a present behind which is yesterday or the day before yesterday or at most last week: they don't want to think about the rest. Children don't know the meaning of yesterday, of the day before yesterday, or even of tomorrow, everything is this, now: the street is this, the doorway is this, the stairs are this, this is Mamma, this is Papa, this is the day, this the night.
The teacher yelled, as she knew how to do, in a voice like a needle, long and pointed, which terrorized us, and ordered her to go and stand behind the blackboard in punishment.
But I did it without conviction: I did many things in my life without conviction; I always felt slightly detached from my own actions.
For years I saw his body—a coarse body, heavy with a mixture of materials—emitting in a swarm salami, provolone, mortadella, lard and prosciutto.
…an evil being of uncertain animal-mineral physiognomy, who—it seemed—sucked blood from others while never losing any himself,maybe it wasn't even possible to scratch him.
Women, who appeared to be silent, acquiescent, when they were angry flew into a rage that had no end.
Lila, although she was shorter and very thin, immediately slapped her so hard that she knocked her down; ruthless, as she usually was on occasions of violence, no yelling before or after, no word of warning, cold and determined, not even widening her eyes.
In the classroom a fascinated silence fell.
She urged me on with encouraging words, she praised my blond curls, and thus reinforced in me the wish to do well: completely the opposite of my mother, who, at home, so often rebuked me, sometimes abusively, that I wanted to hide in a dark corner and hope that she wouldn't find me.
She let me shine with a vivid light,she encouraged me to become more and more disciplined, more diligent, more serious.
I devoted myself to studying and to many things that were difficult, alien to me, just so I could keep pace with that terrible, dazzling girl.
Her quickness of mind was like a hiss, a dart, a lethal bite.
..she had lighted up like a holy warrior. Her cheeks flushed, the sign of a flame released by every corner of her body, and for the first time I thought: Lila is prettier than I am. So I was second in everything. I hoped that no one would ever realize it.
The effort he was making to restrain his timidity was touching.
In fact, that was when I became convinced that nothing could stop her, and that every disobedient act contained breathtaking opportunities.
Trains passed continuously on the other side of the scrubland, trucks and cars passed up and down along the stradone, and yet I cannot remember a single occasion when I asked myself, my father, my teacher: where are the cars going, the trucks, the trains, to what city, to what world?
A violet light cracked the black sky, the thunder was louder.
My father was restrained even when he was angry, he became violent quietly, keeping his voice from exploding even if the veins on his neck swelled and his eyes were inflamed. Fernando instead yelled, threw things; his rage fed on itself, and he couldn't stop.
I no longer pleased with myself, everything seemed tarnished. I looked in the mirror and didn't see what I would have liked to see.
Words like high school, university were for me without substance, like many of the words I came across in novels.
I turned the word over and over in my head, Communist, a word that was meaningless to me, but which the teacher had immediately branded with negativity. Communist, Communist, Communist. It captivated me.
She took leave of my parents with an air of pride.
But what a sea. It was very rough,and loud; the wind took your breath away, pasted your clothes to your body and blew the hair off your forehead. The waves rolled in like blue metal tubes carrying an egg white of foam on their peaks, then broke in a thousand glittering splinters and came up to the street with an oh of wonder and fear from those watching.
The glittering fury of the city slowly faded, died out, letting the sound of the cars, the horns emerge. Broad zones of dark sky reappeared.
Marcello, if you thought about it, was really a good arrangement, but the good tasted of the bad and the bad tasted of the good, it was a mixture that took your breath away.
It seemed to me that Lila had explained everything without explaining anything.
Lila,surprising us again, knelt in front of Stefano and using the shoehorn helped him slip his foot into the new shoe. Then She took off the other shoe and did the same. Stefano, who until that moment had been playing the part of the practical, businesslike man, was obviously disturbed. He waited for Lila to get up, and remained seated for some seconds as if to catch his breath.Then he stood, took a few steps.
A sign that perhaps Lila was right: with people like that, you had to fight them by living a superior life, such as they couldn't even imagine.
Lila was about to complete a definitive leap beyond my life, I would no longer be able to follow her. But now I felt good and wanted to feel even better.
Whatever she put on, her beauty enhanced the dress, the dress enhanced her beauty. Stiff organza, soft satin, airy tulle became her.
After the full attack, it is time to mediate.
Then she added a sentence that I will always remember: “ The beauty of mind that Cerullo had from childhood didn't find an outlet, Greco, and it has all ended up in her face, in her breasts, in her thighs, in her ass, places where it soon fades and it will be as if she had never had it.”
I felt a sensation that later in my life was often repeated: the joy of the new.
How difficult the sentiments of love were to untangle.
When there is no love, not only the life of the people becomes sterile but the life of cities.