I thought I'd chime in on this little novel to say to readers this first part of the so-called Neapolitan novels is worth reading to get to the really good stuff in parts 2, 3 and 4. Do NOT Give Up. I thought about abandoning this about halfway through it. I found books 2-4 addictive.
The author considers the 4 parts as just one novel (it was divided by the publisher into 4 parts). As such, it's really hard to rate My Brilliant Friend as a novel on its on. No doubt, one must read this to fully appreciate and enjoy parts 2, 3 and 4. Here, all the characters and conflicts are introduced as is the poor and violent neighborhood on the Naples outskirts, in itself a character as a magnet where the families live and so many things happen over the course of the books, as it stands at the foot of the infamous Mount Vesuvius, the only active volcano on mainland Europe.
Think of it like this: can you think of a great lengthy novel that if you read only 1/4 of it as a stand-alone novel, you'd love it and give it 5 stars. This wasn't written, or intended, to be read as a novel. This one, very similar to the first 1/4 of all really good lengthy novels, is mostly setup, introductions, character development up to, well, up to the teen years of the two main characters.
Viewed as one novel, it's a bildungsroman following the lives of Elena (called “Lenù”) Greco (the novel is told in the first person recollections of Elena) and her razor-sharp, but enigmatic, best friend Raffaella (“Lila”) Cerullo, from childhood, here in My Brilliant Friend, to adulthood.
I'd give this 3 stars as a stand-alone. Yet since it's really the first part of a single novel, I'll give it 4 stars because I'd give the novel an overall 4.5.
The narrator takes a little getting used to, but you'll find that she's perfect as you get into books 2, 3 and 4.