《那不勒斯四部曲》（The Neapolitan Novels ）由四本组成，是意大利作家 Elena Ferrante（笔名）的长篇小说，四本分别为《我的天才女友》（My Brilliant Friend ）；《新名字的故事》（The Story of a New Name )；《离开的，留下的》（Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay )；《失踪的孩子》（The Story of the Lost Child )，今天就来说说My Brilliant Friend.

My Brilliant Friend 全书分为两个部分，童年和青春期，以第一人称“我”Elena Greco的视角讲述了两个女孩，Elena和Lila，在这两个阶段友谊的发展。虽然出生在意大利那不勒斯贫民区，但她们从小就洞察世事，天赋异禀，她们不甘平凡，一起读书、一起玩耍、一起出逃、一起反叛现有的生活。于是她们成了彼此的影子，将女孩子之间交往时的细腻心思展现的淋漓尽致，猜忌、攀比、嫉妒、怨恨而后反悔、关心、鼓励、依靠。然而，由童年向青春期过度阶段，她们俩就好像一同站在Robert Frost笔下分岔的两条小径前，在黄色的树林里，她们选择了两条不同的路，从此开始了两段截然不同的人生。

一本小说好看与否，很大程度上取决于人物刻画。人物描写的越细致，就越能拉近与读者之间的距离，好像鲜活的人物就住在自家隔壁，或点头之交，或亲密无间，随时就可以发生联系。

今天就来看看My Brilliant Friend中童年阶段出现的人物描写吧～

我 Elena Greco

I was a pretty little girl with blond curls, happy to show off but not aggressive, and I gave an impression of delicacy that was touching.

我的爸爸，酒店门房

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.

我的妈妈

1、Her body repulsed me, something she probably intuited. She was a dark blonde, blue-eyed, voluptuous. But you never knew where her right eye was looking.

2、with her limp, her wandering eye, and her stubborn anger,

Melina，我妈妈的远房亲戚，可怜的疯寡妇

1、a gaunt woman with a large nose, her hair already gray, a shrill voice that at night called her children from the window.

2、she was moving, cutting across the street, a small, dark, nervous figure, she was acting with her usual determination, she was firm. Firm in what her mother’s relative was doing, firm in the pain, firm in silence as a statue is firm. A follower. One with Melina, who was holding in her palm the dark soft soap she had just bought in Don Carlo’s cellar, and with her other hand was taking some and eating it.

3、her look was hesitant, almost fearful.

4、Although she was fragile in appearance, every prohibition lost substance in her presence.

Raffaella Cerullo, called Lina我的天才女友

1、Cerullo, that small dark-haired, dark-eyed child, in a dark smock with a red ribbon at the neck, and only six years old, answered, “Me.”

2、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.

3、She was disheveled, dirty, on her knees and elbows she always had scabs from cuts and scrapes that never had time to heal. Her large, bright eyes could become cracks behind which, before every brilliant response, there was a gaze that appeared not very childlike and perhaps not even human.

4、Lila had woken up conclusively, and now her eyes had narrowed in determination, and she answered correctly.

5、she had a long face, narrow at the temples, framed by two bands of smooth black hair. But when she decided to vanquish both Alfonso and Enzo, 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.

6、Lila half smiled, almost a grimace, and flung herself sideways, against her deskmate, who was visibly irritated.

7、Lila, who had slender, agile legs, and was always moving them, kicking even when she was sitting next to the teacher, so that the teacher became irritated and soon sent her back to her desk.

8、Now I saw another face, a face of bewilderment. She must have realized that I was looking at her, and she immediately disappeared from the window.

Fernando Cerullo鞋匠，Lila的爸爸

a small, thin man, timidly accosted Don Achille and apologized, without ever saying what he was apologizing for.

Nunzia Cerullo,  Lila妈妈Nunzia

1、She, who, like the majority of the neighborhood women, lived untidily in slippers and shabby old dresses, appeared in her formal black dress (wedding, communion, christening, funeral), with a shiny black purse and low-heeled shoes that tortured her swollen feet

2、She is unrecognizable and her look was hesitant, almost fearful.

Rino Cerullo ，Lila的哥哥

1、Rino was older, bigger, and more motivated. He, stronger than our parents, stronger than all the adults including the teacher and the carabinieri, who could put you in jail.

2、he was a fearless boy who shone in all the courtyard and street games

Nino，铁路工人家的大儿子

1、Nino on the other hand was so good, so meek, so quiet that he was well known and liked, especially by me.

2、He was calm and precise, but he had the quality of not gloating.

3、He was a little taller than me, very thin, with a long neck, his ears sticking out a little from his head. He had rebellious hair, and intense eyes with long lashes.

Enzo，蔬果商贩家大儿子

1、Enzo, who was lazy, incapable, and delinquent, could do complicated calculations in his head better than me, than Alfonso Carracci, than Nino Sarratore?

Don Achille 堂阿奇，镇上恶霸 童话里的吃人魔

A huge man, covered with purple boils, violent in spite of the “don,” which to me suggested a calm authority. He was a being created out of some unidentifiable material, iron, glass, nettles, but alive, alive, the hot breath streaming from his nose and mouth. I thought that if I merely saw him from a distance he would drive something sharp and burning into my eyes. So if I was mad enough to approach the door of his house he would kill me.

Nu，Lila的娃娃

Lila’s doll, on the other hand, had a cloth body of a yellowish color, filled with sawdust, and she seemed to me ugly and grimy.

Tina，我的娃娃

She had a plastic face and plastic hair and plastic eyes. She wore a blue dress that my mother had made for her in a rare moment of happiness, and she was beautiful.