'And then I had to realise that too: that you cannot live, cannot grow, without experiencing a wrong friendship.' That is the conclusion reached by Elisa, the protagonist of Silvia Avallone's new novel A friendship. Many people will probably recognise it, that attraction to a friend or girlfriend who is actually not right for you or suits you, but who at the same time you find it hard to turn your back on.
Painful fracture
At A friendship thirtysomething Elisa looks back on her most important friendship: with Beatrice, a pretty smart girl with whom she was inseparable for years, until it came to a final, painful break-up as early twenties. A split that is even more painful because Bea has since become world-famous in fashion, gracing the covers of magazines and newspapers and travelling the world, while Elisa leads a lonely life as a university lecturer and single mother.
Elisa and Beatrice get to know each other as adolescents when Elisa is reluctantly reunited by her single mother with her father, whom she barely knows. The girl feels lonely and abandoned, so when she gets to know Beatrice, she clings to her. Although the two are huge opposites, they also have common ground: Beatrice, like Elisa, is a misfit, and although she comes from a rich family, Bea too lacks unconditional parental love.
Elena Ferrante
In this generously spun story, somewhat reminiscent of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, Avallone fathoms the subjects of love and betrayal. For love and betrayal know many guises. Sometimes you have to betray the people you love in order to become who you really are, or to help the other person become who he is. So is that betrayal or an act of love? Or perhaps both at the same time?
Avallone has a good eye for human relationships and the psychological motivations of her characters; the straitjacket we impose on ourselves or on life. However, she could have kept a tighter grip on the direction of her novel; the development of the plot could have done with a lot fewer pages and explanations, and the middle part of the book loses power as a result.
But that is made up for in the novel's finale, which contains moving and hopeful scenes about parenthood, the influence of the past and how, as 'twisted adults', we can still get past our pain points.
Good to knowSilvia Avallone, A friendship. Translated by Manon Smits. De Bezige Bij, 448 p., €24.99
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