I picked this book because I saw that one of the main themes was friendship and recently I’d been thinking about friendship a lot and my own relationships with some of my friends and this was very interesting to read.
I feel like ever since I was a little kid, friendship is always shown as something that’s always super simple, easy to navigate and everyone just wants to support each other. I still hold that viewpoint no matter how naive it is, but as I grow older I feel like it isn’t true. It hasn’t been true for a while I think. My little pony lied to me</3
Lenu and Lila’s friendship is extremely confusing and messy, there’s a lot of envy involved. Especially on Lenu’s side, she has a slight inferiority complex when it comes to Lila. In academics and then a little later when it comes to looks. I quite relate to her character although I know it’s not a good thing! Sometimes it just sucks that your friends might be better at something than you even though it seems to you like they aren’t putting in nearly as much effort as you. A few years back I was extremely jealous of some of my friends because it seemed like no matter how many classes they’ve skipped and no matter how much I studied they just outperformed me. It wasn’t just in academics either but also social life as well. It’s interesting that Lenu simultaneously seems to sort of put Lila on a pedestal, in my opinion. It’s also hard to believe that she still considered Lila her friend after she tried to sabotage her so she wouldn’t be able to take the test.
I feel bad for Lila, her family doesn’t want to support her and what she wants to do. Her brother Rino seems to be the only one advocating for her education. Her intellect could have taken her far in life but she’s constantly held back because of her family and her dada especially. Like who the hell throws their own daughter out the window??? Just a horrible guy. She’s jealous that Lenu has the opportunity to go to school and Lenu’s jealous that Lila can just wander around and live in her own world, even though that’s not the case at all. Lila is a much bolder and braver character than Lenu and I understand why Lenu would look up to her.
Question: Do you think this is a realistic depiction of what friendships tend to be like in real life?
