My Brilliant Friend
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It has calcified into the foundation of her character.
By the time we reach the end of this saga, Lenus feelings for Nino will not be resolved.
By the end of The Disappearance, the neighborhoods universe seems uncanny: familiar but strange.
No perceived normalcy can survive Tinas disappearance and the death of the Solaras.
Nothing, of course, but the people.
The people are all still themselves.
For her part, Imma is indifferent to Papas visit.
Shed rather play with Tina.
Do you want to see the most beautiful car in the world?
He asks the four girls before taking them all for a stroll.
On a Sunday, thestradoneis busy with movement.
While she warbles on, Enzo becomes increasingly uneasy.
He exchanges looks with Lenu.
In a daze, she starts looking for her daughter.
Though Lila is also technically looking at the TV, she doesnt seem to beseeinganything.
After being released, Stefano suffered a heart attack, though whether the two experiences are related remains unclear.
He wouldve jumped at their necks if it werent for Lila holding him back.
Just when it seems like things couldnt possibly get worse, Rino goes missing, too.
Gennaro, frightened, wonders why its only now that Stefano has decided to act like a father.
The only people he respects in the neighborhood are Lila and Enzo.
A group of school-aged boys cackle when she finds it.
You deserve to be killed, Lila yells, crazily.
They wont even let you into hell!
They avoid her like they once avoided Melina.
One of the things that brings Lila a small measure of comfort is her affection for Imma.
Imma is relieved to see her mother and anxious to go home.
Witnessing Lilas frustration, Lenu decides that she wont have her look after the girls anymore.
Dede and Elsa, once besotted with their cool, beautiful aunt, have lost all respect for Lila.
Dede rats her out: she cuts class, forges signatures, is hated by her peers.
The hurricane of chaos intensifies around Lenu; she stands still and helpless in the eye of it.
Now that Dede is 16, she can watch her sisters when Lenu goes out of town for work.
At the moment, though, the girls couldnt care less.
She doesnt spare Elsa, either, who tries to stand up for her sister.
All huddled in their mothers bed while she unpacks, the girls tell Lenu everything.
Mother and daughters all sleep together Tinas disappearance is a strong bonding agent for Lenus family.
But the all-encompassing emotion that Lila feels, she explains, isanger.And anger usually needs an outlet.
Lila lays into Dede, Elsa, and Imma, saying how rude and entitled the girls are.
With no possible way of actually knowing whats going through her friends mind, Lenu imagines it all instead.
Elisa ignores her sister completely, and everyone ignores Lila.
Marcello picks it up and promises to get it fixed.
In moments like those, Lilas old self shows through but she is increasingly losing her bearings.
As she spirals deeper into her inner torment, her exterior comes undone.
The cogs in Lenus brain immediately start to turn.
Being around Lila makes Lenus thinking more unique, more intelligent and fearless.
You help me make connections between distant things, she says.
Lila looks pleased; it makes her feel good to be useful.
Lenu stays up writing all night.
While she works, her daughters catch a cold.
In a hungover daze from spending the whole night thinking, Lenu brings up breakfast for Lila.
Her makeup is still all over her face; the remnants of dinner remain uncleared on the table.
More concerningly, Lila is wailing in pain, cursing that her gut has been spilling out all night.
Lenu finds bloodied paper towels littering the kitchen.
As they hug it out, they hear gunshots, and Lenu runs to see whats going on.
Tina came out of my belly again and shes taking revenge on everyone, she seethes.
She killed them, she smiles, looking disturbingly like the Joker.
