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A review by dedempsey
Find Me by André Aciman
2.0
I respect not cashing in on total fan service and writing the sequel everyone was expecting, but this alternative left me confused. We spent half the novel with Elio’s father, witnessing his whirlwind romance with a ~much younger~ woman, as we’re repeatedly reminded. This whole section served as set up for a split second at the end of the book, and I think the time spent on the page was out of proportion. I adored Elio’s father in Call Me By Your Name, so I was saddened by how disappointing I found this part of the novel.
I much preferred the rest of the book - Elio and Oliver’s parts - though I still found some of it confusing. Why do we keep harping on relationships with large age gaps? We never really seemed to reach a conclusion on this theme... There were also themes of Judaism, World War II, and a bit of a “musical mystery” thrown in, but again, I felt like they weren’t fleshed out and were just sort of left there. The musical mystery could’ve been its own book I think, but instead I’m not really sure what happened.
And then at the end, we got our reunion, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was left thinking, if this is where we were headed anyway, why so rushed? Why so few pages spent with our main characters?
Aciman’s writing is undeniably beautiful, and that’s what kept me reading until the end. But in hindsight, I still don’t think I have fully formed my thoughts and feelings on the plot. I’m glad I read it but I’m left unsatisfied.
I much preferred the rest of the book - Elio and Oliver’s parts - though I still found some of it confusing. Why do we keep harping on relationships with large age gaps? We never really seemed to reach a conclusion on this theme... There were also themes of Judaism, World War II, and a bit of a “musical mystery” thrown in, but again, I felt like they weren’t fleshed out and were just sort of left there. The musical mystery could’ve been its own book I think, but instead I’m not really sure what happened.
And then at the end, we got our reunion, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was left thinking, if this is where we were headed anyway, why so rushed? Why so few pages spent with our main characters?
Aciman’s writing is undeniably beautiful, and that’s what kept me reading until the end. But in hindsight, I still don’t think I have fully formed my thoughts and feelings on the plot. I’m glad I read it but I’m left unsatisfied.