A review by tayelstrom
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
4.0
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
I know there's a controversy with this book because of the age gap of Elio and Oliver, so I'll start there. We can't expect books that deal with this, or other controversies, to stop being written. We don't live in a bubble. And I think it does a disservice to this book if that's all you choose to focus on because this was a beautifully written novel. Lots of underlining for me - so many lines I'd like to come back to. And Aciman does an incredible job with the inner monologue of Elio's 17-year-old angst and lust for Oliver. Remembering back to 17, I would say this is pretty spot on.
Parts of the book were uncomfortable, and one part in particular I'm struggling to understand why it was included (not the peach scene, I'm thinking of when they share a bathroom in Rome); possibly to show the depths of this lustful obsession? I'm not sure.
Overall this was a gorgeous book. The first part, however, did drag a bit for me because nothing really "heppens;" it's setting you up for the rest of the book, so it does end up feeling that the slowness of that all makes sense.
One of my favorite bits was the conversation Elio and his father have when Elio returns from Rome.
I know there's a controversy with this book because of the age gap of Elio and Oliver, so I'll start there. We can't expect books that deal with this, or other controversies, to stop being written. We don't live in a bubble. And I think it does a disservice to this book if that's all you choose to focus on because this was a beautifully written novel. Lots of underlining for me - so many lines I'd like to come back to. And Aciman does an incredible job with the inner monologue of Elio's 17-year-old angst and lust for Oliver. Remembering back to 17, I would say this is pretty spot on.
Parts of the book were uncomfortable, and one part in particular I'm struggling to understand why it was included (not the peach scene, I'm thinking of when they share a bathroom in Rome); possibly to show the depths of this lustful obsession? I'm not sure.
Overall this was a gorgeous book. The first part, however, did drag a bit for me because nothing really "heppens;" it's setting you up for the rest of the book, so it does end up feeling that the slowness of that all makes sense.
One of my favorite bits was the conversation Elio and his father have when Elio returns from Rome.