Reviews with content warning for Child death - Call Me By Your Name

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Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

71 reviews

aliceloyallaleon's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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sillih28's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Having watched the movie before reading this book I already knew what to expect and wasn't too excited about it. As a queer person the fact that the only gay book that gets media attention is about pedophilia is very upsetting, however after reading the book I definitely understand the appeal. Through the whole reading-process I have had my ups and downs about who to like and what to think, but the thing that stands out most to me, was Elios very unhealthy obsession with Oliver. One could even see this as a balance to Olivers pedophilia.
All in all was the book a very nice read and I really like the authors writing style, and parting from what the movie shows was their romance way more lovey-dovey than erotic.

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cappuccino_'s review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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ninascozydayreads's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I could go on and on about what bothered me and what I hated about this book, and I will, but what I hated most (and yes, not even disliked, hated) was how unnecessary it all was. I have heard people describe this book as being "thought-provoking", and if that's the case for you, great! For me, whatever might have been thought provoking got completely buried under unnecessarily uncomfortable scenes. This book has ruined peaches for me. I love peaches! There was so much that I just wished I didn't have had to read, but unfortunately I did and this book will haunt me for the rest of my life in the worst way possible.

I also want to talk a bit on the actual problematic part of the book: the relationship. This relationship has been romanticized over and over again by readers, which gained a lot of critique in and of itself, and I've heard people say "but it's not a romance! It's a tragedy". I'm sorry, this is a romance. A bad one, an uncomfortable one, an overly-obsessive-bordering-on-stalking-and-danger-one. Sure, Oliver sometimes raises his doubts about the age difference between him and Elio. But there is never any substantial critique; not in dialogue, not in plot. And sure, the Elio's flaws were a main theme in the book, I'll admit that. But like the relationship, those flaws were never substantially critiqued or worked on. The whole book he kept this unhealthy obsession with someone much older, and it was creepy.

Fifteen years later, Elio is still obsessed with Oliver and doesn't even give it a second thought how problematic that age difference was. Sure, 8 years might not seem like a lot, and it's fine if say one person is 35 and the other 42. But at 17 and 25 you're at two totally different stages of life, and a 17 year old is by all accounts a child. And yes, this relationship is extremely romanticized in the book and it's simply put, unhealthy.

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lenamar's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Well this book was a rollercoaster.

I started reading it sitting in school in one of my free hours and only one page in I said to my friend: "I already love this book"
I was amazed by how detailed the author has written this book. And this wonderful poetic writing style accompanies us through the whole book. Never have I read a book with figure of speech. The intertwining of philosophy, art and music is beautiful and unique. There aren't many authors who are able to write like this, one worthy comparison can be drawn to Donna Tartt.

Content wise, well let's put it this way, it was everything but not what I was expecting. I thought I would read a cute and fun LGBTQIA lovestory. Dont get me wrong, I love to be surprised.
Written from the point of view of Elio who is clearly obsessing over our dearest Oliver, it made me feel and think things I never would've dreamt of.
I had to put the book down several times out of (I'm not even sure how to call this feeling) a mixture of secondhand embarrassment and disgust, I think. Never will I see peaches the same way as I did before reading the book. There were some passages that made shake my head, scream at the characters but also laugh. And I loved every second of it. I love it when books make me feel this way or another. And believe me when I tell you that what I felt wasn't innocent. My poor brother next door when I started yelling at the book at 2 in the morning...
Anyway, what also fascinated me was that the characters, let's take Elio's thoughts as the example, thought and acted so raw, humane and uncensored. What would be a taboo for the majority of authors to write like this.

What I didn't like about the plot was the adult-child relationship. Mentally I had the feeling that Elio wasn't 17 but 14/15 and Oliver around 30. In reality they have a 7 year age gap but still, I couldn't get this out of my mind and it stopped me from being happy for both of them many times.

My favourite part was probably when Oliver and Elio went to Rome and on their first evening, they went to this kind of book party. This was so beautiful and reminded me a lot of "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

The fact that time didnt seem to matter at all, was pretty fascinating for me. No matter how late or early it was, there was always something happening. And the people were so open. It was pretty heartwarming.

For example, when they were in Rome and were left alone in the bar because the waiter trusted them. Or when they went to this big market place or whatever it was and they sang and danced with complete strangers.

All in all it's a masterpiece which deserves the five stars, but I didn't give them, because my mind cant deal with the mental ages, the foot fetish and the possible fruit fetish. Sorry André

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