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gabi_sud's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Absolutely loved the movie and wanted to love the book just as much but unfortunately I did not.
I thought it was very beautifully written, the raw and real emotions Elio felt, I could very much relate to things he was going through. However, even putting the age gap aside, the relationship between Elio and Oliver was very predatory from both sides?? The amount of times Elio had thoughts about SA’ing Oliver? And many time he acted on those thoughts, touching him without consent. The time he thought about disabling him so he could be his master?? And obviously Oliver is no better even through we don’t know his thoughts but the peach scene alone was a good indicator of how sick in the head he is as well.
I wonder how people that view this as a beautiful love story would feel if one of them was a woman?
Also what the fuck was that bathroom scene. I get loving someone that much you want to be one with them, but looking at each others fecal matter is surely not the way to do it?
I truly don’t get Elio’s fascination with Oliver who might as well been a cardboard cutout cause he has just as much personality. Elio truly only desired Oliver because he was hot cause let’s be honest here, he didn’t even know him.
I’m not gonna say I didn’t enjoy the book at all, cause I’d be lying. There were parts I absolutely loved, could totally relate to Elio and his yearning for someone he can’t have but all the good parts were overshadowed by the weird and creepy stuff. Like there was truly no need for it.
And the foot fetish was driving me absolutely insane. Like not all of us are Quentin Tarantino.
The ending, however, absolutely crushed me , it was heart wrenching and really did things for me. Not sure how I feel about there being another book though. I feel like it defeats the whole point of this one.
I thought it was very beautifully written, the raw and real emotions Elio felt, I could very much relate to things he was going through. However, even putting the age gap aside, the relationship between Elio and Oliver was very predatory from both sides?? The amount of times Elio had thoughts about SA’ing Oliver? And many time he acted on those thoughts, touching him without consent. The time he thought about disabling him so he could be his master?? And obviously Oliver is no better even through we don’t know his thoughts but the peach scene alone was a good indicator of how sick in the head he is as well.
I wonder how people that view this as a beautiful love story would feel if one of them was a woman?
Also what the fuck was that bathroom scene. I get loving someone that much you want to be one with them, but looking at each others fecal matter is surely not the way to do it?
I truly don’t get Elio’s fascination with Oliver who might as well been a cardboard cutout cause he has just as much personality. Elio truly only desired Oliver because he was hot cause let’s be honest here, he didn’t even know him.
I’m not gonna say I didn’t enjoy the book at all, cause I’d be lying. There were parts I absolutely loved, could totally relate to Elio and his yearning for someone he can’t have but all the good parts were overshadowed by the weird and creepy stuff. Like there was truly no need for it.
And the foot fetish was driving me absolutely insane. Like not all of us are Quentin Tarantino.
The ending, however, absolutely crushed me , it was heart wrenching and really did things for me. Not sure how I feel about there being another book though. I feel like it defeats the whole point of this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Stalking
Minor: Terminal illness, Ableism, Child death, Racism, and Vomit
sycamore22's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Ableism and Sexual assault
- An author at a book party says some very fetishizing things about people in Thailand, how everyone looks alike, and how he wanted to have sex with everyone. That was gross. - Elio has a thought about Oliver in a wheelchair, and how Elio would feel superior to Oliver if that were true. That was also gross. - a peach is compared to a rape victim. Did not like that image, as a survivor myself. It was a one-sentence comparison and the subject was never touched on again in the book.jelliestars's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Excrement, Rape, Drug use, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Ableism, Cursing, Vomit, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Stalking, and Sexism
ingabbjarna's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
vneusc's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I can't decide if I hate it or mildly appreciate it. I have never been more uncomfortable in my entire life. I won't lie, I came into reading this book with expectations – expectations of a bittersweet and heartbreaking story of a forbidden love set in some idle town in Italy. For the most part, that's precisely what I got. But, what I did not expect, though it should not have surprised me, was that I would be privy to the romantic and sexual obsessions of Elio. And wow! did I hate every.damn.moment.
Bordering on creepy and obsessive, having tolisten to read Elio's mental gymnastics as he lusted for Oliver nearly made me want to throw up, hurl, and actually step away from the story. If you came here, foolishly like I did, for some kind of bittersweet and forbidden romance then look away. This is a story of an insanely horny obsessive teenager and a slighty?? predatory guy who both play mind games when really all they want to do... is .
I tried, I really tried to like this book. And, yes, there were some parts where I understood why it's so loved, but I don't know if those fleeting poetic moments outweigh the utter disgust and loathing I experienced while reading this book. I'll leave my "favourite" quotes from both sides of the spectrum and you can decide for yourself if this book is really worth reading. Marking for spoilers because you don't deserve to read what I read so beware 3
Poetic or pretentious?
Regretful passages
p.s.as much as I love Armie Hammer, I do not recommend listening to the audiobook and having the man who is supposed to play the movie adaptation of the love interest read to you Elio being horny all while you're doing the dishes.
p.p.s. I really hope the movie will be worth the trouble of reading this...
all the p.s. i hate myself for reading this.
p.s. i wonder if Oliver has any redeeming qualities. after all, this is all told from the perspective of Elio. on second thought..?
update. armie hammer sucks ass and i can only wonder how timmy felt on set with this excuse of a man :/
Bordering on creepy and obsessive, having to
Spoiler
who managed to have sex with the entire town, including Elio's same-aged cousinSpoiler
fuck each otherI tried, I really tried to like this book. And, yes, there were some parts where I understood why it's so loved, but I don't know if those fleeting poetic moments outweigh the utter disgust and loathing I experienced while reading this book. I'll leave my "favourite" quotes from both sides of the spectrum and you can decide for yourself if this book is really worth reading. Marking for spoilers because you don't deserve to read what I read so beware 3
Poetic or pretentious?
He came. He left. Nothing else had changed. I had not changed. The world hadn't changed. Yet nothing would be the same. All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance.We belonged to each other, but had lived so far apart that we belonged to others now.
Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are.
Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer.
We had found the stars, you and I. And this is given once only.
Regretful passages
The firm, rounded cheeks of the apricot with their dimple in the middle reminded me of how his body had stretched across the boughs of the tree with his tight, rounded ass echoing the color and shape of the fruit. Touching the apricot was like touching him...placing the apricot in my palm he was giving me his ass to hold, or that, in biting the fruit, I was also biting into that part of body...if I dared to bite that far, his apricock.If having a weird obsession with skin, feet, and fruit; sniffing and wearing someone else's bathing suit, and fantasising about hurting a man for power and control is poetic then I don't want it.Spoiler
The bruised and damaged peach, like a r*pe victim, lay on its side on my desk, shamed, loyal, aching, and confused, struggling not to spill what I'd left inside.I kept repeating to myself, looking inside the suit for something more personal yet than his smell and then kissing every corner of it, almost wishing to find hair, anything, to lick it, to put the whole bathing suit in my mouth
I put his pillow over my face, kissed it savagely, and wrapping my legs around it...It took less than a minute
Spoiler
I wanted him dead too...If I didn't kill him, then I'd cripple him for life, so that he'd be with us in a wheelchair and never go back to the States. If he were in a wheelchair, I would always know where he was, and he'd be easy to find. I would feel superior to him and become his master, now that he was crippled.
p.s.
p.p.s. I really hope the movie will be worth the trouble of reading this...
all the p.s. i hate myself for reading this.
p.s. i wonder if Oliver has any redeeming qualities. after all, this is all told from the perspective of Elio. on second thought..?
update. armie hammer sucks ass and i can only wonder how timmy felt on set with this excuse of a man :/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, and Sexual assault
allen_v's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape and Ableism
blueberry0531's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit and Excrement
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Self harm, and Death
gabbygarcia's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I don't even know how to describe this book. The prose is absolutely stunning, incandescent... though, contrary to the back page's bold declaration, I would not call this a love story lmao
I would advise readers to research this book thoroughly and read the content warnings beforehand as many descriptions are quite graphic and uncomfortable to read.
I would advise readers to research this book thoroughly and read the content warnings beforehand as many descriptions are quite graphic and uncomfortable to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Ableism
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Excrement, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Transphobia
racist remarks about thai and mexican peopleardenisamirrorball's review against another edition
i literally couldn’t continue wtf is this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
iamsherlocked's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
WTF was this ?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Ableism, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Vomit