Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Call Me By Your Name

I really wanted to like this book, however despite being well written, it lacked substance.

I’m here for a timeless, devoted love story between two men that transcends age and culture set in a time period where such thing was taboo.

However, this book fell flat. The characters lacked dimension and several parts of the book felt like I was imposing on the mind of a very anxiously obsessed adolescent who throughout the novel *rapes* a peach and prizes *literal* shit.

I didn’t find it to be arduous admiration—it felt creepy.

I think other reviewers, particularly gay men who have similarly rated this two stars or lower, do a great job at describing the problematic parts of this novel, so I would defer to their sentiments and opinions for more extensive commentary that echos or matches my experience reading this novel.

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greyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

0.25

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leahhmorriss's review against another edition

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challenging 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? Yes

2.5

i enjoyed the movie but didn’t like the way the book was written. there was way too much of elio rambling on about how obsessed he was with oliver and not enough actual plot.
i didn’t exactly like either of the main characters. elio’s obsession was creepy and weird and uncomfortable to read. oliver was clearly a groomer, it wasn’t even the age gap that got me it was oliver’s reaction to elio regretting their time together and how he was clearly manipulating a minor because of his guilt.
for some reason, even though this book made me angry and uncomfortable multiple times, i still enjoyed the ending of them both being adults and reconnecting. i found myself wanting to read the second book even though i probably never will.

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zamakodknjiga's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Kraj je bio emotivan i svideo mi se, zbog toga 3.25⭐️. Inače zaslužuje 3, osrednji je roman kada se sve sagleda. Imala sam love-hate odnos s glavnim likovima, mnogo toga mi je bilo diskutabilno, a pritom portretisano kao ljubav. Za mene je, uprkos kraju, to što su Eli i Oliver imali ništa više od privlačnosti i seksualne tenzije koju su na određeni način zadovoljili. Pritom, razlika u godinama, seksualizacija i fetišizam koju je Asiman prikazao definitivno nije u mojoj zoni komfora. Mislim da mi je na neki način ogadio breskve, to je sve što ću reći... 😵‍💫 Stil pisanja jeste donekle izvukao celokupnu knjigu. Ono u šta sam sigurna je da ovo definitivno nije LGBT knjiga u kojoj sam uživala, ali mi je drago da sam je pročitala jer bih mislila da sam propustila nešto. Krajem nisam ostala ravnodušna, ali je pomalo bilo prekasno da se vežem za likove. Ukoliko "možete da progutate" dozu pomalo čudnih seksualnih fantazija i okej vam je tinejdžerska dramatičnost prve ljubavi (to sam i uspela da preguram), verujem da bi vam knjiga bila u redu. Što se mene tiče, ja se s Asimanom više neću družiti, nije mi toliko legao koliko sam se nadala da hoće.

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