Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

18 reviews

sycamore22's review

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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


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therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This isn't a so-so read at all, but I didn't enjoy it.  It's poetic and highly literary. I don't always love literary fiction, and being neither a teen nor someone who experiences lust, I didn't connect with this whole ode to teenhood lust and first love. It's definitely an interesting read.

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kysss's review

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sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
didnt read the book, didnt need to. its a MINOR and a ADULT!!!! what is WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!!!!!!! if you enjoyed this book as an adult, especially when it comes to the character's relationships, i am going to assume that you have pr are grooming a minor and you are using this book to find something to relate to! Lets not normalize a relationship between a 17 YEAR OLD KID (A MINOR) AND AN 24 YEAR OLD MAN (ADULT) 
Why is this an lgbtq romance, this can make homophobes continue to have the idea that gay people are bad and are all pedophiles and groomers. Please unpublish this!! and quit your career, Andre Aciman!!' Thanks!

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alice_hesse's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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


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vneusc's review

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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 to listen 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
Spoiler who managed to have sex with the entire town, including Elio's same-aged cousin
who both play mind games when really all they want to do... is
Spoilerfuck each other
.

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?
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.

SpoilerThe 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.

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.

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 :/

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cgibson25's review

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dark 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? It's complicated

1.0


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kaadee's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

After reading other peoples reviews, I have come to a conclusion. I think it’s important that this book was made because it gives a glimpse into the the thought process of the groomed. We as readers know that it’s gross, uncomfortable and upsetting and while Elio also realizes this, his feelings are much different. Through Elio’s thoughts, we are also being groomed by Oliver to care for their relationship (see other peoples reviews calling this an amazing love story) it’s a good story, but not one about love. It’s about obsession, it’s about craving an experience but ultimately it’s about the power imbalances teenagers have with adults. How teenagers are easily taken advantage of and made to think they are in love. I honestly don’t think the writer wrote it to have this kind of meaning whatsoever which makes it worse for me. The deep dive into Elio’s sexual thoughts was disturbing. I mean, I really didn’t need to know what a 17 year old was thinking while he was going at it into a peach. I think it’s important to understand his thoughts but the amount of detail into the desires was gross. Also the writing style??? What pretentious person decided they would just add every word from the dictionary, put it into run on sentences, and then publish it? Some quotes were good but it’s too much philosophy without actually making any sense. People who praise this book for the writing and the feeling that you get while reading are weird. Honestly, the writing just made me want to finish it 10x faster just so I could be done. I love the movie compared to this. Also the fetish for Jewish people, GROSS!!! The author isn’t even Jewish which I didn’t know while reading. I was weirded out but I just went along with it because maybe he was just being expressive of his faith/background BUT NO, he just fetishized Jewish people. 

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leahpardon's review

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

3.0

I am…very conflicted about this book. 

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earthlyfae's review

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Pretentious writing style masking as poetry. Trying to imitate classics while managing to be wholly boring and uninventive. Hypersexuality written in the grossest way possible, inexcusable age gap, unredeemable reference to r*pe, and overall felt disgusting to read. Do not recommend to anyone. I am queer and I am stunned that anyone liked this book. 

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jem_carstairs's review

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//CW S/A AND R*P*

This book. I knew it was problematic going into it but i didn’t expect a full on r*p* scene. In addition to the 7 year age gap, which would be fine if one character wasn’t literally a minor. Plus, the fact that the younger character (i really can’t remember their names) is happy about what happened and hopes for it to happen again. Can we please not glorify S/A?

In addition, I just hated the writing style. I don’t know what it was about it, it was just really boring. If it was just that I disliked, I’d probably try again but I have no desire to reread *that* scene. And I really don’t want to know what comes next.

To be honest, it horrifies me slightly that this has four stars and is so popular.

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