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lenamar's review
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
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.
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.
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Antisemitism, Biphobia, Child death, Excrement, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Vomit
kearac's review
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Racism and Transphobia
emmaoline's review
challenging
dark
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
I am left with one question after reading this book and that is how was this ever published?
Not just in terms of content but the writing seems like nonsensical drivel only found in a first draft. At times it felt like Aciman had recently purchased his first thesaurus when writing this book, but had yet to learn anything about punctuation. Whilst what is supposed to pass for plot feels more like horror than romance.
There are no likeable characters in this book. There are no people in this book, only aliens masquerading as people. Although I did enjoy the character Ada whose only purpose was to say "I am Ada," in a crowded room. If this was spoken to the main characters or not, or in the background is not really clear, which made it funnier.
But in the end, I am left reeling from the racist colonial ideology that came out of nowhere and had way too much time spent on it as if it were Shakespeare. This disgusting language was so disturbing I forgot the earlier passage where a peach was described as "bruises and damaged, like a rape victim,"[sic]
Not just in terms of content but the writing seems like nonsensical drivel only found in a first draft. At times it felt like Aciman had recently purchased his first thesaurus when writing this book, but had yet to learn anything about punctuation. Whilst what is supposed to pass for plot feels more like horror than romance.
There are no likeable characters in this book. There are no people in this book, only aliens masquerading as people. Although I did enjoy the character Ada whose only purpose was to say "I am Ada," in a crowded room. If this was spoken to the main characters or not, or in the background is not really clear, which made it funnier.
But in the end, I am left reeling from the racist colonial ideology that came out of nowhere and had way too much time spent on it as if it were Shakespeare. This disgusting language was so disturbing I forgot the earlier passage where a peach was described as "bruises and damaged, like a rape victim,"[sic]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Sexual content, Rape, Racism, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Antisemitism, and Infidelity
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