Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - Call Me By Your Name

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

30 reviews

jo_lzr's review

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This story focuses on love, physical desire (though not only physical) and separation. The prose of this book is one of the reasons why I gave it 4 stars. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the prose was. I liked reading it from Elio's perspective, especially the 4th part of the book. This story shows that separation, in all kinds of relationships, is inevitable and an essential component of human existence. I love the way it portrays both the beauty and sufferings that are part of the human experience, without demonizing the pain but rather accepting it and even reminding us that it has its own use.
I also have to mention that it was surprisingly a fast read.
Additionally, the scenery was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.

I didn't give it 5 stars because I didn't relate to some of Elio's thoughts and because there were some scenes that I wasn't as interested in.

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kris10coopah's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

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jordan_noel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

At first, I felt this book was an overly vulgar description of a teenager’s sexual awakening initiated by his attraction to an older, mature man. It felt like a summer romance and nothing more; a fling to be done with at the end. Maybe reminisced upon in an older age, but never a deep regret.

However, in Part 4, this suddenly felt like much more to me.

<SPOILER>

With loss, their romance could be clearly recognized as eros; something the readers could grieve with the characters. In Oliver’s forced complacency with his new wife and family and Elio’s determination to hang on to this brief moment in the past, it’s hard not to feel grief for such a short-lived happiness. What they had together doesn’t disappear as they age but it gets silenced and the characters are forced to live lives of dejection. If I could feel as much in the rest of the book as I felt in Part 4, I could find practically nothing to complain about in this book. Maybe it was the author’s intention to make us feel such deep regret after viewing their love as an initially silly romance, I don’t know. But I do feel this book greatly connects beauty and sexuality with a most turbulent and determined kind of love in a way that’s unique and unexplored in many modern love stories.

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singalana's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Tämä kirja herätti ristiriitaisia tunteita, koska kokemus jakautui pääasiassa kolmeen tunnetilaan. Kirja kertoo, kuinka yhtenä kesänä 17-vuotias Elio rakastuu itseään seitsemän vuotta vanhempaan kesävieraaseen, Oliveriin.

Kirjan alkupuoliskolla seuraamme Elion suorastaan pakkomielteistä ihastumista Oliveriin. Seuraa kiihkeä (ja hyvin graafinen) romanssi, ja sen jälkeen katkeransuloinen loppu, koska kesä on lopussa ja Oliverin täytyy mennä.

Kirjassa kuvattiin elävästi kesää, Italiaa ja ihmisiä. Silti en päässyt päähenkilön kanssa oikein sinuiksi, ja osa kirjan sisällöstä sai aikaan vaivaantuneisuuden tunteita. Olisin halunnut tutustua enemmän muihin hahmoihin, etenkin Elion isään, mutta näkökulma pidetään hyvin tiiviisti Eliossa ja hänen suhteessan Oliverin.

Suuren osan kirjasta vietämmekin Elion pään sisällä, siinä mitä hän ajattelee, suunnittelee ja muistelee. Hänen suhteensa Oliveriin on hyvin elävä, ja lopussa katkeransuloinen. Silti en voi antaa kirjalle tämän korkeampaa arvosanaa, sillä jotain jäi puuttumaan, ehkä jokin lopullinen yhteys hahmon ja lukijan välillä, jotain sellaista, joka olisi saanut lukijan rakastamaan Oliveria yhtä paljon kuin Elio.

Tämän lisäksi loppua kohti kirjassa on paljon lainauksia italiaksi, ja itse koin ne hieman turhaksi.

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savvy999's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Moments of lush beautiful prose, but ultimately devastating in its candor and use of memory. I have a lot more to say about the complexities of the subject matter— it’s most specific and reiterated criticism—and it’s deployment. In the end it did not feel like a love story it felt like a story of loss a permeating, unbalanced love and loss that takes a lifetime to get over. Whether or not the author meant to show the imbalances, the tilting house that young obsession and love bring is maybe not clear but I am taking from this book an understanding of the deeply felt and the skewed all in the same breath.

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