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barel63's review
4.0
I am going to start this review on a tangent so if anyone is reading it, please bear with me for a few sentences. Many, many moons ago, when TED Talks were just starting and were still a whimsical and fun thing to watch, I discovered what remains my favourite talk to date: Ken Robinson's "Do schools kill creativity?" It's a thought provoking topic and Sir Robinson talks about the issue eloquently. After almost seven years since my discovery of his lecture, one particular line has stayed with me. He says, referring to academics that "[t]hey’re disembodied, you know, in a kind of literal way. They look upon their body as a form of transport for their heads."
I love this line! I love it in a self-deprecating manner as it hold some undeniable truths for me. First, because I am obsessed with academia and do often think of my body only as a vehicle for my head. And secondly, because I have a very fraught relationship to my physical body: I loath the physicality of being and hate my dependence on it at the same time. For a variety of reasons (a lot of it, I'm sure, has to do with gender) I have never been truly comfortable with who I am, body-wise. As a result, I have always envied people who were visibly comfortable in their bodies and able to go through life in such comfort as to be unaware of it, or aware of its needs and able to fulfil them with little guilt.
What I mean to say, in this round-about way, is that I envy this book (and its main character, Elio) the unabashed joy taken in everything that is physical, in everything that has to do with the body and the desire and pleasure that can be derived from the awareness/awareness of this same body. In a similar vein, this book is unashamedly emotional: there is little plot to it, it is basically a teenager's diary with all the insecurities and doubt, but also so much happiness and joy at the little things in life. I also envy teenage Elio's the ability to not worry to much about the ephemeral nature of everything, including our relationship to those we love. I love that the rawest emotions, albeit expressed in beautiful and contemplative prose, are never hidden behind pretentious monologues or convoluted metaphors. The writing can be sometimes bare.
If you have read Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, the main character in that book, speaks directly to this type of feeling when he says: “Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life.” This book evokes exactly that same feeling.
It also helps that Aciman littered the narrative with lines and references to some of my favorite works (including lines from Proust, Nobokov's Lolita, Poe's Annabel Lee, and even T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). I'm a sucker for literary puzzles and analogies, just as I am sucker for any contemplation in fiction of time and memory and how we relate to one another, all stirred in with beautiful atmospheric prose.
This book has some problematic aspects to it, without a doubt. I didn't particularly care for the way Anchise was portrayed (closeted gay men that everyone thought was a creep, how did that make it through edits in a book that is supposedly about dismantling such stereotypes), literary party with the great minds of Italian literature (been to that type of party and it's actually a snooze-fest), if this were written by a woman it would absolutely be labelled as chick-flick instead of literary fiction, and don't even get me started on the portrayal of female characters throughout the novel --- and yet, this book is basically pandering to people like me and I'm all here for it, problematic behaviour be damned (or at least acknowledged).
I love this line! I love it in a self-deprecating manner as it hold some undeniable truths for me. First, because I am obsessed with academia and do often think of my body only as a vehicle for my head. And secondly, because I have a very fraught relationship to my physical body: I loath the physicality of being and hate my dependence on it at the same time. For a variety of reasons (a lot of it, I'm sure, has to do with gender) I have never been truly comfortable with who I am, body-wise. As a result, I have always envied people who were visibly comfortable in their bodies and able to go through life in such comfort as to be unaware of it, or aware of its needs and able to fulfil them with little guilt.
What I mean to say, in this round-about way, is that I envy this book (and its main character, Elio) the unabashed joy taken in everything that is physical, in everything that has to do with the body and the desire and pleasure that can be derived from the awareness/awareness of this same body. In a similar vein, this book is unashamedly emotional: there is little plot to it, it is basically a teenager's diary with all the insecurities and doubt, but also so much happiness and joy at the little things in life. I also envy teenage Elio's the ability to not worry to much about the ephemeral nature of everything, including our relationship to those we love. I love that the rawest emotions, albeit expressed in beautiful and contemplative prose, are never hidden behind pretentious monologues or convoluted metaphors. The writing can be sometimes bare.
If you have read Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, the main character in that book, speaks directly to this type of feeling when he says: “Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life.” This book evokes exactly that same feeling.
It also helps that Aciman littered the narrative with lines and references to some of my favorite works (including lines from Proust, Nobokov's Lolita, Poe's Annabel Lee, and even T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). I'm a sucker for literary puzzles and analogies, just as I am sucker for any contemplation in fiction of time and memory and how we relate to one another, all stirred in with beautiful atmospheric prose.
This book has some problematic aspects to it, without a doubt. I didn't particularly care for the way Anchise was portrayed (closeted gay men that everyone thought was a creep, how did that make it through edits in a book that is supposedly about dismantling such stereotypes), literary party with the great minds of Italian literature (been to that type of party and it's actually a snooze-fest), if this were written by a woman it would absolutely be labelled as chick-flick instead of literary fiction, and don't even get me started on the portrayal of female characters throughout the novel --- and yet, this book is basically pandering to people like me and I'm all here for it, problematic behaviour be damned (or at least acknowledged).
paigehettinger's review
5.0
not sure if i'll ever write a real review for this. not sure if i'll ever be capable of it. but my god, what an absolute treat it was to revel in this novel alongside its characters. to get even a glimpse of what true intimacy encompasses, and to live in that for a short time. i think in that way, readers have an experience very similar to elio and oliver's. you have experienced something so deep, so life-changing, so special - and now you must move past it, but always keep it with you. this is an absolutely breathtaking, genius novel.
northernmonkey's review
4.0
“We looked the other way. We spoke of everything but. But we’ve always known, and not saying anything now confirmed it all the more. We had found the stars, you and I. And this is given once only.”
tigerrikki's review
2.0
Uhhhhh I really don't know what I should write as a review. I went into this thinking that this would be the kind of book that I would really love, but it just... I dunno, it was just disappointing. All the rave reviews make me feel like I read an entirely different book from everyone else. I did like parts of it, but they were few and far between. This is probably my most disappointing book of 2017, just because I was expecting so much more from this and I guess in a way it is my fault. I guess this book was just not for me.
mlaugc's review
4.0
Leí este libro mientras escuchaba Troye, combinación perfecta.
Este libro es hermoso, la forma en la que describe cada sentimiento, es increíble. Lo que más destaco es la aclimatación que genera en uno.
Este libro es hermoso, la forma en la que describe cada sentimiento, es increíble. Lo que más destaco es la aclimatación que genera en uno.
miserabella's review
5.0
ok i just realised i'd never rated this on here which is APALLING bc it's my favourite book, so there you go, the most well-deserved 5 stars ever (also not sure about the dat i finished it so just put a random date...)
sashastorylover's review
5.0
Call Me by Your Name feels like a poetry, lyrical beautifully written story effortlessly including down-to-earth everyday scenes in the life of seventeen year old Elio during summer in Italy in 1980s.
I'm struggling to find right words to describe this wondrous, candid and moving novel. I'm crying a bit from all the emotions.
This is both extremely simple and very complex story to tell, the author created truly unique piece of art. This novel is the first book I've read by André Aciman and I'm definitely going to read more of his work.
Call Me by Your Name is ownvoices novel for Jewish rep (both of main characters are Jewish) and not ownvoices for queer rep.
I'm struggling to find right words to describe this wondrous, candid and moving novel. I'm crying a bit from all the emotions.
This is both extremely simple and very complex story to tell, the author created truly unique piece of art. This novel is the first book I've read by André Aciman and I'm definitely going to read more of his work.
Call Me by Your Name is ownvoices novel for Jewish rep (both of main characters are Jewish) and not ownvoices for queer rep.
ice_elf's review
5.0
I'm not sure I'm in a fit state to review this properly right now. This was one of those books that I was expecting to enjoy, but not enjoy to this extent. I wasn't expecting it to reach inside of me and touch something I didn't know was there. I will confess to being a little emotional at the end.
For me, it was a slow burn - it hit me out of nowhere, and though I wasn't expecting a happy ending, the fact I didn't get one hurt more than I expected.
The prose was beautiful and poetic - and I can imagine people hating it and thinking it was purple, but I didn't find it so. For me, it just worked.
For me, it was a slow burn - it hit me out of nowhere, and though I wasn't expecting a happy ending, the fact I didn't get one hurt more than I expected.
The prose was beautiful and poetic - and I can imagine people hating it and thinking it was purple, but I didn't find it so. For me, it just worked.