A review by roxy_reads_romance
Find Me by André Aciman

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? N/A

3.5

3.5 stars for the prose: 

"It takes me a while to get used to someone. Maybe nerves, though I don't feel nervous with you—which makes me plenty nervous in itself. I don't want to be nervous."


This story is told from the POVs of Elio's dad, Samuel, Elio and Oliver a few decades after Call Me By Your Name. Without reading the synopsis, I mistakenly thought the sequel was only about Elio's dad and him meeting Elio's mother in the past but I was completely wrong haha. 

The author's prose is beautiful as always even if I didn't enjoy the age gap romances or found any coherence between the parts. It irked me that the characters even acknowledged that they were in a romantic relationship with someone their children's age (for Samuel's romance with Miranda) / parent's age (for Elio's romance with Michel). Maybe I just can't personally see myself ever being attracted to someone twice my age...

In Tempo, the story revolves around Elio's dad, Samuel, who meets a young woman on a train and they fall in love over the course of a day or so. But at that point, he has already divorced his wife and his life is like rekindled after meeting the true 'love of his life'. And we find out at the end of the book that he had a son with her and named him after Oliver. 

Then in Cadenza, it's about Elio involved with a man twice his age named Michel. I was disappointed actually because I was expecting a reunion with Oliver and instead got a fleeting romance with a new character I didn't care about. 

In Cappricio, Oliver's POV was disjointed as well and it confused me at first why he was thinking about two other new characters, Erica and Paul, with whom he wanted a relationship with while he was married... But at least his wife seemed to always know maybe that he would never love her in that sense? 

But at the end of the day, in the final part, Da Capo, Oliver returns to Elio in Italy and they decide to live together. I don't understand why Oliver just didn't stay in the first place and decided to go get married to someone he didn't want to be with and have kids if he was always going to think back to Elio.

I wished this book had focused more on Elio and Oliver instead of introducing several new passing characters. I think I would've enjoyed the story more if it had been written that way.
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