A review by anntrautmannm
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

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

5.0

There's a lot to say about this book, which I would not have read unless prompted to by family.  I am very glad that I did.  Although it starts in an idyllic setting (the Italian Riviera) as the story of intense attraction, first love, and longing, it has a lot more to offer.  First, the way the author lets us into the mind of the young man, 17 YO, and his desire for a student living with this family for six weeks is so realistic.  Haven't we all had those thoughts about someone we are crazily consumed by?  Questioning every single thought and going back and forth enough to drive yourself mad.  And being stared at by total strangers in awe of your happiness that you are unaware of wearing like clothing; the strangers enraptured by their happiness! So beautiful. 


In the beginning, references are made to philosophers and Heraclitus in particular.  Unfamiliar to me, I looked him up and briefly understand his main concepts to be that the world is constantly in flux, and (from the Greek translation) "No man ever steps in the same river twice."  Of course, I did not look this up until after reading, but I loved it because I had felt throughout the book both a sense of time travel (not in the silly commercial sense of blockbuster movies) and of time and life being like a river, touching so many points simultaneously, always changing, people always changing, everything in flux, and (trying to avoid a spoiler) towards the end of not being able to hold/keep/go back to a moment/moments in time--like trying to hold water in your hand and watching it just slip out.  Elio also often imagined himself in the future and considered who he would be in light of his action/inaction.  The awareness of time slipping away . . . (All of that may make more sense if you have read the book to its conclusion.)


Other themes or items of note for me included:
- The freedom these young fellows had to explore their desires.  The setting, in part, made that easier than it would have been in a different country/place.  
- Also with regard to the setting, it was magical.  And then Rome! So magical. 
- I thought it was interesting (and good!) that there was no meanness--no revenge, ill intent, mean thoughts or words.  Pretty cool.  
- Related to the above "river/flux" theme, the fluidity also of gender; of names, the Bangkok person. 
- The one statement that conveys the sense of being unable to "hold" time or revisit it, where (paraphrasing) left is false, right is false, up is false, down, forward, backward, etc. All "false" because they won't allow you to go back. Can't hold time in your hand. 
- The beautiful line that the stars are only granted once. You should treasure and cherish and protect them.  That's the main point, for me. 


And I won't be buying peaches for quite some time. ; )


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