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bookclubalibi 's review for:
Call Me By Your Name
by André Aciman
Oh wow. I could not put this down and when I had to I was just itching to get back to it! Immediately after finishing I got ahold of the movie to compare. But this review is about the novel....
So much emotion is felt from the perspective of the main character, Elio, who is a 17 year old staying at his families’s mansion in the 80s in Italy during their summer vacation. They entertain lots of guest for summers and dinners. This summer they are joined by 24 year old charming Oliver. Immediately upon his arrival Elio isn’t sure what to make or even if he really enjoys Oliver being around. Sometimes he lashed out sarcastically or immature despite him being very sophisticated for his age. Despite those outward bursts inside he’s screaming with desire, obsession, jealousy, curiosity. Remember what it was like to be so obsessed with someone of infatuation as a hormonal teen. He takes it up a notch. His annoyance of Oliver quickly becomes one of lust and he gets what he wants. During the hot summer days he has his girlfriends to keep him distracted but the one consuming his every thought is Oliver. Some of the most impactful moments are them playing footsie and Elio getting a nose bleed, their first kiss, their first night together and the regrets after that is then reversed by their embrace in town. The forbidden fruit that is shared between them is too much to take without blushing. But so is their toilet experience that was just a bit TMI. The end of their whirlwind romance is felt in the last days of their trip to Rome that lead to a lifetime of memories and a bittersweet reunion as older man in a different period of their lives.
But even more than all those moments is the very revealing soul baring talk Elio and his father share about feeling the real emotions and not being in a rush to rip it out that you end up “bankrupt” as a soul.
So much emotion is felt from the perspective of the main character, Elio, who is a 17 year old staying at his families’s mansion in the 80s in Italy during their summer vacation. They entertain lots of guest for summers and dinners. This summer they are joined by 24 year old charming Oliver. Immediately upon his arrival Elio isn’t sure what to make or even if he really enjoys Oliver being around. Sometimes he lashed out sarcastically or immature despite him being very sophisticated for his age. Despite those outward bursts inside he’s screaming with desire, obsession, jealousy, curiosity. Remember what it was like to be so obsessed with someone of infatuation as a hormonal teen. He takes it up a notch. His annoyance of Oliver quickly becomes one of lust and he gets what he wants. During the hot summer days he has his girlfriends to keep him distracted but the one consuming his every thought is Oliver. Some of the most impactful moments are them playing footsie and Elio getting a nose bleed, their first kiss, their first night together and the regrets after that is then reversed by their embrace in town. The forbidden fruit that is shared between them is too much to take without blushing. But so is their toilet experience that was just a bit TMI. The end of their whirlwind romance is felt in the last days of their trip to Rome that lead to a lifetime of memories and a bittersweet reunion as older man in a different period of their lives.
But even more than all those moments is the very revealing soul baring talk Elio and his father share about feeling the real emotions and not being in a rush to rip it out that you end up “bankrupt” as a soul.