Call Me by Your Name (MTI): A Novel

I admit, it took me 3 tries to read this book- solely because I was not very familiar with the writing style. (I just recently began to read for entertainment, since nothing on social media appeals me) I got through 30 pages the first time I tried to read it but I suddenly stopped because I realized that all the words that I was reading was going in one ear and coming out the other. I didn’t want to give up on the book yet so I bought the audiobook and got through an hour of it. However, it was practically useless. I don’t know if it’s my short attention span or what but I found my self not really listening and when I did listen and focus on what was being read, I couldn’t add anything up.! So I took a two day break, and that was absolutely worth it!!! When I finally tried it the 3rd time, I was determined to finish the novel. The first part of the book were choppy, since it’s told as distant memories. It jumped back and forth from his more recent memories and to his older memories. I got confused at times but it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. I found myself falling in love with the characters and the writing style, which totally came to me as a surprise because I absolutely dreaded it in the beginning. ITS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE WRITING STYLES NOW. Aciman has a way of vividly showing you exactly how Elio was feeling and his thoughts. I don’t want to spoil anything so let me just say one more thing, the ending is absolutely heart wrenching. I found myself crying so much, and feeling for both Elio and Oliver. IF YOU’VE WATCHED THE MOVIE - READ THE BOOK LET ME TELL U, THE END IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE BOOK! Call Me By Your Name is easily one of the best love stories ever written. I can’t wait to reread it and bring back all the memories and feelings I felt when I first read it. Even if you don’t get the writing style very well, push through it. It’s a must and if there one book you need to read in your life time, it’s this one. Totally tragic and beautiful.

Oh my, what to say, what to say... Call Me by Your Name was enchanting and enthralling in every possible way. Written in a stream of conscious style, 17 year old Elio pulls the reader into his world and brings them along for every thought, every moment, every impulse that passes through his mind. It's an intimate, sometimes awkward ride, but you can't help but connect with Elio's exasperated attempts to make sense of himself and his emotions as he navigates a tricky relationship. There are hundreds of things that make this story worth consuming, but I'll start with what has stuck with me the most: the atmosphere. Elio's family owns an Italian villa in the small town of B and the European, lazy summertime environment leaks from every page. From incessant cigarette consumption to hours spent reading by the pool and taking trips to swim and traveling to bookshops in town, Elio's romantic endeavors are paralleled perfectly by his romantic environment. I'll be honest, I'm writing this review after also having seen the movie and then immediately preceding to read the book for a second time, so perhaps the images from the book and film are intertwining in my mind, though flipping back through the pages, I find lines on every page that just ooze sexual tension and summer heat. Elio's thoughts are confused and honest, fully encompassing the battle between his emotional and intellectual hemispheres. He's impulsive but reflective, somewhat timid in nature but tends to be forward in his speech. Dialogue is woven into thought, Elio's fantasies feel as real as his physical connections and every emotion he describes feels open and true. No complications in Oliver and Elio's relationship are glossed over and every moment of doubt and discomfort is identified and analyzed. I guess if there's one thing about this narrative that feels unique in comparison to most romantic books I've read, it's the unwavering honesty on every page. I will admit, this read is intense and at times uncomfortable (I can think of one or two now infamous scenes in particular) but there are moments in this book that took my breath away. The novel's third part was by far my favorite as it shows Oliver and Elio at their brightest, clad in love and acceptance among Rome's beautiful backdrop and it's definitely a section I appreciated more the second time through knowing the pains of the final act to follow. Overall, there is so much I could say about this book; the story hasn't left my mind at all these last few weeks. I'm encouraging everyone I know to dive headfirst into this beautiful story whatever order they wish to consume it. (I recommend 1. soundtrack, 2. book, 3. film). This is a book I'm sure I'll be picking up again this Summer, though unfortunately, not in Italy :( (4.75/5 stars)

Admittedly, this book starts out almost painfully slow, with a lead-up to the romance that's near torturous when accompanied by the main character and narrator's obsessive thoughts, with the only thing keeping the reader engaged the dangling promise that these two idiots will, eventually, get together. But once it gets going, oh boy does it get going. Let me preface my praises of this book by saying that I had a difficult, love-hate relationship with Elio (protagonist and narrator). His obsessive reading, re-reading, over-reading, over-re-reading into every little look, word, silence, and lack of look, borders on the hysterical if not out-right insane and nearly drives this book's readers (or me, at least) insane right along with him. Not to mention that it nearly breaks the taut string suspending the reader's disbelief because honestly, what teenage even speaks let alone THINKS like this? But after reaching the second act, it's quite clear that this obsessiveness is what has isolated him from his peers and why he searches to be so completely understood by someone like Oliver, who speaks his same coded language of gestures and unspoken words - even though they're often not on the same wave length. Elio's fevered imaginings also make him an almost delightfully unreliable narrator, where something he narrates early on as fact (e.g. the cold, death-glares he'd receive from Oliver) turn out to be misguided by his prejudices and not true at all. It lends a tender, nostalgic quality to the whole thing (which is already close to bursting with nostalgia), knowing that all the events are not as they were but merely as he remembers them. I came to realize that the story was painful to read because it was a painfully exact replica of what it is to be a teenager, and not because it was poorly written or ill-conceived. It intentionally takes its readers back to a time when your insides were on your outsides, all your feelings exposed, leaving you raw and vulnerable, so that every glance, every snide remark, especially from the person you're infatuated with, is like hot knives on your bare flesh. The reason I was so infuriated with Elio was because I was infuriated with myself, when I was a teenager, and felt and behaved the exact same way. Elio, despite his staggering intellect for a seventeen-year-old, is a profound idiot just like I was a profound idiot. The meat of the story is the romance between our leads, slow and painful in its engineering (like a roller-coaster going up), terrifying, rocketing, elating, wonderful when it's happening (the roller-coaster plummeting), that leaves you aching, dizzy, and nauseous in its denouement (the end of the ride). You spend so much time worshiping Oliver through Elio's eyes that when he turns out to be the coward, you refuse to believe it, until you're dragged unwillingly to the book's end are slapped in the face with the reality that yes, Oliver was the coward all along. This is probably one of the most erotic reads of the 21st century, thanks in no small part to the breathless suspense leading up to their first encounter together, but also because the author understands how sensuality is enhanced by disgust. Even though the book sometimes crosses the thin line between sexy gross and full blown gross-out (by the end of the book ALL of the bodily fluids have been prominently featured), it leaves the burning, frenzied sensuality at its core stronger for it. I am confident that the movie adaptation (which I'll be watching soon) will be a perfect companion to this book, as it likely won't suffer from the book's flaws, such as being overly verbose, and its slow pacing on screen will probably feel more like sexual tension than having your nails being summarily torn from your fingers. Nonetheless, the novel contains some of the most stellar, quotable lines you'll ever encounter, and such gut-wrenching realism surrounding its heartbreak that you'll feel it as a hot knife across your raw skin. If I could say one thing to this novel it would be: I'll die if you stop.

I couldn’t easily place this book. I guess it falls in the category of summer romance, a story of the sudden passions that arise in the freedom and heat of vacation but don’t and can’t last when autumn comes. The book focuses on a highly educated and sensitive teenage boy living with his family in Italy who host a young American male professor for the summer. The boy quickly falls in a hopeless crush with the professor that at first left me confused. Where did this come from? But living in a beautiful Italian villa with every need supplied by the father’s bank account and household help what else is there to do? I suppose transcribing Hayden’s sonatas, quoting Dante, and hanging out with local Italian kids grows boring after a while. The first half of the book happens mostly in the boy’s mind who obsessively questions and analyzes every word and action of his beloved. So intense is this potent mix of sexual attraction, jealousy, and insecurity that it seems that he spends as much time avoiding the professor as chasing after him, just to find some peace of mind. Meanwhile, in the world outside the boy’s mind, life goes on. He swims, hangs out with his friends, and has sex with a local girl but it barely registers with him as he longs for some perfection that seems just out of reach. When it becomes apparent that the professor is attracted to him as well and they finally have sex about halfway through the book, the boy seems quite ready to experience all aspects of sex with another man. Which was like he'd been there before; maybe kids nowadays know everything. But it seems there is some story there that is unspoken. Is the boy really that innocent? The more I write this review the more I dislike the book for its unwillingness to look under its magical spell and see the loneliness, isolation and unhappiness of love divorced from reality. A love that is more about losing oneself (hence the title Call Me by Your Name, you are me, I am you, get it?) then about the joy of discovering and connecting with someone else. The story seems suspended from any real consequences. Does the boy eventually understand and accept his homosexuality so he can form a healthy relationship? No, in fact the only other gay characters in the book are held up for derision. Does anyone question the morality of the professor for sleeping with a younger and practically illegal boy? No, in fact, in a rather squirm-producing scene, the boy's father hints that he approved of the affair and wished he had something like that too. The boy seems trapped by this love, not freed. Many years later the two men meet and it seems like nothing much has happened in his life. No mention of a fruitful career or solid relationship. He seems in a trance-like state remembering the ashes of his once perfect love and hasn’t moved on. Maybe this book could be a better ghost story than a love story. But it needs a little more flesh on it to be that. In spite of all this, the book is a beautiful evocation of an idealized romance and certainly everyone, myself included, will recognize the pangs of one’s first crush and hopeless love. Its writing and evocation of time and place is excellent. If you accept it at that, I heartily recommend it.

I believe sometimes it’s not a coincidence when we start to read a book, that some books come to use with messages when we need them most. Call Me By Your Name is one of those books for me. This book spoke to my soul in ways I never expected and can’t put into words. André has written a masterpiece that explores the complexity of loving and longing for someone you’re destined to meet, but also destined to lose. And how some loves never truly leave us. This story will stick with me forever. Infinity ⭐️s. • Themes: queer awakening, age gap, forbidden love, yearning, European summer, mm romance

5 beautiful, poetic, stunning stars! Wow! I am so in love with this story! The writing was so beautiful, it was like reading a long beautiful, touching poem. My words will not do it justice. A coming of age story, experiencing your first love. So much passion in the words, I felt the love Elio felt for Oliver. I felt the pain deep in my heart that Elio felt and wept with him. Another thing I really loved about this story was that it was so uncynical, there was no mistrustfulness or negativity, no malice or racism there was no shame, no embarrassment, just a pure celebration of love and all the sorrow that comes with first loves. This book will remain in me for a long time or perhaps forever. That's how deep it touched my heart. Because at the end love is love, is love! One of my favorite parts was towards the end of the book Elio's father gives him this speech that had me sobbing like a baby. The most beautiful speech a parent can give to their child full of tenderness, love, and understanding. He acknowledges that Elio is heartbroken. He validates his pain. And though he doesn't ask Elio to confirm that he had a relationship with Oliver, he does let Elio know that what he had with Oliver was rare and special and encourages him not to shut himself off after this experience, but to feel the pain, and sorrow, but to also feel the joy he felt when he was with Oliver, to embrace the happy memories, and to realize how lucky he was to have had a friendship/relationship like the one he and Oliver had. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!" *sighs* Beautiful, just beautiful!

Spoilery "Twenty years was yesterday, and yesterday was just earlier this morning, and morning seemed light years away." Call Me By Your Name is a superlative novel that meticulously and comprehensively looks at the human condition from the folly of youth to the introspective later years. Told almost entirely from the stream of consciousness mind of a seventeen year old Elio, who simultaneously possesses intelligence beyond his years whilst embodying the insouciance of youth and trafficking in the same inane fickleness of the average teen in matters of the heart, and in him Aciman’s crafted a character that is quintessentially relatable. I was immediately transported back to my own teenage years. I remember being that person, though Elio is leaps and bounds more intelligent at seventeen than I could ever hope to be then or now. The profundity of his insights are staggering and keenly observant. But the games are the same, the angst the same, the intensity the same and, most importantly, the devotion the same. "There is a law somewhere that says that when one person is thoroughly smitten with the other, the other must unavoidably be smitten as well. […] Love, which exempts no one who’s loved from loving, Francesca’s words in the Inferno. Just wait and be hopeful. I was hopeful, though perhaps this was what I had wanted all along. To wait forever." First loves are oftentimes the hardest to let go of; they leave an indelible mark. For Elio, Oliver is that person. Oliver, the doctoral student who came to stay with him and his parents one summer in Italy, left a watermark on Elio’s soul. Six unforgettable weeks and an intimacy forged that some have no hope of ever attaining. They lived. They loved. They became a part of each other. People talk about the “simplicity” of youth but to my mind it was never simple. Elio has never been in love before and when you don’t know a thing it’s hard to know what to do with it, how to care for it, how to keep it. At seventeen he can’t possibly understand the rarity of his connection with Oliver, so he tells himself there will be another and there are, that it was never intended to last and maybe it wasn't, that is was a summer fling, but who's to say that makes it any less seminal? That’s what Aciman has done so masterfully with this novel; is it or isn’t it? Aciman has crafted his own Mona Lisa with Elio. "All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance." Life goes on, people drift in and out of our lives; some leave a lasting impression while others are evanescent. Oliver left a space to be certain, but Elio left one too and maybe those spaces are capricious depending on time and space. "-how we move through time, how time moves through us, how we change and keep changing and come back to the same." The ebbs and flows of life transmogrify memories; make them sharper at times and less so at others, depending on where one is in life. Again, I think this is the genius of this novel: it’s not a singular experience. I’ve no doubt if I reread it in 5 or 10 yrs I’ll have a different interpretation; a change in perspective and the whole thing looks completely different and I feel like the same can be said of Elio. Will it always come back to Oliver or is that they’re in the same place where so much occurred twenty years ago? That place that meant so much from the berm to Mafalda and his parents to the bookstore to playing the guitar to paradise to afternoon naps and lazy days and nights spent f***ing each other’s brains out. Is it so much Oliver or it is the desire to recapture that place, that time? The romantic in me wants to wallow in the heartbreak and vilify Aciman for countermanding the rules of romancelandia, but to simplify this novel in such a way, to make it solely about loss is a disservice to the narrative. It’s more than that. "Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer." The complexities of Call Me By Your Name left me feeling mawkish, clearly, but it also made me contemplative. Maybe I missed the point and it is solely a novel of love and loss with the primary objective being bittersweet heartbreak, but I choose to believe (this time) that Aciman deliberately penned a novel to make every reader take stock and cherish what they have, what they have had and what they will have. There aren’t very many novels I can say the same about.

Alright, so I didn't finish the book. Will I ever? I don't know. The hype around the movie got me curious, so I threw down the ten bucks after reading the preview. I thought Aciman's writing was pretty decent. Not anything phenomenal. Given, it's been a long while since I've come across any particular writing style and been like YES. JUST. YES. I didn't dislike the writing style. Even with all the purple prose, I still found it pleasant and melodious. I'm normally not much for prose-y writing, but I felt it was done in a tasteful and refreshing fashion so I stuck it out. (I'll be returning to this statement down the line.) Be warned, the novel reads a bit pretentious. At least, I thought so. Maybe I just wasn't getting all the references.... This being said, the voices behind the characters didn't feel completely fleshed out to me. This may have been just a side effect of writing in first person, but I felt very detached to most everyone else in the novel. After a while, it felt like Aciman was running out of things for Elio to say, so he just took to having him rehash and rephrase his dark lovesick woes. The whole thing with Elio wanting to be with Oliver, then wanting to get the heck out of Dodge after having sex with him frustrated me. He goes through the entire first quarter of the novel lusting after him, and it becomes explicitly apparent that, hey, the feeling's mutual. Elio's attraction seemingly erases itself, resumes intensely, and then it's on and off again for another few repetitive internal soliloquies. I don't know, maybe it's me. I mean, I kind of get it. You want what you can't have, and then when you finally get it, it's like the shine wears off. But something about it still irks me, going from one extreme to the other in such a short span of time. It was too black and white. It seemed unrealistic and, quite frankly, threw me off. The book hit a hard lull after the pivotal sex scene. Honestly, I could feel my interest waning throughout the novel, but after that event, I lost any and all motivation to finish the novel. It was then that I realized nothing interesting enough was happening in the background to convince me to continue reading. There was so much central focus on Elio's attraction to Oliver that it outshone anything else. Once that began to dilute itself, the only plot that mattered didn't anymore. Show's over. Everybody can go home now. Something else I'd like to address in regards to the "tasteful and refreshing writing". For the love of God and all that is holy, I would like to kindly implore Andre Aciman WHY on earth he thought it would be a good idea to utilize the word "apricock" unironically. AND ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION. Just. I'm laughing as I type this. I really shoudn't be. "It would have never occurred to him that in placing the apricot in my palm he was giving me his ass to hold or that, in biting the fruit, I was also biting into the part of that part of his body that must have been fairer than the rest because it never apricated--and near it, if I dared to bite that far, his apricock." Sounds like some Fifty Shades shenanigans 'boutta kick up down the road, and I wasn't completely wrong. I'll be nice. I'm not going to bash the infamous "jacking off into a stonefruit then eating it" incident. Yes, it's an incident because I was shook. You'll never hear me use that word in any other context. I'm not a prude. I get why it's substantial. It was there to make a statement. My beef lies with apricock, apricated, and every other variant that I can't be bothered to recall. That quote was so jarring to me for some reason, like it didn't fit in with the rest of the writing. Is it just me? Yes. Oh, well. Did I like the novel? I don't hate it, though I didn't find it interesting. Would I recommend? Not really. Apricock kind of did it in for me. Though I will say go for it if you're curious like I was. Maybe I'm just a one-off.

Ich habe das Buch nach Jahren wieder gelesen (engl. OV). Ich hatte eine gewisse Angst, was mich wieder erwartet, wenn ich die Geschichte noch einmal auf mich wirken lasse, nachdem sie mich damals noch über Wochen nach Beendigung der Lektüre ergriffen, mitgenommen und im Innersten berührt hatte. Ich hatte das Buch im Regal stehen, Jahre nicht mehr gelesen, doch es hat mich nie losgelassen, immer subtil verfolgt. Also habe ich mich, nachdem ich es immer wieder in der Hand hatte, nochmal darauf eingelassen und wurde wieder schier überwältigt von der Dichte und emotionalen Nähe, mit der Aciman seine Figuren, insbesondere natürlich Elio, zum Leben erweckt. Das Buch ist streckenweise nicht leicht zu lesen, da die Sätze lang sind und oft in Analogien und Metaphern die Gefühlswelt von Elio ausgedrückt und vertieft wird (ich kann das nur für die engl. Fassung sagen, die dt. habe ich nicht gelesen). Aber wenn man sich darauf einlässt, sinkt man nach einigen Seiten unglaublich tief in die Geschichte ein. Man riecht, schmeckt, fühlt und sieht die Sommerszenerie Siziliens, die zunehmend reifen Früchte, die drückende Hitze des Sommers. Und man merkt mit etwas Glück plötzlich, dass man angefangen hat, Elio selbst zu sein - das man sein Verlangen, seine Sehnsucht, die Selbstzweifel und Unsicherheit, die Angst vor Zurückweisung ,die flirrende Aufregung vor der ersten Nacht und die aus dieser Begegnung resultierende lebenslange Sehnsucht selbst erlebt. "Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer." Dieser Satz aus dem Buch bringt für mich die Geschichte auf den Punkt. Ich bin selten, vielleicht nie, in ein Buch persönlich so abgetaucht wie in dieses. Es weckt Erinnerung, Bedauern, Nostalgie, aber auch tiefe Dankbarkeit für das, was das Leben geben kann, wenn man das Glück hat, eine große erste Liebe kennenzulernen. Und erst in der Rückschau wird deutlich, wie prägend und formend eine Begegnung gewesen sein kann. Die letzten beiden Abschnitte der späteren Treffen von Elio und Oliver konnte ich nur mit einem dicken Kloß im Hals lesen. Weil ich wusste wie es endet und eigentlich nicht wollte, dass es so endet. Doch "das" ist das Leben, und manche wirklich prägenden Abschnitte leben nur in der Erinnerung weiter und lassen sich nicht zurückholen, auch wenn sie unseren ganzen weiteren Weg beeinflussen. Man muss sich auf den sehr intimen, sehr philosophischen Schreibstil Acimans einlassen wollen. Wenn man das tut, erwartet einen vielleicht das Buch fürs Leben.

Love the movie, love the book. Especially that it gives more clarity about the ending

友達の誕生日プレゼントとして購入しました！ 私も映画見た事ありますが、とてもエモーショナルな感じですよねー〜、、 素晴らしいです

Ho visto il film, in lingua originale e in italiano. Ho letto il libro, in lingua originale e in italiano. Non potevo certo farmi mancare l’audiolibro letto da Armie Hammer (per i pochi che non lo sapessero, l’attore che nel film interpreta Oliver) che con la sua meravigliosa voce, calda, profonda, e con la sua interpretazione travolgente, dà al racconto un’ intensità ancora maggiore. Non c’è una sola parola letta, un respiro, persino una pausa di silenzio, che non trasudi passionalità, emozione, sensualità. Tutto di Chiamami col tuo nome è pura bellezza. La meraviglia. Questo cofanetto si presenta in 7 CD audio, ciascuno con un numero variabile tracce, per un totale di quasi 8 ore di registrazione. Che dire, le 8 ore più intense che uno si possa regalare...

Esse livro não é para todo mundo. Sei que nenhum é, que tem sempre alguém, seja honestamente ou por pura insegurança e necessidade de se sentir diferente e especial, que não gosta de algum livro. Mas o que quero dizer sempre que uso essa frase é que o livro não é do tipo que agrada fácil, que conquista a maioria das pessoas, que será entendido por todo mundo que ler. Estou impressionada com a fama que ele conquistou (mesmo que tenha sido por causa do filme) entre pessoas que parecem tão distantes do estilo dele. A primeira coisa que me fez perceber que este livro não é para todo mundo foi sua honestidade. Talvez honestidade seja uma palavra simples demais para o jeito que a história foi narrada sem medo, sem pudor, sem qualquer inibição. Do mesmo modo em que os dois personagens se entregam completamente um ao outro, a escrita é feita de intimidade e vulnerabilidade completas, de filosofia e poesia, e de detalhes reais e fantasiosos, idealizados, eróticos, românticos, dolorosos e vergonhosos. Ela abraça todas as emoções do Elio, das mais intensas e obsessivas às mais simples e impulsivas, sem medo de entregar demais. Foi extremamente corajoso do autor escrever esse livro como seu primeiro. E foi uma honra ler esse livro, fazer parte dessa intimidade que não era minha. Fiquei impressionada quando percebi a quantidade de emoções diferentes que eu tinha já sentido e reconheci no Elio, e mais ainda quando vi quantas sentia em poucas frases. Fiquei ansiosa, plena e feliz, ri às vezes, para frases abaixo perceber toda a tristeza da situação e logo em seguida ser consolada pela beleza desse amor existir. Foram tantas emoções mesmo, que terminei chorando meus olhos fora (choro super fácil com livros, mas esse consegue tirar lágrimas até de quem não chora), daquele tipo de choro que é mais emotivo do que racional. É até um pouco assustador ver meu próprio luto pelo final da história, ainda que ele me dê certo consolo. Não foi só nessa hora que chorei como se tivesse perdido algo valioso que nunca encontraria de novo. Minha parte favorita é a conversa do Elio com seu pai perto do final, e, ainda que o livro já não tivesse me dado nada para pensar ou para sentir antes, ele teria valido completamente a pena só por ela. É difícil dizer se recomendo o livro. Recomendo, é claro, mas tenho medo de fazê-lo cair em mãos de quem não o entenderá ou merecerá. O texto parece difícil de longe, com frases e parágrafos longos, mas que eu lia como se pensasse junto com Elio, quase freneticamente. As falas também são misturadas às vezes em narração, de vez em quando sem qualquer indicação, o que eu achei ótimo, na verdade, não cheguei a ficar confundida sobre quem falava. Nunca poderia imaginar que isso me agradaria, principalmente porque não é do tipo de coisa que agrada a maioria das pessoas. Como eu falei, um livro que fica com você, que te faz repensar muita coisa, invejar dor e se entregar à história. Não é para todo mundo.