Call Me By Your Name Book

"If I could have him like this in my dreams every night of my life, I'd stake my entire life on dreams and be done with the rest."

This book has been on my to-read list for a few years, but now that the film is set to be released, I believed it was time to get going and pick it up once and for all. From what I had seen of the film - that is shirtless Armie Hammer and not much else because I wanted to read the book before even watching the trailer - and from what I had heard about the book, I was up for a promising and exciting read. Oh, and a gay one, too.

To be blunt, I expected more. More emotion most of all. Longing and sexual frustration dominated most of the novel, but I was looking for dramatic heartbreak and high emotions. Maybe a tear or two. Maybe I didn't connect enough with Elio, the main character. Sometimes I even disliked him. Then again I understood his aching and longing for a guy that seemed so very much out of reach.
What bothered me most was the highbrow narrative style, the thousands upon thousands of cultural references to literature, music and art. I felt like someone had slapped me with a travelling guide and a Latin dictionary over and over again. It seemed pretentious and took away my interest in the novel.
The writing was beautiful at times and overwhelming at others. Sentences were much too long and seemed never-ending. Pretentious, again.

I can't decide if I want to give this two or three stars - I might change the rating again later. It's not that I disliked the novel, on the contrary, sometimes it was like a dream: Italian food prepared by a personal cook, strolling on the beach, lazing around in the sun, handsome and interesting people around night and day. The openness with which Aciman wrote the gay sex scenes surprised me positively. But especially towards the end, it almost bored me, for reasons that I already mentioned above.

However, I have high hopes for the film adaption. It has the chance to develop the feelings and the relationship between Elio and Oliver much better and to actually make me feel something.

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