Reviews for Call Me By Your Name

The average rating for Call Me By Your Name based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-12-13 00:00:00 Nick Bulmer "He came. He left. Nothing else had changed. I had not changed. The world hadn't changed. Yet nothing would be the same. All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance." I should probably issue a warning that this is a book I usually wouldn't like. I think. A summer romance up to its neck in purple prose and wandering introspection sounds like a nightmare. And yet, there was something so beautiful, awful, intoxicating and sad about Call Me by Your Name. Maybe I like it because - and I hate to admit this - there is a part of me that recognizes something of myself within it. Either you have been this kind of person, perhaps still are this kind of person, or you have not, are not, and this book will seem overwritten and alien. I, unfortunately, have experienced that deep, all-encompassing infatuation with another person. I don't personally call it love; not anymore. Instead, it's a feeling of overwhelming, almost feverish, obsession with their existence-- their body, their laugh, and everything they do or say. I'm not proud of it and I don't think it's healthy. But I do think this book captures it in all its intensity and sadness. Call Me by Your Name, for me, stands apart from other romances because it doesn't follow the usual formula of two people meet, cliche flirtations and angst ensue, and then finally they end up together. It's not a spoiler to say this isn't that kind of story; if you're reading it for the warm fuzzies then you're going to be disappointed. It is about seventeen-year-old Elio, who falls into a deep romantic and sexual obsession with the twenty-four year-old Oliver when the latter becomes a summer guest at Elio's parents' Italian villa. If there was ever a perfect place to set a heady novel of this kind, then it must be the cliffs of the Italian Riviera. I can feel my cold heart melting just thinking about it. We stay inside Elio's mind as he fantasizes romantically and sexually about Oliver. Aciman builds a novel based on innermost thoughts and the most painful of emotions. It is sometimes almost too much and I wanted to look away as Elio feels like he can't get close enough; feels like he wants to crawl inside Oliver's skin. It's an intoxicatingly romantic, intimate, physical, miserable experience. There is one moment when Elio's wise father comforts him: "Right now there's sorrow. I don't envy the pain. But I envy you the pain." Which I thought was deeply sad, though also perfect. It might not be my usual choice of book, but I think Call Me by Your Name is one that will stay with me. Sometimes it is the exceptions to my rules that I find myself remembering the most. Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-17 00:00:00 Kirk Evans "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. Find more of my books on Instagram