Sami was chased, I get that, but the way everything happened with Miranda didn’t feel right to the character, at least to me it didn’t. And they deciding on naming the kid Oliver?! Like, he took the name of his son’s lover to name his other son?! Didn’t he think about how Elio would feel? I mean, in the end they got back together, but can you imagine if they didn’t and Elio would have this person, his brother, forever reminding him of his past love? The one that got away. I think it’s a bit cruel and thoughtless in a way.
Also, CMBYN and FM may be “companion books” but you can’t deny that FM was a cash grab thing, which reflected in the book itself, therefore the lesser writing, the chronology mistakes, the out of touch character development.
Also, they did Anella dirty in this one. She was such a present presence in CMBYN. Oliver related to her so much, and in FM she’s gone. When she gets back she’s not herself. Unfair. Truly unfair to her. Aaannndd, nothing about Marzia? Like, women in this world are mere plot objects.
The living together part confused me as in that many people together seems weird. It’s a rich people’s universe there, they can afford space. And I’m sure Oliver and Elio would take care of Elio’s mom, 100%. Maybe Oliver, Elio and Anella living together would be fine and Miranda and little Oliver nearby. But everyone under the same roof didn’t feel right to me.
Look, I’m reading what I wrote above and it sounds like I hated everything, but I truly didn’t! I just don’t get why Aciman decided to take the characters into this direction. To focus so much on Sami to have him dead in the last chapter. To focus so much on a new love for Elio, making us care for him, for him to be gone 2 pages later. To make Oliver leave Elio in book one to get married, have a family and in book two his family doesn’t even have a name, just like a footnote in Oliver and Elio’s love story. The fact that this book was also not planed makes me a bit angry, because then we have a deeply flawed story just to be published in time to grab more $$$.
@theuniversaline Sorry I wrote so much!! Even though it looks like a hate it all, I still love the characters and the story. That’s why I’m writing all this, because I truly care. But knowing that Oliver and Elio are somewhere together in Italy, in this alternative universe, getting old and being in love makes my heart a bit warmer and I’m sure it makes you, and all of us fans happy too. Which is enough to make the flaws matter a little less.
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