CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
★★★★★
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Soundtrack for reading the book:
Futile devices (doveman remix) by Sufjan Stevens
Mystery of love by Sufjan Stevens
Radio Varsavia by Franco Battiato
Visions of Gideon by Surfjan Stevens
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My thoughts
The coming-of-age novel ‘Call me by your name’ by André Aciman is one of my favourite books that I have read...TRULY! and there is many reasons for that that i’ll get into later (get it?) . In the novel we are introduced to 17 year old Elio who spends his summer at his parents summer house in Italy. Each summer his father Samuel Perlman invites a student over to their summer house to help them with their academic paper work in archaeology. In the summer of 1983 the 24-year old American Oliver is this years student that will be spending a summer in the beautiful little town in Italy. During his 6 week stay a romance sparks between him and Elio that will be later be remembered as a nostalgic summer love years later. The novel is narrated by Elio in first person and told in past tense so throughout the novel we experience Elioøs thoughts about the whole experience from when they first met and when they departed that summer. What I love about the narration is that we are able to read about the thoughts of young Elio who experiences falling in love for the first time and through that the reader can relate to the familiar feelings of confusion, frustration and longing that romance brings to an adolescent. A place in the novel that stood the most out to me was Elio’s father’s speech to Elio when Oliver leaves at the end of the summer: “When you least expect it, nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot. Just remember I’m here. Right now, you may not want to feel anything. Maybe you’ll never want to feel anything. And, maybe it’s not to me you want to speak about these things, but I feel something you obviously did...Look, you had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you.In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away, or pray that their sons land on their feet. But I am not such a parent. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything—what a waste!And I’ll say one more thing… it’ll clear the air. I may have come close, but I never have what you two have. Something always held me back or stood in the way. How you live your life is your business. Just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once, and before you know it, your heart’s worn out. And as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it, much less wants to come near it. Right now, there’s sorrow, pain; don’t kill it, and with it, the joy you’ve felt.” When the summer comes to an end, Elio is left alone with the wonderful memories of the summer of 1983. His father gives him an important lesson about allowing Elio to experience the sorrow he is feeling because the kind of rare intimacy he experienced only a few will ever have the luck to experience. What I absolutely love about this novel is that there are no consequences for the romance between the two young men Elio and Oliver. Usually with gay romance books, there’s always some sort of consequences or sacrifices when two men are in love...they are either having an affair because the other one is married to a woman, or it is about hiding their romance because they don’t want others to know or hiding it because their relatives don’t approve. These are usually the plots for gay romance novels or movies. That is why I love this novel, because it is just simply about love between two people regardless of their gender and sexuality. It is a simple love story that combines a relaxing and beautiful setting in Italy and two young men who experiences a rare and wonderful summer together. Reason no. 2 on why I love this book is just simply how it makes me feel..I don’t know how else to describe it. André Acimen is incredible when it comes to describing the setting and atmosphere of the novel. When I read it it evokes the feelings and images of nostalgia, beautiful yellow-orange sunsets, swimming in a lakes, peaches and a beautiful small town in Italy. I definitely recommend reading this book to escape the cold and gray December weather!
Later!
