Summer of 1983- Call Me by Your Name

"We had found the stars, you and I. And this is given once only."

Book Information: Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

This book, was raw, and emotional, and passionate, written by someone who understood the pain of loss, and love, and change. I can't explain how much this book made me feel. It was the type of book that you can truly connect to. Maybe Elio and Oliver's story is not the same as your story, but you will definitely have some sort of connection to it. It invokes feelings that we never knew we had. It will make you rethink your idea of love.

Everything I have ever heard of this book has always been good. "Oh, it's a wonderful book!" People would tell me. And it was, it really was, but I don't think the word "wonderful" correctly encompasses this book. I remember reading the summary of this book, and thinking that it could be nice to read. Yes, simply nice. But, as you may know, you should never judge a book simply by its summary. The basic summary would be the following:

Call Me By Your Name is the story of a sudden romance that occurs between a teenage boy and a summer guest to his parents' coast mansion.

But it is so much more than that. Yes, it is a story of sudden romance, but it is also the story of deep intimacy and connections. The story of fear and pain and loss. The story of friendship; the story of love. The story of obsession and desire and fascination. But, let's put the poetics aside, and I'll tell you exactly why you should read this book! Here are five reasons why you should immediately pick up Call Me By Your Name:

Reason 1) You've probably heard the phrase "Show, don't tell." Right? Well, this book is a perfect example of "show". It has enough imagery that you can perfectly visualize the whole story, but it also doesn't have so much that all you can see in this book is imagery and nothing else.

Reason 2) It's one of those books where the story is almost poetic. Not the writing, but the story itself. It's not like Strange the Dreamer, where Laini Taylor spins her words so that she may as well be writing poetry, but it holds enough emotion that the story is musical in itself.

Reason 3) Elio, the narrating character, is perfectly written. At the start of the story, he is 17, and he continues to be 17 for most of the story. And you know how a 17 year old sees the world differently from a 30 year old? Or a 12 year old? Well, the way Elio was written, shows just how much of a 17 year old he is. He narrates the story the way you'd expect a teenager to narrate it. Showing his wild youth, mixed in with a bit of an old soul.

Reason 4) The story is realistic. It's not one of those stories where the two characters instantly fall in love. Or where two characters who hate each other suddenly love each other. No, the characters go from hot, to cold, to hot again. They play along with each other's games, they fight and argue like normal people. They aren't just anothe pair of characters, they are practically real people.

Reason 5) There are a lot of references to ancient Greek and Roman myths and stories. Oliver and Elio talk about Dante and Virgil, there are references to the Illiad and the Odyssey, it seems that there is a reference to something at least once every chapter! I don't know why I love books that have references to pop culture, or other books, to mythologie, to basically anything. Books like that just have a certain charm for me.

Just a quick warning before I conclude this post, this book has some fairly mature scenes in it, not too graphic, but still mature. So read this book with precaution, if you are uncomfortable with suggestive scenes, then this book may not be for you.

If you are in the middle of a reading slump, and have been looking for the next great book you read, then go to your local bookstore or library, and look for Call Me By Your Name, because it is a book that deserves to go down through time.

"Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer."

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