Book Review #2 Call Me By Your Name
Literary Fiction and Coming of Age Story with themes of sexual orientation exploration, infatuation, love and intimacy.
“During a restless summer on the Italian Riviera, a powerful romance blooms between 17-year-old Elio and his father‘s houseguest, Oliver.
Unrelenting currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire threatened to overwhelm the lovers who at first feign indifference to the charge between them.
What grows from the depths of their souls is a romance of scarcely six weeks’ duration, and an experience that marks them for a lifetime.
For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing they both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy”
So… I wanted to love this book much more than I actually did… that being said, it is well written and well worth reading! It was our book club pick for April and it certainly invoked a great discussion.
The Story
The story unfolds through the eyes and perspective of Elio, a 17 year old boy spending the summer in his family home in Italy. Elio is well read, curious and highly intelligent - you wouldn’t expect anything less from a professor’s son!
Every summer, his father invites students over from around the world to spend a couple of weeks in Italy to stay with the family and pursue their academic endeavours. Elio is used to this rotation of visitors and is generally indifferent to the guests. All that changes however in the summer of 1983, when Oliver, a handsome 24 year old American student arrives.
From the the minute Elio sees Oliver, he becomes completely obsessed. He can’t think of anything else but Oliver and the first part of the novel reads like a running stream of an infatuated consciousness. His desire, restlessness and the agony of wanting something “he shouldn’t” flies off the page.
A friendship begins to form between the two. Elio tries to play it cool but as we soon find out, it’s a thinly veiled attempt. Oliver is well aware of Elio’s crush and has similar feelings of his own that he is trying to squash down.
One thing leads to another and eventually the pair allow their feelings to be seen. It’s Elio’s first experience with a man and it leaves him feeling confused. At first he is ashamed and swears it will never happen again. Very quickly however he realises that these feelings of shame come from years of external prejudice and bias, rather than his own true feelings. There’s nothing wrong in being with Oliver, even if the world doesn’t agree with it.
The two of them tentatively begin a secret fleeting relationship that has an everlasting impact to both of their lives. The Summer may be brief, but love and connection it turns out, are eternal.
The Writing Style
First person narration style with Elio as the narrator. Quite verbose with long sentences and great detail. There are references to other great literary works, classics and poems that those true Bibliophiles among us will love ( and I’ll be honest, totally went above my head- I’m not familiar with Socrates or Dante!). Fantastic descriptions of the small Italian seaside village, made me want to book a trip to Italy immediately!
The Good Bits
Firstly, the writing is poetic and some of the passages are magic.
“They worried for me. I knew they were right to worry. I just hoped they’d never know how far things stood beyond their ordinary worries now. I knew they didn’t suspect a thing, and it bothered me – though I wouldn’t have wanted it otherwise. It told me that if I were no longer transparent and could disguise so much of my life, then I was finally safe from them, and from him – but at what price, and did I want to be so safe from anyone?”
I mean, how can you not love lines like this?
The character descriptions and scenery are spot on. The author creates such true full bodied characters- I especially loved how Oliver came to life. At first he seems like an arrogant young student. Laid back and comfortable anywhere. As the romance unfolds with Elio, we realise that this casual coolness is a façade. Oliver is practiced at being who the world wants him to be. Stories are delivered in an exacting format to seem natural and effortless, but every word is calculated and carefully thought through. He controls the conversations so that he’s never caught off guard and having to reveal his true self. I think this is likely a very realistic reflection of how LGBTQIA+ people in the 80s (and today probably) were forced to manage their social interactions. It must be so exhausting and you can see that in the moments when the real Oliver shines through.
I also thought the aftermath of their first night together was dealt with in an interesting way. Elio has been consumed with desire and wanting to sleep with Oliver since the minute he saw him. When he finally does, he feels disgusted with himself- but doesn’t understand the complexity of these emotions. It’s extremely confusing navigating this and I think it was described well.
“.. what I felt was worse than hate. I didn’t want to remember, didn’t want to think about it. Just put it away. It had never happened. I tried and it didn’t work for me, now I wanted my money back, roll back the film, take me back to that moment when I’m almost stepping out on to the balcony barefoot, I’ll go no farther, I’ll sit and stew and never know- better to argue with my body than feel what I was feeling now.”
Oliver helps Elio realise that there is nothing to be ashamed of, even if they have to hide it from everyone around them. It’s an impossible situation… to have the confidence to know that what you’re doing isn’t wrong, but you also can’t tell anyone either, because they will think it is.
As an adult, life experience can equip you a bit better to manage these conflicting positions, but teenagers….they don’t stand a chance without proper support.
Lastly, I loved the scene with Elio’s father. Considering it was the 80s and the religious context of the characters, his father left all those expectations behind and simply wanted his son to know he was loved, no matter what. Although that should be the bare minimum of all parents, we know that often isn’t the case.
Any negatives?
Although the writing is stunning, it is extremely long-winded. My eyes glazed over at many points throughout the novel, especially in the beginning when reading through pages and pages of Elio’s frenetic infatuation. As I was reading, my mind was like “ugh, please just tell him and get this torment over with”. To be fair, that’s exactly what the author intended, but it’s still made it a little bit tedious to read through.
This is often a critiquing point for me, I totally appreciate that writers want to flex the literary muscle, but sometimes it comes at the expense of keeping the reader engaged – there was a lot that could’ve been refined while still delivering the impact.
Another point, although not really negative-but I wasn’t sure how I felt about a 24-year-old developing a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. 17 is a difficult age, not quite a child, but definitely not an adult. As a reader, you root for Elio and Oliver but at the same time, Elio is still an adolescent who is at risk of being manipulated. I debated whether I would still be pushing for them to be together if Elio was a girl? Or is it because he is a boy, that it felt less alarming? In society, boys generally are viewed as needling less protection than girls and this underlying bias certainly played out as I considered my feelings about this relationship. On the other hand, who else could Elio seek guidance from but Oliver? Who else would understand what he is going through?
“I needed him as far away as possible if I was to feel better and forget- but I needed him close by in case this thing took a turn for the worse and there was no one to turn to.
Although this theme didn’t expressly play out the book, I think making Elio 17 was very intentional. The author cleverly confronts traditional thoughts of “right and wrong” in various ways and I would have liked to explore this a bit more in the novel- a missed opportunity (IMO).
In summary
It’s a beautiful coming of age story with Important Themes. Great for a book club discussion- although maybe not a work book club (as mine was)… some of those scenes were raunchy (will never look at apricots the same way) and it was a tad awkward to discuss with colleagues!
It’s not one to race through but rather enjoy somewhere sunny that allows time for reflection. The book is heavy with description which can be a bit tiresome to work through so approach with some caution. If that’s your bag however, then go forth and enjoy!
L
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