Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

✨🌈"Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are."🌈✨

A coming- of- age story, Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman reads like a love letter written with such passion and desire. Laden with themes for self- identity and love, the plot revolves around 17-year-old Elio and 24-year-old Oliver set in beautiful Italy.

The book follows like a classic romance novel; Elio’s crush on Oliver blossoms quicker whereas Oliver seems to simply play with his affections. The latter sometimes is friendly and cordial and in the next few moments drifts apart and becomes indifferent.

Starting off as a friendship, their relationship, over a short course of six weeks, develops into an all-encompassing and fierce romantic intimacy which is constrained by the time they have together.

The book can not simply be written off as a romance novel, it is much more than that. It primarily explores the theme of love but it employs the concept of love rather differently. It exceeds the basic understanding of love- Elio experiences a love like none where he is losing himself in his lover only to find himself as the story progresses. Aciman writes a story where flirting precedes the liaison engendering a greater unveiling of identity and intense emotions.

Aciman’s writing is like poetry. I have read the book thrice now and every time I fell deeper in love with his writing style. It is simple, elegant and so nuanced; it is charged with sensuousness not only in its story but in setting and language as well. The narrative style invokes the feeling of witnessing such a delicate romance first-hand. The characters are just perfect- Elio is presented as a teenage boy whose intense crush becomes all-consuming; Oliver is shown to be slightly more mature who still gets intertwined in his feelings for Elio.

In 2019, I attended Jaipur Literature Festival where Andre Aciman was invited for a discussion about the book and the movie, and the success both of them have gained. His discussion was filled with funny anecdotes, his feelings regarding the accomplishments of his book and the movie, his process of writing and his thoughts when he was writing the novel- overall the hour spent listening to him was

just wonderful. I had the opportunity to tell him how much his book impacted me and made an ever-lasting impression on me when he was signing my book. It was a short yet sweet interaction. These few minutes in my life are the ones I will never ever forget.

And the movie. Do I really need to talk about how great the movie is? It is just perfect- everything I imagined it to be when I first read the book, which was a couple of weeks prior to the release. I loved everything- the direction, the sheer talent showcased by the actors, and obviously Samuel’s monologue delivered by Michael Stuhlbarg, and the music.

The novel is extraordinary which does not go out of its way to be celebrated as a queer novel. No one in the novel announces their sexuality, there is no need to. Elio and Oliver’s narrative is portrayed simply as that of a “heterosexual” counterpart and that makes Call Me By Your Name profound. When reading it, not much emphasis is laid on the fact that the lovers are of the same sex. The novel enthralls the reader with a captivating tale of two lovers and their passion.

This is a book that I would recommend with my eyes closed to anyone who asks for a book which is simple yet impactful to read. An immersive read, Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman is one of my favourite novels of all time.

Subsequently, upon high demand for a sequel, Aciman released Find Me. That book...well… I have a detailed review on it which you can check here. 🧡