Call Me By Your Name was one of my favorite reads last year. After I read the book, we had to go out and get the movie to watch as well. It’s definitely not a story for everyone, but for me it was a beautiful love story that left me wanting more. When I heard Find Me was going to be published, I knew that I needed to read it as soon as possible.
First and foremost, André Aciman has some of the most poetic and gorgeous writing I’ve ever read. It all flows together like a song. Not just any sort of song you hear on the radio, but more like a symphony where you have the string instruments highlighting, the woodwind section harmonizing, and the beat of the percussion is always a steady rhythm. He’s one of those not afraid to write a daring solo for the oboe or giving the violin a broad and low piece to play.
Let me also say that the first half, and probably literal half of this book is a story about Elio’s father. The next third is about Elio and an older lover he had. Finally, we get to Elio and Oliver, which is like 1/6 of the book (if we’re being generous).
While it’s more disappointing that we do not get more about Elio and Oliver, I do think it was an interesting choice that he gave us Samuel and the second half of his life. Samuel and Elio’s mother have divorced by now and he meets a younger woman around his son’s age. This is when Samuel truly falls in love. There were things that were a bit… I’m not sure how to describe it? Kind of like a typical older man with a younger woman fantasy trope.
When Aciman writes sex scenes they aren’t anything vulgar. They definitely come from a place that is love and are very much like a love letter. It’s a lot of symbolism as well, I feel.
The tale about Elio and his older lover was a bit unnecessary. It kind of felt like another version of Oliver, except quite older. I was honestly trudging through it so I could get to the two people I really cared about.
Once I did get to the end, I’ll admit I was left disappointed. The way their story ended was not bad, but it was just the journey of getting there. With Samuel, we definitely see how Elio’s life was influenced by him and how similar he and his son are. I just expected a bit more from what CMBYN gave me.
I ended up giving this book 3 stars.
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