One of my goals in 2021 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I was looking around for another book featuring queer writers or characters for Pride month and settled on Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. I had heard of the book and the movie, but never seen the latter.
Elio is used to his father’s university students joining them for their summers in Italy. The students help his father with his work, study and work on their own writing, lounge by the pool and visit the village. Elio doesn’t often interact with them. But the year Oliver is on exchange, Elio takes notice. An at first timid and distant relationship soon blossoms into something new and strange. This coming of age and coming out story is to told in the sweeping and majestic thoughts, feelings and emotions of a teenage boy.
I had heard of the movie with Timothy Chalemet and Arrmie Hammer, heard that this was a queer love story of two young men in Italy over a summer. I had also heard that there was some controversy over the age gap and potential grooming/exploitation. I was interested to learn that Aciman was an Egyptian author, the first I have read from, I believe. And I was excited to read this divisive queer book. I found it on audio, read by Hammer. He had recently fallen under another shadow in the media, being accused of potential abuse and cannibalistic tendencies. But I really enjoyed his performance and voice acting. I might still be torn on the age difference in this book, as it is a little too far and the young portion a little too young to be entirely comfortable. And I was quite shocked with the graphic sexual descriptions and content in this book. It was much steamier than I had anticipated. It was the kind of audio book one wants to make sure others don’t hear snippets of ideally or out of context, unexpectedly. All that being said, I really enjoyed the book, the love story and it’s, to many readers, unsatisfying ending. There has recently been a sequel written, but personally I would not like to read it and have this story extended. I quite liked the ending and feel satisfied with the story as so and would not want to learn something I may not like. This book reminded me a lot in subject and in tone to a movie from the 90s I equally like, Stealing Beauty. It gave me the same longing, vacation, wishing for love, vibes that that movie does. The infinite possibilities of summer, the wistfulness for summer love. I would recommend this book for those interested in reading something in that vain, those who want to read more m/m romances, readers who like queer books, but in all those categories, only those who can handle explicit sex scenes in books.
What is your favorite queer centered book?
This book can be seen in my July Wrap Up.