The Captivating Story of Call Me By Your Name - Amalia Bollero

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman is a fantastic novel that captures the true essence of the love and passion that a precocious teenage boy has for his family's summer guest. The story is set in 1983 in the town of Lombardy Italy, where the 17-year-old main character Elio Perlman, lives with his family in a beautiful house by the water. Every year his family houses an intern to work for Elio's father and this particular summer it is 23-year-old Oliver, whom throughout the book Elio falls deeply in love with. The unconventional storyline is part of what makes the novel so exciting and interesting to read. You feel as though you can't stop reading because although it seems like you know what the ending will be, you really don't. I finished this book in a matter of days which hasn't happened to me in a long time. Although looking back, there aren't a huge amount of events that take place, such as in a book like Harry Potter, the way the author uses detail to describe emotions or simple scenes of sitting by a pool, the book doesn't feel boring or slow. While reading this book, I actually learned to enjoy these slower-paced parts, because they allowed the reader to fully understand the way Elio is feeling. For example, how every day he sits by the pool and watches Oliver swim or sunbath, shows how as each day happens he cares more and more for Oliver. The simple instants such as this help capture the moments of thought and longing in Elio, which are an essential part of the book and allow the story to be presented in the calming yet passionate way that it is. 

The book includes a variety of cultures, languages, and friendships that all help the book be the vibrant book that it is. The Perlmans, are Italian-Americans living in Italy and are also Jewish and speak French at home. The movie, Call Me By Your Name, actually helps bring these different cultures and languages to life and I recommend watching the movie once you have finished reading the book because it is incredibly well done. Friendships are also a prevalent part of this novel. Elio has his group of friends that he hangs out with and they also slowly become Oliver's friends. My favorite friendship is when Oliver develops a close bond with Vimini, a sick child who lives next door to Elio. Together Oliver and Vimini spend hours sitting on the beach on a rock and talking. Vimini then shares with Elio some of Oliver's feelings and I think that this moment where a much younger person is sharing wisdom with Elio, it really helps him process his feelings. Oliver and Elio go out dancing, swimming and other activities with their friends, which honestly made me wish that I lived somewhere were walking to friends' houses and casually planning things was something that I could do right now. Something that stood out to me is the fact that Elio and Oliver are free and encouraged to go out to parties at night with their friends, which I think is different than what tends to happen here in the US. Smoking and sex are also not frowned upon by their parents and talked about extremely freely which is again different than the cultural norm here in the states. 

The community that the book paints is exactly what you would imagine teenagers in northern Italy in a small town are a part of. In the book it talks about how every night they have different professors, tourists and other people over for dinner because of how well known the family and their house is. This detail makes the family feel welcoming and loving and the way that they all interact with one another is heartwarming. They also have different people that work for them such as the housemaid of sorts, Mafalda. She knows all the little details about how Elio likes his eggs and his favorite drinks, which again add such a personal touch to the book. All throughout the story, there are examples of the community feeling close to one another due to the constant social gatherings that take place from the beach to their houses to the downtown area. It allows readers to feel attached to each character because they all feel like an important part of each others lives, which is special. 

The pace of the book is really well done in my opinion. The book is written in four parts and each section isn't split up into chapters. Each section feels like a different time in Elio's life or a different state of mind and opinion that he is in, although the book mostly falls in a six week period of time, except for the fast forward at the end of the book. The repetition in the book also helps with the pacing in the book as well. How each day, for the most part, the same set of events takes place it allows the reader to fully understand how emotions can grow and change over time. An example of this would be how each day they go swimming, yet Elio has determined that based on the color of Oliver's swimsuit (green, yellow, red or blue), Oliver will be in a different mood and present himself differently. This is a key detail of the book and helps shape the events that take place later on in the story. I think that taking an article of clothing and attaching it to someone's mood is an interesting way to help readers understand how Elio feels about Oliver.

Overall this book is an emotional and passionate story that I loved reading. I wouldn't recommend it to people who don't like romance as there are several romantic scenes as well as this drive for wanting the other person throughout the entire story. I also would recommend watching the movie after reading the book, because the movie is actually comparable to the book, which doesn't happen often.