Call Me By Your Name

Spoiler alert: Love will truly knock you off your feet.

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Taking place in the 1980s in beautiful Northern Italy, Call Me By Your Name tells the story of Elio and his blossoming romance with his family's summer graduate student, Oliver. As the two navigate their feelings for one another, the result is an incredibly well-written and visually stunning story. I was incredibly struck not only by the depth of this story, but by the flawless depiction of first love. The dialogue was poignant but believable, and the interactions romantic yet not forced. Although it takes awhile for the two main characters to get together and admit their feelings for one another (spoiler alert...), once they do, readers see them have to balance their delicate feelings and uncertainty. Presenting not only the beauty and the vitality of first love, but also the heartbreak and the pain, I can say truthfully that this book was the most multidimensional love story I've ever read. Told from the perspective of the precocious and wise beyond his years Elio, I don't I have ever related to a main male character so strongly before. In narrating this love story, Elio didn't just relate what was happening, but rather shared deep into his inner psyche -- sharing feelings, doubts, and a lot of overthinking. The way Elio analyzed and over-analyzed every single interaction with Oliver was quite painfully relatable. By the end of the story, I have to admit Elio felt like an old friend. It was as if we shared the same thought process and the same never ending spiral of emotions. Additionally, the setting of the story was extremely beautiful -- and fitting of a romance for the ages. Serving almost like a third character, the breathtaking Italian Riviera was somehow both romantic and nostalgic. While the story felt youthful and bright, it also felt somewhat like a memory -- a reflection on a life-changing, world-bending love. Incredibly sexy and intelligent, there is no doubt why this story is regarded by many as an instant classic. Perhaps the most beautiful and complex love story I've ever read, the fact that it features an LGBTQ couple in the lead is incredibly important. In this space and time, when representation is finally becoming valued, how wonderful it is that the best love story is a gay love story. I think the most powerful message about the book, however, is that is has transcended simply gay audiences and in fact has been widely accepted by all as a beautiful piece of art. This is how it should be. A truly lovely book, complete with beauty and heartbreak, this story proves that risking it all for love and intimacy isn't just frightening -- but the most human act there is.

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Favorite Quotes: “I'm like you,' he said. 'I remember everything.'" ~~ “We had the stars, you and I. And this is given once only.” ~~ “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything - what a waste!” ~~ “He came. He left. Nothing else had changed. I had not changed. The world hadn't changed. Yet nothing would be the same. All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance.” ~~ “Is it better to speak or die?”