"Call
me by your name and I'll call you by mine"
The
whole story, written from the main character’s point of view, takes place in
the picturesque Italy, where Elio and his parents live. As a teenager, Elio
shares normal life, he goes to school, meets with his friends but what’s the
most important for him, he does what he love: plays music, reads books and
fascinates with art. Every year, during holidays, for couple of weeks Elio and
his parents have a scholar around, who thanks for the hospitality helps Elio’s father
with translation. When Oliver appears in their house, Elio’s life changes
completely. At the beginning, nothing indicates that these 6 weeks that Elio
and Oliver are going to spend together will change their lives forever. There is
a huge distance between Elio and Oliver and no matter how hard Elio tries to
make it smaller, it does not work. One day Elio takes Oliver for a bike trip
and shows him his secret place, where all the icebergs finally break. The rest
of the holidays is full of ups and downs but the final, well the final is
different for everyone.
We can write so much about this
book, some people might love it, some might feel disgusted or frustrated, it
all depends. The following review is presented only from my point of view,
I have nothing against substantive and cultural critic.
To me, even after couple of days it’s
still hard to write. From one point I liked this book so much, but from the other
there is something missing. The way Elio describes his feelings, his passion,
his desire is amazing but sometimes I almost fell asleep cos the descriptions
are so long. Elio as a young boy, with hormones that play such an important
part in a youngsters life, sometimes lets his feelings go in a way he regrets
later. The huge plus for me
is Elio’s dad. We live in a society, where tolerance barely exists. Most
teenagers suffer an incredible pain because their parents do not accept the
fact that their kid may love the person that shares the same gender. I am also
a huge fun of Italy, so all the places described in the book made me want to go
and visit this beautiful country again. Hope one day I will :)
The biggest minus for me is older Elio,
who even as a grow up man is still the same little boy, with all his puppet
love. I also regret that Oliver’s feelings were not present. It would be nice
to know his point of view as well. When it comes to the end, it disappointed me
a lot. I didn’t expect a huge boom or happily-ever-after, cos Polish title says
a lot but I expected something different. However with all its pros and cons
the book is worth reading :)
P.S. There is still some chocolate left :)