Call Me By Your Name

This book is nothing but garbage, and that is precisely where I'm putting it now that I've finally given in and finished reading it. I'm not sure how it is something that caught the attention of so many and became as popular as it was.

The overwhelming feeling that I have for this book is that both Oliver and Elio is that they're both abusers and manipulators. Oliver spends a ridiculous amount of time using emotionally abusive tactics against Elio; it feels like he spends some time gaslighting him as well, but he definitely spends a lot of time manipulating him. Elio spends a lot of time manipulating random female characters, particularly Marzia.

The biphobic tropes of promiscuity and inability to be faithful are also worth noting. It has issues of statutory rape, including Oliver (an adult man) preying upon a female student to seemingly make Elio jealous.

The whole …

The pacing was very slow and I was creeped out by the age gap in a romance where one person was a minor. I love queer books and thought the movie was okay, but this just felt off. 

Don't expect me to feel sorry or tormented for this boy. He can cry about his sexuality, confusion, and lost love from the comfort of his privileged, cushy life.

And that's the problem, aside from Elio's anxiety and indecision, I feel nothing connecting me to him.

Neither of them. At best they feel like mouthpieces for the author to vomit his introspection and philosophy. So these characters have no agency or self.

The only thing that makes me give this 3 stars is the writing. It's quite beautiful, but not without its problems. In places where he could've used 5 words, he uses 2 paragraphs. And in places that needed paragraphs, we only got 5 words.

No place is this more apparent than part 3, when the slog to finish this book began.

Neither the journey or destination was worth the trip, and I feel more emotional resonance when reading …