Another 1 star review
Ugh. I just wanted to get this one over with.
36. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
A coming of age story set over six weeks of summer.
Pretentious purple prose that attempts to cloak cardboard characters in so much blather that the reader won't realize that what is written in the tone of a Great Love Story with Meaning and Nuance is actually about a six-week infatuation based purely on physical attraction. Oliver, 24 years old, stays at the home of Elio's (17 years old) parents for six weeks. The reason he's there really doesn't matter. Elio immediately falls in lust. If Oliver smiles at him? We then get literally pages about what that smile could mean. There are paragraphs of metaphors of what fire is like, or coming home, or fear.
And it's all wrapped up in prose like this: Staring at his neck with its star and telltale amulet was like staring at something timeless, ancestral, immortal, in me, in him, in both of us, begging to be rekindled and brought back from its millenary sleep.
What 17-year-old thinks like that? What person thinks like that?
So, it's pretty much all bad. Couldn't get much worse, right? But then you get scenes where Elio sneaks into Oliver's room and licks Oliver's bathing suit and is sad that he can't find any pubic hair and this is portrayed as romantic or erotic and no, I'm sorry, that is creepy and stalkerish. I don't even want to talk about the moment with the damn peach.
1/5 stars
Goodreads Challenge 37 - from the "Are You Well Read in World Literature" List
Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge - June 3b. featuring LGBTQ+ protagonist
Popsugar Challenge 50 - free book
256 pages
Books Read: 36/60
Goodreads Challenge: 36/52
Popsugar Challenge: 18/50
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
Total Page Count: 11247 pages
.
36. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
A coming of age story set over six weeks of summer.
Pretentious purple prose that attempts to cloak cardboard characters in so much blather that the reader won't realize that what is written in the tone of a Great Love Story with Meaning and Nuance is actually about a six-week infatuation based purely on physical attraction. Oliver, 24 years old, stays at the home of Elio's (17 years old) parents for six weeks. The reason he's there really doesn't matter. Elio immediately falls in lust. If Oliver smiles at him? We then get literally pages about what that smile could mean. There are paragraphs of metaphors of what fire is like, or coming home, or fear.
And it's all wrapped up in prose like this: Staring at his neck with its star and telltale amulet was like staring at something timeless, ancestral, immortal, in me, in him, in both of us, begging to be rekindled and brought back from its millenary sleep.
What 17-year-old thinks like that? What person thinks like that?
So, it's pretty much all bad. Couldn't get much worse, right? But then you get scenes where Elio sneaks into Oliver's room and licks Oliver's bathing suit and is sad that he can't find any pubic hair and this is portrayed as romantic or erotic and no, I'm sorry, that is creepy and stalkerish. I don't even want to talk about the moment with the damn peach.
1/5 stars
Goodreads Challenge 37 - from the "Are You Well Read in World Literature" List
Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge - June 3b. featuring LGBTQ+ protagonist
Popsugar Challenge 50 - free book
256 pages
Books Read: 36/60
Goodreads Challenge: 36/52
Popsugar Challenge: 18/50
LJ Book Bingo Jan-March: 12/12
LJ Book Bingo April-June 20: 9/9
Total Page Count: 11247 pages
.