Analyse af 'Call Me by Your Name' og original novelle

Call Me by Your Name is a 2007 novel by American writer André Aciman, and it tells the passionate love story between Elio, an introverted and shy 17-year-old who spends summers in Italy with his family every year, and Oliver, the handsome tall 24-year-old man, who is a post-doctoral scholar from America, spending a summer at Elios villa in Italy. The two young men develop a special bond and create life-defining moments and experiences together over the course of six weeks in the mid-1980s Italy. Elio is the protagonist in the story, and we view things from his perspective. We hear about his feelings and the story sets place at a familiar place for him. Elios character is fascinating and special, because he is quite young, and has not experienced love in its pure form prior to this life-changing adventure with Oliver. The fact that all of this is new to Elio, makes it easy for readers to relate to him and is probably one of the reasons why the book has gained lots of attention and praise. The story has plenty of messages and things to wonder endlessly about, but the most important lesson the book teaches, is no matter how heartbroken you are, the worst thing you can do is shut yourself off from the world, in favor of protecting whatever you feel is left of your heart. As Elios father says, in an attempt to console his devastated son; “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!” A lot of discussions have been started over this quote, and many people have tried to find the meaning behind it, by creating theories and talking a great amount about it. Is Elios father secretly gay? Did he have affairs in his younger years? Or is he simply trying to teach his son about the good and the bad spectrums of life? The endless discussions and guesses as to why the father did what he did, are one of the reasons why I love this book. It leaves readers with much to reflect over, and the story itself is just breathtaking and sweet. I rate this book a 6 out of 6, I admire this novel and the way it is written. It allows readers to become completely addicted to the intense love story, it has several sweet moments between father and son, mother and son, and most importantly in this story - lover and lover. Besides, the story takes place in beautiful Italy - what more can you ask for?