I just returned from the public library and re-checked out a book I had checked out a few weeks ago. It's Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman. I'd read about it at
Band of Thebes and it sounded interesting. I like Proust. Aciman is a Proust scholar. His novel is very Proustian.
(that's a lot of Proust for one post)
Anyway, I read a few chapters before having to return it. My two week allotment was up and I hadn't finished it. It's hard for me to read when reading is kind of my job.
Of course, I skimmed through it and read all of the dirty bits before I dropped it back in the slot.
I'm no fool.
But even the dirty bits are kind of Proustian. That's not a complaint, just a comment.
But I'm giving it a try again.
It's actually beautifully written, but a bit tough going at times, and sad in general.
It's about a young man and the affair he has with an older (24 or so) man, a guest of his parents'. It's set in the Italian Riviera sometime (I like to imagine) in the 80's. I'm not sure why.
Lord knows I can totally relate.
I know I spent many a summer on the Italian Riviera flirting with handsome literary types in their 20s. (In my mind)
1 comment:
I'm reading this right now too. Sometimes I find it difficult to keep up with who is saying what to whom... the whole thrust of a conversation can change- it makes you pay attention.
With everything seen (in retrospect) through the eyes of a 17-18 year-old in the 80's (I agree completely), the author accurately captures all of the crazy, illogical and disjointed flight of ideas and emotions that surface as a relationship unfolds, is consummated and... well, I'm not far enough yet to know what happens next... but I'm afraid I know too well.
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