Find Me: A Novel

Not much to be said about this one.. I really didn't like the first half of this book, it's dull and the age difference between Miranda and Sami is crazy surreal, and none of this story feels real. The other half of the book is more acceptable and the main reason why I continue to read this book, it's all about Elio and Oliver, like a proper sequel to "Call me by your name" should have been. There's also something disturbing about the difference of ages in this book, is like the time in life has no meaning for Aciman.
Find Me did not feel like a sequel to Call Me By Your Name at all and the book in general felt so plotless. Even the tone of the book wasn’t the same as the previous book, which felt so beautiful and as if you were in the setting of the book. Like their dialogue, the dalliances of the two couples give off a distinct air of unreality. Samuel and Miranda, and Elio and Michel, are perfect strangers who forge a sudden, fierce intimacy. In Aciman’s world, the ordinary time of seconds and minutes does not apply to the extraordinary out-of-timeness of love, where the newly enamored can feel they’ve known each other forever, and in their transmuted reality, they have. They forget to exchange last names, cell phone numbers. The intensity of their connection disrupts the dailiness of life, bringing to bear past and future, sending lovers into a wistful tailspin. They miss one another while they are still together; for Aciman, desire is right away haunted by the prospect of its loss. Sami asks throughout his affair with Miranda, “Is it too late?” “You’re not a present-tense kind of person,” Miranda tells him.

Call Me By Your Name is a novel that I will hold close to my heart, so when I heard a sequel was getting written, I was hesitant, but excited. As you can see, I was a bit more hesitant, since I’m finally reading the book. After sitting on it, it’s a fine read, a quick one at that, but is just fine. There are some beautifully written passages here, but there are some that are difficult and, in all honestly, cringey to read. As nice as it was to reconnect with these characters, there wasn’t anything that warranted another novel, and this novel certainly wasn’t what you’d expect when it comes to these characters. It does offer some closure, while leaving more questions unanswered, but manages to pull at the heartstrings when it does get good. Overall a bit disappointing, but it was a nice trip down memory lane with these characters.

Katy Waldman of the New Yorker put it best “ The leads in “Call Me by Your Name” were self-conscious and soulful, but they also scanned as sweet and curious; theirs was the insufferability of youth. Their universality, too, formed part of their appeal: precisely drawn, with delicately shaded interactions, the Elio and Oliver of 2007 made for a convincing portrait of first love. That universality has fled from “Find Me,” which feels alternately too vague, too offensive, and too ridiculous to do anything but place one’s empathic imagination on a rack until one surrenders to one’s own contempt.”

I loved “Call Me by Your Name” and found this sequel to be forced, all the characters spontaneously falling in fast, deep love with practical strangers with in a matter of minutes. While there were glimpses of the magic of CMBYN, adulthood doesn’t suit the original characters created, and Aciman forces all of his youthful character into limited boxes of neat, and overly privileged adulthood.

I did not enjoy it as much as Call me by Your Name but it was still a good book!

Its a good book, but I was hoping for more Elio and Oliver...