In reading this book so soon after seeing the movie, it was enviable that I ended up comparing them. The book is less chronological, and less tightly plotted than the film. But whereas the film offers the viewer the exterior of Elio, the book offers an intimate internal portrait. The changing whims of his moods are the main character here, and his relationship with his own sexuality as central, or equally central, as his relationship with Oliver. The beauty of the scenery from the film is lost, but it is made up for by the beauty of the language. In the end, I didn't think the book or the film was better. I came to see them instead as companions.