3.5/5 Call Me By Your Name, where do I begin? Parts of this novel contain absolutely stunning prose. Aciman captures the heaviness that defines some summers; the slow, drawn-out days that seem to bleed into one another only punctuated by a few outlier events. Elio's yearning and attempts at coy ring unbelievably true.

There are a few reasons that I knocked my rating down to a 3.5. The relationship between Oliver and Elio felt very private. I never got a sense of the emotional connection between the two. Based on this, none of the interactions that should have been pivotal felt concrete. This bled into the ending as well. I'm sure Aciman meant to keep us at a distance and taper the ending to convey the sense of unattained potential but I wonder if I would have been more moved by the ending had the relationship between Elio and Oliver been a tad more accessible. But then again, I find it difficult to fault an author when this seems to be their desired effect.

Of course, the last sentence undid most of the negatives for me. I still hold out hope that Oliver will turn around just like Elio hopes.