Find Me

Literary fiction

First published: 2019
Print length: 260 pagesFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019

Description

Across four sections, the novel follows Samuel Perlman, his son Elio, and Oliver, changing perspective and narrative voice from one section to the next. Samuel is traveling by train from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. During the journey, Samuel meets Miranda by chance. The encounter disrupts his plans and changes his life. From that turning point, the book broadens its focus through the perspectives of its central characters, using its four-part design to present their connected stories through distinct viewpoints.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Essayistic · Lyrical

Pace

Measured

Tone

Intimate · Reflective · Romantic · Wistful

Structure

Braided · Episodic

Focus

Character · Relationships · Voice

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 4 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 4 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

AgingFamilyIdentityLoveMemorySexuality

About André Aciman

André Aciman is an Italian-American writer and professor whose fiction concentrates on desire as it is examined, postponed, and revised in memory. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he teaches literary theory and Proust at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a background that accords with his interest in retrospective narration and the mind’s scrutiny of its own motives. His prose is dense and lyrical, often staying close to a character’s shifting interpretations of gestures, silences, and possible meanings. In Call Me by Your Name, the outward action of a summer romance in northern Italy is filtered through Elio’s searching voice, so that swimming, reading, music, and travel acquire momentum from hesitation and obsessive attention. Find Me broadens that intimate method through a four-part structure, moving among Samuel, Elio, and Oliver in distinct voices. Chance encounters and changes of perspective allow Aciman to revisit attachment across time, while his pacing favors reflection over incident and emotional uncertainty over clean resolution.

Call Me By Your Name Apple Books

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English
ISBN: 9780374155018

Keep your books and notes in Collected for iPhone.

Apple Books is a service mark of Apple Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.