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Post by Simone on Oct 24, 2019 11:40:41 GMT -8
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Post by Teenca on Oct 25, 2019 10:24:45 GMT -8
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Post by Simone on Oct 29, 2019 6:29:26 GMT -8
GQ interview with André -
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Post by Teenca on Oct 29, 2019 9:41:41 GMT -8
Big day, I'm sure you are ready to get your copy of Find me and read it!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2019 8:10:15 GMT -8
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 9:39:45 GMT -8
I did not expect "Find Me" to rival CMBYN, but i was completely unprepared for the pedestrian quality of the writing, the preposterous story lines and the short shrift made of Elio/Oliver. "Disappointed" does not do justice to the travesty of "Find Me"!
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Post by tracyrcat on Nov 2, 2019 10:48:10 GMT -8
MAJOR SPOILERS, SO IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT FIND ME, DO NOT CONTINUE READING!!
I finished Find Me and definitely am disappointed. I am one of the readers who didn't love it but I wouldn't say I hated it either. But it wasn't what I expected and I have heard Andre say Find Me is not a sequel to CMBYN, but was inspired by it. I have a hard time believing that Andre wouldn't realize this adaption would be a disappointment to many. I get it is his story, his characters and he can do what he likes, but I wish he would have focused on the last section (or their journey to getting to the last section), where Elio and Oliver are now together, rather than so much on Samuels' background.
I agree with @operafan as well, the writing is definitely not as good as in CMBYN. It is a super simple read and doesn't take long to get through the 260 pages.
Some observations:
Section 1: Samuel and Miranda. I didn't mind having some backstory for Samuel (this takes place 10 years later and he is divorced) but this went on wayyyy too long, almost half the book! And not sure I bought it. I mean they meet and within 24 hours, they are madly in love and Miranda is willing to give up her life and jump head over heals into a relationship with Samuel, moving in with him. At the end, Elio finally shows up but there is not much time between him and Samuel. Most of the time all 3 spend together, where I wanted more time with just father and son. More intimate conversations between them not with this new character Miranda being included in "their" short time together.
Section 2: Elio and Michel. I did like this section (takes place 15 years later), for the most part. I really did like Elio and Michel's relationship. But I couldn't help but feel bad for Michel as I knew this was short-lived and Michel knows it. Elio was his true love, but he was Elio's #2 and Michel knew that. I think it went on a bit long too. The whole "Leon" storyline dragged on for me.
Section 3: Oliver. FINALLY, Oliver shows up! It literally takes 215 pages to get to Oliver which I found absolutely ridiculous. I liked this section, as it was 20 years later, and we did finally get to hear some of Oliver's feelings/thoughts but it was too short. Oliver makes the decision to go to Italy and see if there is a chance with Elio. But I felt there could have been so much more to show of what Oliver has been going through all these years, but we got just a little slice of it at the 20 year mark.
Section 4: Elio and Oliver together. This is a great section but good lord, it is only 10 pages, 10 pages!!! They are already together, Oliver has moved to Italy and is about to start a new job. They are living with Annella and Miranda and little Oliver. I mean I guess since Annella has dementia, she doesn't know, but I found that quite strange actually. I do love the interaction with Elio and Oliver but I HATED the fact we got so little. So basically, you have the end of the CMBYN book where Oliver has flown to Italy to see Elio (which falls after section 3 of Find Me). Than section 4 of Find Me, where they are now together. What about all that goes on in between?? That is what I really wanted to read about and we got NOTHING. How could Andre skip over that entire time frame? Major disappointment.
Anyways, I did enjoy some of Find Me but very disappointed we literally got more storyline of Samuel and 2 new characters than we did of Oliver. And even in regards to Elio, his section focused on a 3 week period of his life when he was 32. So we didn't get much backstory of Elio or Oliver. And then nothing on how they eventually got back together - Oliver telling his wife/kids, divorcing, conversations with Elio, leaving his life in the US and going to Italy, them getting to know Miranda or first meeting Oliver Jr. Just soooooooooooooo much left unexplored.
Is Andre writing a 3rd book to more explore what I mentioned was missing or is this it? And no way Luca could have a sequel based on this book. He would have to do major changes. Can you imagine those who have seen CMBYN going into a movie theatre, so excited to see Find Me, and sitting there for almost 50% of the movie and still no Elio or Oliver. And no Oliver until near the end of the book. Fans would not be happy about that.
Well I am done, said my peace, LOL. I am seeing Andre tomorrow so VERY curious to hear him talk about Find Me and his motivations for going in the direction he did.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2019 12:08:43 GMT -8
SPOILER ALERT
What's missing can be partially supplied by earlier Aciman books:
"First Love", the first story in Enigma Variations, clearly explores Elio's questions raised by Samuel's monologue in CMBYN: "On my way upstairs I vowed to ask him about his life. We'd all heard about his women when he was young, but I'd never even had an inkling of anything else. Was my father someone else? And if he was someone else, who was I?" (p.225, hard cover edition)
SPOILER ALERT
"Out of Egypt" sheds more light (Lighthouse puns notwithstanding!) on why Alexandria becomes a "honeymoon" destination for Elio and Oliver in Find Me. It's a beautifully written semi-autobiographical work and deserves a place on the bookshelf next to CMBYN.
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Post by Simone on Nov 2, 2019 16:14:47 GMT -8
Thanks for your feedback Tracy. I'm sorry you're disappointed in Find Me, as I suspect many others will be too. I very much look forward to André's book signing tomorrow and hearing him. I'll read the last 40 or so pages for closure. I can honestly say that never in my life I have skipped through chapters of a book to get to the end of what I want to read, other than academic books where per the class syllabus, we only needed to read 75% of the book for that course.
It's my hopes that most people just accept what Aciman gave us and move on. These are the characters he gave birth to, and it's his decision to write them the way it pleases him. I long suspected that a sequel film will not be made, and Find Me confirms it. To be persistent in squeezing out a film from Find Me would be a true money grab, and taking extreme creative liberties just to give a segment of the fandom more eye candy of Elio/Timothée and Oliver/Armie on the big screen. It's obvious that is not what André wants to repeat again.
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Post by tracyrcat on Nov 2, 2019 16:53:25 GMT -8
There are some on the FB page who love it. Maybe it depends on what expectations one had. I have seen where some are reading section 4 first and are just happy for the happy ending. I am glad I read it though. There were some parts that I did really like/love. So as I mentioned, I am not one of those who hated it. And no ill will towards Andre. It is his book, his characters, he can do as he pleases and obviously wanted to go in a different direction. Curious to hear what he says tomorrow. He seems a very nice man and I am so glad he gave us CMBYN and Elio and Oliver.
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Post by Simone on Nov 3, 2019 19:15:36 GMT -8
André Aciman is a really lovely man. My respect for him went up two-fold after the book signing Q&A. The bold question was asked of him about "the sequel" film because some people really needed a definitive answer from the man himself. Tracy recorded his response, but in the a nutshell, he said that no one is talking about it, it's not in pre-production, and everyone is very busy with other projects. Plus, he said he went into writing Find Me to deflect the focus off of Elio and Oliver because he felt Sam's story had a story that needed to be told based on a real life interaction André had with a stranger on a train. His response drew applause and it appears that most people are simply content with the CMBYN movie and the Find Me book.
I got a seat in the front row because I wasn't going to stay for the personalize book signing. Thank God I was able to get a pre-signed copy so that I could dash out. But as we were leaving, I did get the chance to shake André's hand and talk to him for a second (see tweet below):
It was really great to meet the author of a beloved book that gave life to a beautiful film, which introduced us to the glorious Timothée. I'll forever be grateful to him for this.
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Post by Teenca on Nov 4, 2019 8:10:44 GMT -8
He is funny and smart, and I am curious about his thoughts more deeply as for some relatively short interviews can enlighten them, that is the reason why I've ordered his books (novels, essays, etc.).
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Post by Simone on Nov 4, 2019 8:14:30 GMT -8
He's tiny too. I'm short and I was about 2 inches taller than him. He's adorable and brilliant.
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Post by tracyrcat on Nov 4, 2019 16:29:20 GMT -8
I am so glad I got to listen to Andre speak and also meet him afterwards. He was very insightful, funny and it was a great time. I was thinking of asking him why he didn't explore Elio and Oliver more, between the last section of CMBYN, where Oliver flies to Italy and sees Elio and then the end of Find Me, where they are suddenly together. I felt (and others too) that there was so much to explore between those time periods that was not. I ended up not asking him as I don't really think he would have had an answer. For him to write, he has to feel it and know where he is going with it. He mentioned trying to write a sequel where Elio was around 25 but it was boring and a disaster. So there is no point in forcing it when it just isn't there. A group of us stayed afterwards to meet him and it took a while. He ended up talking to everyone and signed multiple books and even took pics, which surprised me. What a lovely and sweet man he is. /photo/1
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Post by Simone on Nov 7, 2019 10:25:10 GMT -8
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