3.5-Star Review: Find Me by André Aciman
Jul. 21st, 2025 09:11 pmReading Find Me felt like standing in a familiar landscape after a long absence — the light is the same, the shadows fall in roughly the same places, but something’s shifted. The ache is still there. So is the beauty. But the rhythm has changed.
This sequel to Call Me By Your Name isn’t quite what I expected. Rather than simply picking up Elio and Oliver’s story, it’s divided into four movements, spanning decades and perspectives, beginning with Elio’s father, Samuel. The prose is unmistakably Aciman’s, languid, philosophical, intimate, but the emotional centre feels more diffuse this time.
The first section, “Tempo,” is where I struggled most. Sam’s whirlwind romance didn’t resonate with the same depth or poignancy I found in CMBYN. It’s wistful, yes - full of longing and sudden intensity but it didn’t quite earn my attachment.
And yet, there were moments when the writing shimmered. Elio’s section, especially, brought back that familiar melancholy and introspection. And Oliver, always a little unknowable, returns with his own weight of memory and yearning. There’s something undeniably moving about the quiet gravity of their final section, even if it doesn’t land with the same ache.
Find Me is more abstract than its predecessor. More meditative. It plays with time and memory and the lives we might have lived. It’s about second chances, and also about never quite escaping the pull of a single summer. For me, it didn’t fully recapture the magic of Call Me By Your Name - but it did offer a soft echo of it. And sometimes, an echo is enough.
Favourite quote:
"People never talk about the almost moment. Yet it’s the almost moment that gets you in the end."
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5 stars)
A quiet, longing sequel — imperfect but reflective. Best read with soft music, a slow heart, and the memory of peaches still in reach.