Find Me by André Aciman

This is the very book that completes my 2019 Reading Challenge on Goodreads website. Of course, my challenge this year was set on a realistic assumption in mind that I would have to be able to finish it before the year ends. 15 books is not an impressive number compared to those of my friends: 40, 50, 60 and so on. Nevertheless, even with this minute number of books read this year, I gain the satisfaction of being able to complete my goal, especially with this book.

But let not dwell on the subject that the article’s name doesn’t promise us, instead, let’s dive into the world of Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name once more.

On a train heading for Rome, a professor would meet a young woman who would later disrupt the normality of his dull life. In a church where chamber music was played, a young pianist would greet love again after a long time. Across the Atlantic, a man would yearn for something he left behind while ago.

After we were left devastatingly heart-broken of an unsuccessful love of Elio and Oliver, Aciman comes back this year with a remedy (or is it?) to our heartache. The story follows the love lives of three main characters, Samuel (Elio’s father), Elio, and Oliver. The book is divided into 4 parts accordingly to each character and a final chapter. These parts are also beautifully named, Tempo, Cadenza, Capriccio, and De Capo.

I will try my best not to spoil anything here. The recurring theme in this work, as far as I’m concerned, is about the wrong path we’ve gone along for a long time, perhaps for half of our lives, and how we are able to know that we are in the wrong and have the courage to stray from this path to the right one, the one our heart yearns for. To know oneself is hard, but to know oneself and be true to it is harder.

Yes, Find Me is a sequel to Call Me By Your Name, but it’s much more than a sequel.

The work ventures into life and mind of a middle-aged professor whose past love is without passion, a young pianist with an unforgettable first love memory, and an American professor who abandoned the love he had to what he once deemed more stable. Aciman’s translation of their feeling into words is so masterful and beautiful. His prose is like a confession where thoughts and feelings are bare to the bone.

It’s a wonderful reading, no doubt about it. If you love Call Me By Your Name, you have to read it. And if you love to read a good book, you should give it a try.