Staff Reviews

André Aciman is a brilliant storyteller and in Find Me, an unexpected encounter on a train drew me easily back into the world of Call Me by Your Name. (Who doesn't love a chance encounter on a train? Only the most hard-hearted among us.) More than a decade has gone by, and snapshots first of Samuel's life then of Elio and Oliver's create the book's structure. The strength of Aciman's writing is his ability to create such an intimacy between his reader and his characters that we are perfectly able to fill in the blanks ourselves as the years pass. The theme of regret hovers over the narrative, along with the question of what, exactly, is a life well-lived? As I read about Samuel's yearning and ultimate second chance, always in the back of my mind were Elio and Oliver and the path they hadn't taken and the words they had chosen not to speak. Would they get their second chance? Well, Find Me is a love story above all else, with an ending that is quietly beautiful. The journey to get there, however, proves as emotionally charged as the very best fiction should be.