Call Me By Your Name / André Aciman

Call Me By Your Name is the 2007 debut novel from André Aciman, an Egyptian-born writer known for his memoir, Out of Africa. Aciman is also a renowned Proust scholar, and the Proustian remembrance of things past infuses all of Call Me By Your Name. The prose is elaborate, rich and decorated, and told with complex syntax, elevated diction, and exquisite figurative language. The book is the story of Elio's first love, written in first-person and narrated by a much older Elio looking back on his past.

Plot
Elio is a 17-year-old Italian boy whose used to the graduate students who come to his villa every summer to help his father with his research. But nothing prepares Elio for the arrival of an American named Oliver. The two form a quick friendship, which moves swiftly through flirting and into something more. Like all summer loves, though, this one is fated to fail, and the end of the book follows a much older Elio as he meets up again, for the first time in years, with Oliver.

Relevance
Since the book's main focus is the relationship between the two male main characters, obviously the entire book is relevant to GLBT audiences. That said, though, the actual sexuality of the characters is virtually a non-issue for most of the book; that is, for most of the novel, this could be a male/female pairing to much the same effect. Nevertheless, the book does touch upon some sexuality-related issues, such as the relationship between parents and gay children, and Elio does go through some introspection regarding his own sexuality. But the main focus here is the relationship between Elio and Oliver, and that's just about as gay as it gets.