Find Me

A Novel

By: André Aciman

Narrated by: Michael Stuhlbarg

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

2019 Vogue Magazine Best Books of the Year
2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

"[Narrator Michael Stuhlbarg's] elegant performance and Aciman's sensitive writing keep things touching without ever being sentimental. Wonderful listening." (AudioFile magazine, Earphones Award winner)

This program is read by Michael Stuhlbarg, the actor who played Professor Samuel Perlman in Luca Guadagnino's critically acclaimed film Call Me by Your Name.

A bonus conversation between Michael Stuhlbarg and André Aciman is included at the end of the program.

In this spellbinding exploration of the varieties of love, the author of the worldwide best seller Call Me by Your Name revisits its complex and beguiling characters decades after their first meeting.

No novel in recent memory has spoken more movingly to contemporary listeners about the nature of love than André Aciman’s haunting Call Me by Your Name. First published in 2007, it was hailed as “a love letter, an invocation...an exceptionally beautiful book” (Stacey D’Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review). Nearly three quarters of a million copies have been sold, and the book became a much-loved, Academy Award-winning film starring Timothée Chalamet as the young Elio and Armie Hammer as Oliver, the graduate student with whom he falls in love.

In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami’s plans and changes his life forever.

Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic.

Aciman is a master of sensibility, of the intimate details and the emotional nuances that are the substance of passion. Find Me brings us back inside the magic circle of one of our greatest contemporary romances to ask if, in fact, true love ever dies.

©2019 André Aciman (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Narrator Michael Stuhlbarg's rough, raspy voice lends a whispery intimacy to this sequel to Call Me by Your Name...." (AudioFile Earphone Award)

Good but not great

The narrator/time shift was confusing. The plot does not sound credible enough, but it was entertaining - I wanted to get to the bottom of the story and did not loose interest on the way.

Perfect in every way.

Love. Love. Love! So beautifully written. Equally as wonderful as Call Me By Your Name.
I didn’t want this to end.

Perspectives

I LOVED this book. Once I understood it. I didn’t know that the story was told by Elio and Oliver and Samuel. The perspectives had me a little confused but once i understood what was happening, I got to enjoy it the most. The way André writes isn’t just a love story, it’s told from passion and I absolutely love it.

The sequel I needed.

A gratifying expansion and conclusion to the story established in 'Call Me By Your Name'. A satisfying, immersive and thought-provoking continuation to the beloved novel by André Aciman. After reading it, you will want a sequel to the film based on the first book as soon as possible. A necessary read for all fans of the first book and movie.

Very interesting

Wonderfully written. Love the way André humanizes his characters. Michael has one of the most soothing voices on the planet. Truely enjoyed this book. ❤️

Loved it!!

Thank you Aciman for this beautiful story ❤ It is introspective, sublime and magical.

Give it a chance! Three Separate Stories!

At first I was bored, it took me to get halfway through chapter 2 Cadenza, until I realized the beautiful story that was before me and how it would all loop back to Elio and Oliver. I cried at the end, just as I did in Call me by your name. I truly recommend this book, only if your read the first book or you’ll miss out on many of the references. A tragic love story I can identify with.

Was hoping for more

Ok, like so many I was ready for a further continuation of Call Me By Your Name. Alas, this really isn’t it. The portion of the 200 plus page book devoted to Elio and Oliver is a mere 11 pages, that’s it. Granted I was satisfied with were we left them at this end of this book, but there was so much more than we got, that needed to be delved into. But based on the words of Mr. Aciman, this is it for our heros.
The first two thirds of the book is about Mr Perlman and a much younger he meets on the train. Mr Aciman has relayed how this sort of encounter happened to him and this is more a less of allowing himself to see how it might have played out. If he wanted to do a book about this, he should have just left Elio and Oliver our of it. We learn a bit more about Elio and Oliver’s life apart from one another in the next 2 sections before the final 11 pages.
Michael Stuhlbarg’s reading was nice but it felt odd hearing him reading the thoughts of Elio and Oliver.
I’m glad there was a happy ending of sorts but I’m now left wanting more.

Who's talking now?

In my opinion this sequel to "Call Me by Your Name" was interesting, but not quite so compelling as its antecedent. I enjoyed the story--really, it's stories plural, but my enjoyment was compromised by my frequent inability to know who was talking in any given conversation. I really think that the narrative could have used more than one narrator.

All in all, some who enjoyed the first book will like this one, others will not. I thought it was okay, and I don't feel that I wasted my time listening to it.

Heart wrenching, emotional...

This story is not a linear continuation of "Call Me By Your Name". It is written with the same lyrical tone and is an examination of the paths we take...what is expected of us versus what makes us truly happy. The characters are connected by a sort of longing to live a life other than the one they are living. Relatable and heartbreaking story. The narration was superb!