tuesday.

[sunfright]

I could write a lot about how it went at my parents' and probably will later this week, but this entry is mostly to squee about the amazing book haul I got for X-mas. K. had bought me three books, 2 new ones, Manon Lescaut and a Danish translation of Sylvie Bocqui's Ce Genre de Fille which I'm really looking forward to reading, but she also gave me a used copy (since she couldn't get a new one home in time) of André Aciman's Enigma Variations and that one was - naturally - the first one I grabbed, the next morning.

And that is what this entry will be about. Because have I read the whole book now? No. But I've read the first vignette and it was so utterly perfect, in some ways better than CMBYN even, although I do miss Elio's narrative voice, that I'm holding off reading the rest because 1) my favourite character is, if I know Aciman's style right, not going to feature any more throughout the other four chapters or only getting small references and 2) it's Paul's story and Paul just doesn't interest me that much. That was what I meant by missing Elio's narrative voice. Elio was engaging as a narrator, he was sympathetic and Paul is just... not.


The first chapter, called "First Love", is about Paul as a twelve year old, I believe he might be at his most sympathetic here, and his infatuation with the cabinetmaker working for his family the last summer they visit their summer house in the town of San Giustiniano. The character of Giovanni, the cabinetmaker, is - like Michel in Find Me - the true selling point of the story and I would love to see someone make a movie about this particular chapter. Just this one. I don't care about the rest yet.

Sure, I'll read the rest of the book eventually, but for now, let me quietly obsess over the doomed romance between Paul's father and Giovanni, the elegant little details and heart-wrenching ending of their relationship, first seen through Paul's twelve year old eyes and later, through the adult eyes that understand, accept and recognize more things upon a return to the town where it all started and ended.

Style-wise, "First Love", reminds me of a stepping stone between the summer tale of Call Me By Your Name, with its recognisable Italian setting, and the vignette-structure of Find Me and subject-wise, it's also a bridge between the two, working with the father themes of Find Me, while also straddling the childhood innocence that's part of CMBYN, too. The language is recognisably Aciman, though I think "First Love" is more well-written than Find Me and maybe not quite as flowy as CMBYN, it's been a while since I reread that, so can't say for sure. It's a nice cross, anyway, and I enjoyed it very much. The vignette structure that he's constructed the whole book around is also very Find Me. Without having read the rest, though, I think I can safely say it's already better structured here than in that one.

"First Love" in itself is a riveting tale and the characters are subtly characterized, described and used, not as plot devices but as whole beings. Even the things you aren't told about them and will never know for sure after the last page has been turned, you can imagine and you want to know. I can already now say I'll no doubt be writing fanfic for this. I mean, I've already made an RP account for Giovanni. The cabinetmaker.

That's how sold I was.