★ 08/12/2024

In this richly layered account, Call Me by Your Name author Aciman recalls the loneliness and beauty of coming of age while his family was exiled in Rome. Against a backdrop of rising antisemitism in Egypt (covered in Aciman’s previous memoir, Out of Egypt), the author’s once-prosperous Jewish family fled from their Alexandria mansion in the mid-1960s with only the possessions they could fit in their suitcases. Teenage Aciman, his younger brother, and their deaf mother were installed in a shabby apartment owned by an ill-tempered uncle in a working-class Roman neighborhood: “I wanted the Rome of movies, of grand monuments, of beautiful women turning their heads to smile... but that Rome is nowhere in sight.” While Aciman’s parents argued about the family’s future (his father wanted them to join him in Paris), Aciman retreated to his bedroom with classic literature. Then, after an unencumbered solo bike ride through the city, he gradually began to fall in love with his surroundings. In rapturous prose, Aciman captures the shocks of beauty he experienced (“Like music, it opened a universe of wonderful things, but I couldn’t name a single one,” he writes of smelling bergamot for the first time) during what amounted to a brief interlude on his way to the U.S. His poetic exploration of place and probing of what constitutes a home makes for exquisitely moving reading. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.)

"In rapturous prose, Aciman captures the shocks of beauty he experienced . . . during what amounted to a brief interlude on his way to the U.S. His poetic exploration of place and probing of what constitutes a home makes for exquisitely moving reading." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Fans of André Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name will swoon for this vivid, heartfelt account of the time he spent as a teenager in Rome . . . A standout memoir from a master of emotional nuance who always reminds us to 'look for the human.'" —Jessica Olin, Oprah Daily

★ 2024-06-21
The author ofCall Me by Your Name returns with a lush memoir of a turbulent time spent in Rome during his adolescence.

When Aciman’s family was expelled from Egypt, they were forced to abandon relative security for a life of emotional and financial strain in Italy. The author, his deaf mother, and his younger brother became refugees in the vast city of Rome, where he knew little Italian and even less about how to navigate their newfound poverty—a situation made worse by the tight-fisted financial control imposed by his uncle, a man described as “apistacchio chiuso, a closed pistachio, sealed, impregnable, impossible to pry open—i.e., constipated.” Between his uncle’s verbal reprimands and habit of keeping a close tally on every small expenditure allotted to them, the family had few recourses. Nearly always in the position of the interpreter between his mother and frequently cruel uncle, the young Aciman was thrust into heavy responsibility. As much as possible, he retreated into books, and his education led him to love Rome. In vibrant, emotive prose, Aciman immerses readers in that time and place. In addition to evocative yet uncompromising descriptions of their shoddy apartment off Via Appia Novia—“drab, ill-lit stores everywhere, and so much soot on buildings that time had discolored them. The grandeur of imperial Rome had no place here”—the author also captures the glory of late morning in Piazza di Spagna, where “there were colors everywhere, everything and everyone was beautiful.” Aciman’s recollections of a brief yet memorable period of his adolescence move forward with passion and intensity, rich with imagery and poignant memories. Ultimately, he creates an appealing combination of coming-of-age narrative and profound reflection on the concept of home.

An absorbing exploration of the challenges and slivers of beauty that formed life as a refugee in Rome.