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Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
2017 | Drama, Romance
The pace is supposed to feel languid like the summer vacation they are having. (11 more)
The characters are developed early on, like Oliver's knowledge of etymology that would be a cliché of the "protagonist as genius" had it not been a simply test.
Elio's name comes from 'helios' or sun and fits his personality in the sense that he is generous with his time, brilliant by definition of his current state of youth in mind and body, and he is restless in love.
The peach scene is heartbreaking.
The fireplace is a cinematographic style we don't see a lot as an Ameeican audience, where the camera stays in one place and we look through Elios for a long time. It should feel discomforting.
Elios' girl approaches him first even though she recognizes he used her and even when she said she was most afraid of getting hurt. She tells him she's sorry to see him sad, that she loves him, and then extends her hand for a reconciliation.
Elios takes her hand only when she promises her friendship is forever. So while romance is fleeting and he has the courage to proceed, he cannot give up the commitment of duration as prerequisite in a friendship.
The flies throughout the movie feel natural to the countryside but can also signify the attraction to: the sweetness of fruit, the rotting of fruit, and the indiscriminatory chances that warmth gives to living things.
These flies deserve an additional block for their amount of screentime, a motif of desire that obstructs the viewer's sight and buzzes us into a haze. We are, unbeknownst to ourselves, directed towards empathy for the characters.
Romance should be prolonged. Teased until it hits a climax and cannot be resisted anymore. Elio and everyone else hits a note of ecstasy once Oliver gives into the beauty of a body.
It's amazing how this story is founded on and driven by the conversations between Greek philosophy and Roman conquests. The Greeks thought sculpture could answer their question about knowledge/beauty.
Romance, because it ends, remains so good, nostalgic, and desirable.
Summer love
  
Wedding Cake Crumble
Wedding Cake Crumble
Jenn McKinlay | 2018 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder Doesn’t Stop for a Wedding
It is one week until Angie and Tate’s wedding, and Mel, as maid of honor, has joined Angie in running errands to various venders to make payments. A stop at the photographer turns up a nasty surprise – his dead body in his office. Mel’s Uncle Stan, a homicide detective, quickly makes a connection to another murder, that of Angie and Tate’s limo driver. Is someone out to sabotage the wedding? Will any of them be the next target?

This book is a pure delight for fans. The wedding does take over a bit in the second half, but I didn’t mind in the slightest. We’ve been waiting a lot of books for this moment. And that’s not to say we don’t get a good mystery with some interesting twists. The new characters are good, but the series regulars shine with their own sub-plots. This book also has some great laughs.
  
CC
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mel’s college roommate has finally come to collect on a favor that Mel owes her, and Diane wants Mel to deliver break up cupcakes to her ex-fiance. However, the delivery doesn’t go as planned when Mel finds Mike’s body. With the police looking at Diane as the killer, suddenly Mel finds herself with a new favor – keep Diane out of prison.

Who can you not love a book that starts out with break up cupcakes? The story that follows delivers on the promise with plenty of viable suspects and some good twists. I did feel Mel was foolish at the end of the book, but that was my only complaint. All the usual supporting characters are here, and they are their usual charming selves. I just love them! And there is one scene guaranteed to melt your heart.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/04/book-review-caramel-crush-by-jenn.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.