Exhilarating quotes

Cmbyn!

"People who read are hiders. They hide who they are. People who hide don't always like who they are."

In the context of a novel, the text references its self not just the character saying the line, so I think this line is significant to Oliver, because much is made of his poker skills, his cunning ability to "read" other people, his ability to inuit things about others that they probably did not know about themselves.

I think the possibility of being known by Oliver is one of the qualities Elio finds attractive, as Elio is much the opposite, overanalytical, oscliating, unsure of what he wants and what Oliver is thinking, often misreading him.

The Oliver who paradoxically is so "confident" and "knows himself" so immpeccably, which impresses Elio to no end, hides who he really is, it is the explanation to why he is so good at reading others, he would not have known unless he saw it in himself.

The point about Elio and Oliver being in some respects being opposites resonates with the B.C philosopher Heraclitus, who, loosely, saw the world as opposites replacing each other in transformational changes, hence a reference point to the novels title. "Call Me by Your Name" Elio and Oliver, whose names are anagrams of each other.
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"I stopped for a second. If you remember everything, I wanted to say, and if you are really like me, then before you leave tomorrow, or when you're just ready to shut the door of the taxi and have already said goodbye to everyone else and there's not a thing left to say in this life, then, just this once, turn to me, even in jest, or as an afterthought, which would have meant everything to me when we were together, and, as you did back then, look me in the face, hold my gaze, and call me by your name."

This is the ambiguous ending, Oliver has completely transformed into Eilo by this point now and come full circle, so the question is, will he speak?

Also, Elio spends a lot of time describing the way Oliver says, "Later." How it is very brief and a statement one says when they are already out the door. I thought it was very sweet that at the very end of the book Elio wanted most for Oliver to turn and acknowledge him while Oliver was leaving—something he never got before. I think Elio desires so badly to be something Oliver won't leave in the past, hence him wanting Oliver to look back at him as if to say "I haven't forgotten about you."

Adding onto the second quote AGAIN, the ending just broke my heart. After decades of separation, they revisit the summer villa and think about their short time together. Elio thinks about the "Ghost spots". Places and times that are forever marked(or stained?) into his memories.

So much of the story is about pining and longing for something that you have never had. And this quote is about desperately wishing to relive what you have already lost. Elio seems convinced that his side of their romance was real, possibly soul-mate level real. But after all this time he still seems to need the closure that Oliver felt the same, maybe still does.

I can't imagine a love being so powerful that it ruins a part of me. Which of course only make their short time together even more beautiful and universal. Who doesn't wish that they had just one more day with that long lost friend who moved away, a family member that passed before we were old enough to ask them questions that mattered, or a lover that left their heart with us and took ours with them instead?

Elio needs that one small gesture to feel whole. He cannot demand it of Oliver for it to feel genuine, but Elio wants to know that he is loved.