“Leaning out into the evening air, I knew that this might never be given to us again, and yet I couldn't bring… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“In a few days he'd be gone. If only he'd be back exactly a year from now.” — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Fire like fear, like panic, like one more minute of this and I'll die if he doesn't knock at my door, but… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Fear not. It will come. At least I hope it does. And when you least expect it. Nature has cunning ways of… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“ I don't care to remember —like I know myself —hinted at a realm of human experience only others had access to,… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“What had been in my head for so long would now be out in the real world, no longer afloat in my… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“What does this say about the life you've lived, then?' 'Part of it— just part of it —was a coma, but I… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying?' 'Ye-es.' Now that I had spilled the beans I could take on the… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“The thought washed over me like water on a flower shop window, like a soothing, cool lotion after you've showered and spent… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“We may never speak about this again. But I hope you’ll never hold it against me that we did. I will have… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I’m not wise at all. I told you, I know nothing. I know books, and I know how to string words together—it… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Looking at him now from the balustrade, I felt something so tender for him that it reminded me how eagerly I had… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I could never think of him in New England. When I lived in New England for a while and was separated from… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“We were too close, I thought, I'd never been so close to him except in a dream or when he cupped his… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“If I put my foot on the floor and pretend that his is just behind the leg of the table, will that… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I was happy that the room would revert to me. In my/his room, it would be easier to remember our nights. No,… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“But I also knew that I was circling wagons around my life with try again later s, and that months, seasons, entire… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“It was just that I was hoping we'd go together.' 'You mean like the other day?' he added, as though to help… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Finally his voice came through. 'Elio,' he said. I could hear my parents and the voices of children in the background. No… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“And on that evening when we grow older still we'll speak about these two young men as though they were two strangers… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“But this thing that almost never was still beckons, I wanted to tell him. They can never undo it, never unwrite it,… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Well, since you're not going to do anything with me—can you at least read me a story? I'd settle for that. I… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“All these years, whenever I thought of him, I'd think either of B. or of our last days in Rome, the whole… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“In years to come, if the book was still in his possession, I wanted him to ache. Better yet, I wanted someone… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Two words from him, and I had seen my pouting apathy change into I’ll play anything for you till you ask me… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“As I tried to doze, the incident on the piazzetta, lost somewhere amid the Piave war memorial and our ride up the… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“But all of these hours were strained by fear, as if fear were a brooding specter, or a strange, lost bird trapped… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I look back on those days and regret none of it, not the risks, not the shame, not the total lack of… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“You never did forgive me, did you?' 'Forgive? There was nothing to forgive. If anything, I'm grateful for everything. I remember good… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I wish I could be with you all,' I responded, getting all worked up myself over someone I had almost entirely stopped… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“The look on his face became like the tiny snapshot of a beloved that soldiers take with them to the battlefield, not… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“This felt special. Like showing someone your private chapel, your secret haunt, the place where, as with the berm, one comes to… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Seeing him and thinking he'd join us for dinner tonight only to hear his peremptory Esco taught me there are certain wishes… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“He is right, there is no denying it,' said my father under his breath, as though mimicking the part of a cowered… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“And yet another part of me knew that if he showed up tonight and I disliked the start of whatever was in… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“He kissed me on the mouth, but it wasn't the kiss after the Pasquino, when he'd pressed me hard against the wall… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Intelligent? He was more than intelligent. What you two had had everything and nothing to do with intelligence. He was good, and… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Oliver was Oliver,' I said, as if that summed things up. 'Parce que c'était lui, parce que c'était moi,' my father added,… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“Never in my life had I been so happy. Nothing could go wrong, everything was happening my way, all the doors were… — André Aciman Copy Share Image
“I want Billowy too. And the espadrilles. And the sunglasses. And you.” — André Aciman Copy Share Image
