The author of Call Me by Your Name returns with a deeply romantic memoir of his time in Rome while on the cusp of adulthood. In this unique event, André Aciman discusses his new book with author and book reviewer Bill Goldstein.
In Roman Year, André Aciman captures the period of his adolescence that began when he and his family first set foot in Rome after being expelled from Egypt. Though Aciman’s family had been well-off in Alexandria, all vestiges of their status vanished when they fled and the author, his younger brother, and their deaf mother moved into a rented apartment on Rome’s unfashionable Via Clelia. Though dejected, Aciman’s mother and brother found their way into life in Rome, while Aciman, still unmoored, burrowed into his bedroom to read one book after another. The world of novels eventually allowed him to open up to the Eternal City and discover its beating heart.
Aciman’s time in Rome did not last long before he and his family moved across the ocean to the United States, but by the time they did, he was leaving behind a place he loved. In this memoir, the author—“the poet of the city” (Wendy Lesser, The New York Times Book Review)—conjures the sights, smells, tastes, and people of Rome as only he can. Aciman captures, as if in amber, a living portrait of himself on the brink of adulthood and of the city he came to adore. Roman Year is a treasure, revealed by one of our greatest prose stylists.