oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Five stars? Hello? Are you MAD?, 08 Dec 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame our lives.

It is a chin-stroking, introspective dissertation on the nature of reading and objectivity. Life is too short!

Clever, but one for the post-modernists, 07 Nov 2007
I bought this book having seen it mentioned in various lists for 'Greatest Books of the 20th Century'. If you are a fan of the post-modernist novel then this should please you as it plays with the structure of the novel and with ideas of literary conventions in a very smart way. Calvino was clearly ahead of his time because authors like Peter Carey have clearly borrowed the convention in books examining the act of writing books. If you are a real literary 'nut' or member of the post-modernist cognoscenti then you should enjoy the way that the book leads you along various twists and turns, forensically examining the nature of writing and the fallacy of the novel.

I personally found the book to be a little too clever and I never felt drawn into the self-referential world that is created by the central quest of the book. I greatly admire the intellectual trapeze act, but was left feeling a little cold.

the pleasure of reading, 27 Jul 2007
I've never read a book like this one... A story about books, authors, readers and about the pleasure of reading. We follow the adventures of a reader that is searching for a book that starts but which is abruptly interrupted. Who is this person? I think it is me, each time I pickup a new book...

No one with a passion for reading will be indifferent to this one.

Strange but beautifuly strange, 21 Apr 2007
WOW what a strange book!
I mean, have you ever thought about how huge your reading passion is? To be honest I didn't. Of course I love to read and on question "Without what you can imagine your life?" my answer always includes books but what would you do (not in literally of course) to find your missing book and to heal your reading fever? I'm not sure I ever felt that agonizing reading fever - until now. I know sounds silly but let me explain:

Of course when you enjoy enormously in book you're reading you'll finish it in one swallow and maybe (probably) reread some of its parts or entire book; maybe you'll copy some quote in your special notebook and memorize them etc. and that is I guess normal destiny after meeting right book with right reader. But imagine this situation: You're reading one of the best books you've ever read and you're aware of that fact so you're eating, drinking, breathing pages, one after another; film is rolling in your mind, you thinking about surprise on the next page and you're running to see what is behind the corner and then ... nothing... blank wall, no streets, no cars, no people, no nothing ... blank page.... OK maybe this is printing error, maybe after that blank page the story will continue ... imagine that state of mind: no rereading, no quotes, no following of your new friends destiny. You're feeling cheated. Isn't that horrible? Oh it is, it is...
And this book is about that sudden emptiness you're feeling and that desperate search to find next page. And yes, the main character is "You" (dear reader), and yes precisely you are feeling tachycardia and yes your blood pressure is rising in that dark, surreal chase ... for a book (imagine this!)

This postmodern novel is some sort of reader's nightmare, always in search for your book or women (or both), or feeling writer's agony. This book is from time to time dark, totally surrealistic, and breathtakingly inventive. Did I mention that "You" are the main protagonist?

With its 260 pages some might think it's easy, light read but no, not easy read at all; sometimes you just need to rest a little bit to digest all what you eat so far (and it's a quite menu), this book is for savoring, for letting each sentence to melt slowly on your tongue. Or that is case with me who doesn't read several novels in the same time. However for some of you who practice that, reading this book will be, most likely, different experience.

Here I'd like to include one quote I like very much:

"Reading is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead...
... Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible. Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be"

possibly one of calvino's best, 01 Apr 2007
If you're looking for a nice easy introduction to Italo Calvino's work, this probably isn't the one for you.
However, if you've already read a couple of his books (I'd recommend Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo as excellent starting points) this one is sure to confirm your positive opinion of him.
The idea of the story is that an anonymous reader has just bought a book, and we, as a reader of If on a Winter's Night, follow this reader in his quest to read the book. And a quest it is. Each time he tries to start the book there is a problem: Chapter One isn't followed by Chapter 2 of the same book due to a printing error. Then the next book has the same cover but the text isn't from the same book. The intrepid reader (accompanied by us) goes on an increasingly bizarre search to try and finish at least one of the myriad of books that he has started.
The amazing thing with this book is that each part of the book that the reader starts is of a completely different genre: thriller to mystical to psychological, and Calvino does every genre with a skill that, I believe, is hard to beat.
I finished this book and was simply in awe of the man - his intellect, his skill, his humour and the beauty of his writing.
I can't recommend this book enough.

oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Five stars? Hello? Are you MAD?, 08 Dec 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame our lives.

It is a chin-stroking, introspective dissertation on the nature of reading and objectivity. Life is too short!

Clever, but one for the post-modernists, 07 Nov 2007
I bought this book having seen it mentioned in various lists for 'Greatest Books of the 20th Century'. If you are a fan of the post-modernist novel then this should please you as it plays with the structure of the novel and with ideas of literary conventions in a very smart way. Calvino was clearly ahead of his time because authors like Peter Carey have clearly borrowed the convention in books examining the act of writing books. If you are a real literary 'nut' or member of the post-modernist cognoscenti then you should enjoy the way that the book leads you along various twists and turns, forensically examining the nature of writing and the fallacy of the novel.

I personally found the book to be a little too clever and I never felt drawn into the self-referential world that is created by the central quest of the book. I greatly admire the intellectual trapeze act, but was left feeling a little cold.

the pleasure of reading, 27 Jul 2007
I've never read a book like this one... A story about books, authors, readers and about the pleasure of reading. We follow the adventures of a reader that is searching for a book that starts but which is abruptly interrupted. Who is this person? I think it is me, each time I pickup a new book...

No one with a passion for reading will be indifferent to this one.

Strange but beautifuly strange, 21 Apr 2007
WOW what a strange book!
I mean, have you ever thought about how huge your reading passion is? To be honest I didn't. Of course I love to read and on question "Without what you can imagine your life?" my answer always includes books but what would you do (not in literally of course) to find your missing book and to heal your reading fever? I'm not sure I ever felt that agonizing reading fever - until now. I know sounds silly but let me explain:

Of course when you enjoy enormously in book you're reading you'll finish it in one swallow and maybe (probably) reread some of its parts or entire book; maybe you'll copy some quote in your special notebook and memorize them etc. and that is I guess normal destiny after meeting right book with right reader. But imagine this situation: You're reading one of the best books you've ever read and you're aware of that fact so you're eating, drinking, breathing pages, one after another; film is rolling in your mind, you thinking about surprise on the next page and you're running to see what is behind the corner and then ... nothing... blank wall, no streets, no cars, no people, no nothing ... blank page.... OK maybe this is printing error, maybe after that blank page the story will continue ... imagine that state of mind: no rereading, no quotes, no following of your new friends destiny. You're feeling cheated. Isn't that horrible? Oh it is, it is...
And this book is about that sudden emptiness you're feeling and that desperate search to find next page. And yes, the main character is "You" (dear reader), and yes precisely you are feeling tachycardia and yes your blood pressure is rising in that dark, surreal chase ... for a book (imagine this!)

This postmodern novel is some sort of reader's nightmare, always in search for your book or women (or both), or feeling writer's agony. This book is from time to time dark, totally surrealistic, and breathtakingly inventive. Did I mention that "You" are the main protagonist?

With its 260 pages some might think it's easy, light read but no, not easy read at all; sometimes you just need to rest a little bit to digest all what you eat so far (and it's a quite menu), this book is for savoring, for letting each sentence to melt slowly on your tongue. Or that is case with me who doesn't read several novels in the same time. However for some of you who practice that, reading this book will be, most likely, different experience.

Here I'd like to include one quote I like very much:

"Reading is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead...
... Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible. Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be"

possibly one of calvino's best, 01 Apr 2007
If you're looking for a nice easy introduction to Italo Calvino's work, this probably isn't the one for you.
However, if you've already read a couple of his books (I'd recommend Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo as excellent starting points) this one is sure to confirm your positive opinion of him.
The idea of the story is that an anonymous reader has just bought a book, and we, as a reader of If on a Winter's Night, follow this reader in his quest to read the book. And a quest it is. Each time he tries to start the book there is a problem: Chapter One isn't followed by Chapter 2 of the same book due to a printing error. Then the next book has the same cover but the text isn't from the same book. The intrepid reader (accompanied by us) goes on an increasingly bizarre search to try and finish at least one of the myriad of books that he has started.
The amazing thing with this book is that each part of the book that the reader starts is of a completely different genre: thriller to mystical to psychological, and Calvino does every genre with a skill that, I believe, is hard to beat.
I finished this book and was simply in awe of the man - his intellect, his skill, his humour and the beauty of his writing.
I can't recommend this book enough.

A fine fantasy, 21 Oct 2008
Jonathan Black mentions Italo Calvino as one of those many modern writers who have followed mystical and esoteric philosophy (The Secret History of the World) and this is clearly a novel that can be read at multiple levels. It is a fable about a Baron who as a youth climbs into the trees and never descends for the rest of his life; but it is also about the ideas of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Our tree-bound Baron, Cosimo, succeeds in being inspired by the Enlightenment, which was transforming society around him (this is the time of Voltaire and the French Revolution), and also by Romanticism, its antithetical spirit. He is practical, grounded in spirit and ingenious, yet at the same time a visionary who floats above the ground. That makes him the type for the Alchemical philosopher-king. But such deeper meanings are lightly worn and it is easy to treat this as nothing more (or less) than a delightfully told fable.

Brilliant, 02 Jul 2007
Recently I have read a lot of disappointing books so it was great to read this one. I thought it was brilliant. A little surreal and yet totally believable. Italo is a wonderful author and describes everything so well. I found it hard to put this book down. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something a little different to the usual 'modern' day novels churned out on a daily basis.

Above the ground, 24 Feb 2007
Italo Calvino was one of the most underrated maestros of magical realism, where atoms fall in love and empty suits of armor walk and talk. And one of his most polished, reader-friendly stories was "Baron in the Trees," a fable about a nobleman who lives his whole life in a tree. Yes, it sounds weird -- but the result is sweet, uplifting and full of childlike wonder.

A young nobleman, Cosimo, was enraged when his eccentric sister made dinner out of his pet snails. So when his father ordered him to eat, he ran up a tree and swore to stay there forever. And he did, from his adolescence up to old age, becoming famous as the Baron in the Trees. Even at the death of his parents, he remained in the trees nearby, watching and helping -- but not coming down. Even when the Baron dies, he finds a way to ascend even higher...

Without leaving the trees, he manages to hunt animals, educate himself with great philosophers, adopts an abandoned dog, lends bestselling books to a local bandito, battles pirates who are conspiring with his uncle, has an affair with a promiscuous Marchesa, and even lives with a band of tree-dwelling Spanish exiles.

"Baron in the Trees" is a whimsical little story on the surface, until you look deeper at the message of "living in trees." Cosimo removes himself from the ground, and also removes himself from the worries of ordinary people -- social position, power, material goods. He's happy just to have friends, books, and his own private kingdom.

But even if you take it at face value, "Baron in the Trees" is an enchanting little story. Calvino's lush, detailed writing is always full of a child's wonder, and he sounds like he's living his own fantasies as he describes how Cosimo manages to sleep (a sort of fur cocoon), store his possessions and fall in live... while never stepping out of the tree. But Calvino manages to convey the bittersweetness of Cosimo's life: While he loves his odd life, he also knows that it alienates him from the rest of the world and leaves him alone.

Cosimo himself is a relatively distant character, since the whole book is through the eyes of his otherwise-unimportant brother. But he is surrounded by equally quirky characters -- his Jesuit-phobic father, "general" mother, creepy disgraced sister, and an array of book-loving bandits, odd priests, and peasants who get used to the tree-dwelling Baron.

A sweet, quirky fable about a young man who just won't come down to earth, "The Baron in the Trees" is a truly enchanting read.

cosimo and co, 04 Mar 2003
the central conceit (someone who chooses to live in trees) is a good one, and is intelligently followed through. here we have the conflict between custom (nomos) and the natural law (physis), played out in a literal sense as the man-made house is abandoned for a life in the trees. what we are offered is a patchwork of stories that make up an unconventional life.

i progressed through the book slowly and found there to be little dramatic tension in it, the result, perhaps, of the author preferring the 'anecdotal' style of narrating; Calvino tells us how most of the episodes will end at the beginning of each episode. intensity is only really achieved in the complicated relationship between Cosimo and Viola, which is handled with great perceptiveness and literary skill. that said, there is plenty to enjoy in this book; tales of piracy, bandits, wars and philosophers.

the book contains some useful general insights too; Calvino is surely a prescient environmentalist when he tells us that the forests Cosimo inhabited throughout his life have been destroyed by men who loved nothing, not even themselves.

overall, i thought that the ideas in this book were very modern, and that the author was extremely competent at evoking places, scenes, characters, etc. but the force of the work was slightly reduced for me by the anecdotal manner in which it was delivered.

A modern fairytale tinged with the magic of Italy, 26 May 2001
The beauty and depth of The Baron in the Trees is so very special in a world where everything seems to be so superficial and capitalist. Calvino, yet again, paints a picture so fantastic yet so real. This is the Italy only the Italians know, and behind it the Italian author who is too unknow in Britain. When will the British public learn to enjoy works which are not anglophone?? Calvino is a master, and the Baron in the Trees is a wonderful fairytale tinged with a very subtle and wicked humour.

oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Five stars? Hello? Are you MAD?, 08 Dec 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame our lives.

It is a chin-stroking, introspective dissertation on the nature of reading and objectivity. Life is too short!

Clever, but one for the post-modernists, 07 Nov 2007
I bought this book having seen it mentioned in various lists for 'Greatest Books of the 20th Century'. If you are a fan of the post-modernist novel then this should please you as it plays with the structure of the novel and with ideas of literary conventions in a very smart way. Calvino was clearly ahead of his time because authors like Peter Carey have clearly borrowed the convention in books examining the act of writing books. If you are a real literary 'nut' or member of the post-modernist cognoscenti then you should enjoy the way that the book leads you along various twists and turns, forensically examining the nature of writing and the fallacy of the novel.

I personally found the book to be a little too clever and I never felt drawn into the self-referential world that is created by the central quest of the book. I greatly admire the intellectual trapeze act, but was left feeling a little cold.

the pleasure of reading, 27 Jul 2007
I've never read a book like this one... A story about books, authors, readers and about the pleasure of reading. We follow the adventures of a reader that is searching for a book that starts but which is abruptly interrupted. Who is this person? I think it is me, each time I pickup a new book...

No one with a passion for reading will be indifferent to this one.

Strange but beautifuly strange, 21 Apr 2007
WOW what a strange book!
I mean, have you ever thought about how huge your reading passion is? To be honest I didn't. Of course I love to read and on question "Without what you can imagine your life?" my answer always includes books but what would you do (not in literally of course) to find your missing book and to heal your reading fever? I'm not sure I ever felt that agonizing reading fever - until now. I know sounds silly but let me explain:

Of course when you enjoy enormously in book you're reading you'll finish it in one swallow and maybe (probably) reread some of its parts or entire book; maybe you'll copy some quote in your special notebook and memorize them etc. and that is I guess normal destiny after meeting right book with right reader. But imagine this situation: You're reading one of the best books you've ever read and you're aware of that fact so you're eating, drinking, breathing pages, one after another; film is rolling in your mind, you thinking about surprise on the next page and you're running to see what is behind the corner and then ... nothing... blank wall, no streets, no cars, no people, no nothing ... blank page.... OK maybe this is printing error, maybe after that blank page the story will continue ... imagine that state of mind: no rereading, no quotes, no following of your new friends destiny. You're feeling cheated. Isn't that horrible? Oh it is, it is...
And this book is about that sudden emptiness you're feeling and that desperate search to find next page. And yes, the main character is "You" (dear reader), and yes precisely you are feeling tachycardia and yes your blood pressure is rising in that dark, surreal chase ... for a book (imagine this!)

This postmodern novel is some sort of reader's nightmare, always in search for your book or women (or both), or feeling writer's agony. This book is from time to time dark, totally surrealistic, and breathtakingly inventive. Did I mention that "You" are the main protagonist?

With its 260 pages some might think it's easy, light read but no, not easy read at all; sometimes you just need to rest a little bit to digest all what you eat so far (and it's a quite menu), this book is for savoring, for letting each sentence to melt slowly on your tongue. Or that is case with me who doesn't read several novels in the same time. However for some of you who practice that, reading this book will be, most likely, different experience.

Here I'd like to include one quote I like very much:

"Reading is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead...
... Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible. Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be"

possibly one of calvino's best, 01 Apr 2007
If you're looking for a nice easy introduction to Italo Calvino's work, this probably isn't the one for you.
However, if you've already read a couple of his books (I'd recommend Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo as excellent starting points) this one is sure to confirm your positive opinion of him.
The idea of the story is that an anonymous reader has just bought a book, and we, as a reader of If on a Winter's Night, follow this reader in his quest to read the book. And a quest it is. Each time he tries to start the book there is a problem: Chapter One isn't followed by Chapter 2 of the same book due to a printing error. Then the next book has the same cover but the text isn't from the same book. The intrepid reader (accompanied by us) goes on an increasingly bizarre search to try and finish at least one of the myriad of books that he has started.
The amazing thing with this book is that each part of the book that the reader starts is of a completely different genre: thriller to mystical to psychological, and Calvino does every genre with a skill that, I believe, is hard to beat.
I finished this book and was simply in awe of the man - his intellect, his skill, his humour and the beauty of his writing.
I can't recommend this book enough.

A fine fantasy, 21 Oct 2008
Jonathan Black mentions Italo Calvino as one of those many modern writers who have followed mystical and esoteric philosophy (The Secret History of the World) and this is clearly a novel that can be read at multiple levels. It is a fable about a Baron who as a youth climbs into the trees and never descends for the rest of his life; but it is also about the ideas of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Our tree-bound Baron, Cosimo, succeeds in being inspired by the Enlightenment, which was transforming society around him (this is the time of Voltaire and the French Revolution), and also by Romanticism, its antithetical spirit. He is practical, grounded in spirit and ingenious, yet at the same time a visionary who floats above the ground. That makes him the type for the Alchemical philosopher-king. But such deeper meanings are lightly worn and it is easy to treat this as nothing more (or less) than a delightfully told fable.

Brilliant, 02 Jul 2007
Recently I have read a lot of disappointing books so it was great to read this one. I thought it was brilliant. A little surreal and yet totally believable. Italo is a wonderful author and describes everything so well. I found it hard to put this book down. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something a little different to the usual 'modern' day novels churned out on a daily basis.

Above the ground, 24 Feb 2007
Italo Calvino was one of the most underrated maestros of magical realism, where atoms fall in love and empty suits of armor walk and talk. And one of his most polished, reader-friendly stories was "Baron in the Trees," a fable about a nobleman who lives his whole life in a tree. Yes, it sounds weird -- but the result is sweet, uplifting and full of childlike wonder.

A young nobleman, Cosimo, was enraged when his eccentric sister made dinner out of his pet snails. So when his father ordered him to eat, he ran up a tree and swore to stay there forever. And he did, from his adolescence up to old age, becoming famous as the Baron in the Trees. Even at the death of his parents, he remained in the trees nearby, watching and helping -- but not coming down. Even when the Baron dies, he finds a way to ascend even higher...

Without leaving the trees, he manages to hunt animals, educate himself with great philosophers, adopts an abandoned dog, lends bestselling books to a local bandito, battles pirates who are conspiring with his uncle, has an affair with a promiscuous Marchesa, and even lives with a band of tree-dwelling Spanish exiles.

"Baron in the Trees" is a whimsical little story on the surface, until you look deeper at the message of "living in trees." Cosimo removes himself from the ground, and also removes himself from the worries of ordinary people -- social position, power, material goods. He's happy just to have friends, books, and his own private kingdom.

But even if you take it at face value, "Baron in the Trees" is an enchanting little story. Calvino's lush, detailed writing is always full of a child's wonder, and he sounds like he's living his own fantasies as he describes how Cosimo manages to sleep (a sort of fur cocoon), store his possessions and fall in live... while never stepping out of the tree. But Calvino manages to convey the bittersweetness of Cosimo's life: While he loves his odd life, he also knows that it alienates him from the rest of the world and leaves him alone.

Cosimo himself is a relatively distant character, since the whole book is through the eyes of his otherwise-unimportant brother. But he is surrounded by equally quirky characters -- his Jesuit-phobic father, "general" mother, creepy disgraced sister, and an array of book-loving bandits, odd priests, and peasants who get used to the tree-dwelling Baron.

A sweet, quirky fable about a young man who just won't come down to earth, "The Baron in the Trees" is a truly enchanting read.

cosimo and co, 04 Mar 2003
the central conceit (someone who chooses to live in trees) is a good one, and is intelligently followed through. here we have the conflict between custom (nomos) and the natural law (physis), played out in a literal sense as the man-made house is abandoned for a life in the trees. what we are offered is a patchwork of stories that make up an unconventional life.

i progressed through the book slowly and found there to be little dramatic tension in it, the result, perhaps, of the author preferring the 'anecdotal' style of narrating; Calvino tells us how most of the episodes will end at the beginning of each episode. intensity is only really achieved in the complicated relationship between Cosimo and Viola, which is handled with great perceptiveness and literary skill. that said, there is plenty to enjoy in this book; tales of piracy, bandits, wars and philosophers.

the book contains some useful general insights too; Calvino is surely a prescient environmentalist when he tells us that the forests Cosimo inhabited throughout his life have been destroyed by men who loved nothing, not even themselves.

overall, i thought that the ideas in this book were very modern, and that the author was extremely competent at evoking places, scenes, characters, etc. but the force of the work was slightly reduced for me by the anecdotal manner in which it was delivered.

A modern fairytale tinged with the magic of Italy, 26 May 2001
The beauty and depth of The Baron in the Trees is so very special in a world where everything seems to be so superficial and capitalist. Calvino, yet again, paints a picture so fantastic yet so real. This is the Italy only the Italians know, and behind it the Italian author who is too unknow in Britain. When will the British public learn to enjoy works which are not anglophone?? Calvino is a master, and the Baron in the Trees is a wonderful fairytale tinged with a very subtle and wicked humour.

magcal realism realised, 23 Aug 2006
Calvino, the consummate allegorical fantasist, set himself the task of collating and documenting what was hitherto an untapped source of oral folk tradition in his adopted homeland. What he discovered was an unsurpassed wealth of folk tales and moral parables, and according to the introduction to this amazing volume, he was soon "possessed by a kind of mania" for collecting and comparing the vast portfolio with which he was presented. What is eminently evident in this collection is the passion which he brings to the retelling of the 200 stories, gilded with his inimitable style and bearing all the hallmarks of his own longer fiction. With a sensitive and intelligent translation that loses none of the almost tactile language of the original, this is truly a modern European classic.

Fabulous, 22 Mar 2002
This is one of the most astounding collections of folk tales ever, better, I would say, than the brothers Grimms'. The flavour of raw, hard peasant life comes through on every page, and very little imagination is needed to transport you back to 17th century taverns where story-tellers spellbound their listeners with these even more ancient stories of ogres, bandits, princes, witches, priests, kings and thieves. Some are ghost stories, meant to curdle the blood, while others are cheery tales of youngest daughters outwitting the bandits and marrying the prince that would charm any child. Some are witty, knowing tales of corrupt priests, or bandits competing with each other for title of best thief. They are all deeply moral, if sometimes heavy on the retribution and revenge. These are earthy, funny, tragic, witty tales which, best of all in my estimation, have not been "tidied up", censored for sex or violence, or otherwise bowdlerized. Whether for reading to children or out of academic anthropological interest, these cannot be beat.

Pure storytelling at it's best., 07 Dec 2000
Calvino's folktales are a wonderful assortment of simple stories. Make-believe for grown ups, most of the tales feature good v's evil, the trusting hero being outwitted by the evil sorcerer, only to rise again and marry the king's daughter- that kind of thing. The happiest book i`ve read.

oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Five stars? Hello? Are you MAD?, 08 Dec 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame our lives.

It is a chin-stroking, introspective dissertation on the nature of reading and objectivity. Life is too short!

Clever, but one for the post-modernists, 07 Nov 2007
I bought this book having seen it mentioned in various lists for 'Greatest Books of the 20th Century'. If you are a fan of the post-modernist novel then this should please you as it plays with the structure of the novel and with ideas of literary conventions in a very smart way. Calvino was clearly ahead of his time because authors like Peter Carey have clearly borrowed the convention in books examining the act of writing books. If you are a real literary 'nut' or member of the post-modernist cognoscenti then you should enjoy the way that the book leads you along various twists and turns, forensically examining the nature of writing and the fallacy of the novel.

I personally found the book to be a little too clever and I never felt drawn into the self-referential world that is created by the central quest of the book. I greatly admire the intellectual trapeze act, but was left feeling a little cold.

the pleasure of reading, 27 Jul 2007
I've never read a book like this one... A story about books, authors, readers and about the pleasure of reading. We follow the adventures of a reader that is searching for a book that starts but which is abruptly interrupted. Who is this person? I think it is me, each time I pickup a new book...

No one with a passion for reading will be indifferent to this one.

Strange but beautifuly strange, 21 Apr 2007
WOW what a strange book!
I mean, have you ever thought about how huge your reading passion is? To be honest I didn't. Of course I love to read and on question "Without what you can imagine your life?" my answer always includes books but what would you do (not in literally of course) to find your missing book and to heal your reading fever? I'm not sure I ever felt that agonizing reading fever - until now. I know sounds silly but let me explain:

Of course when you enjoy enormously in book you're reading you'll finish it in one swallow and maybe (probably) reread some of its parts or entire book; maybe you'll copy some quote in your special notebook and memorize them etc. and that is I guess normal destiny after meeting right book with right reader. But imagine this situation: You're reading one of the best books you've ever read and you're aware of that fact so you're eating, drinking, breathing pages, one after another; film is rolling in your mind, you thinking about surprise on the next page and you're running to see what is behind the corner and then ... nothing... blank wall, no streets, no cars, no people, no nothing ... blank page.... OK maybe this is printing error, maybe after that blank page the story will continue ... imagine that state of mind: no rereading, no quotes, no following of your new friends destiny. You're feeling cheated. Isn't that horrible? Oh it is, it is...
And this book is about that sudden emptiness you're feeling and that desperate search to find next page. And yes, the main character is "You" (dear reader), and yes precisely you are feeling tachycardia and yes your blood pressure is rising in that dark, surreal chase ... for a book (imagine this!)

This postmodern novel is some sort of reader's nightmare, always in search for your book or women (or both), or feeling writer's agony. This book is from time to time dark, totally surrealistic, and breathtakingly inventive. Did I mention that "You" are the main protagonist?

With its 260 pages some might think it's easy, light read but no, not easy read at all; sometimes you just need to rest a little bit to digest all what you eat so far (and it's a quite menu), this book is for savoring, for letting each sentence to melt slowly on your tongue. Or that is case with me who doesn't read several novels in the same time. However for some of you who practice that, reading this book will be, most likely, different experience.

Here I'd like to include one quote I like very much:

"Reading is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead...
... Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible. Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be"

possibly one of calvino's best, 01 Apr 2007
If you're looking for a nice easy introduction to Italo Calvino's work, this probably isn't the one for you.
However, if you've already read a couple of his books (I'd recommend Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo as excellent starting points) this one is sure to confirm your positive opinion of him.
The idea of the story is that an anonymous reader has just bought a book, and we, as a reader of If on a Winter's Night, follow this reader in his quest to read the book. And a quest it is. Each time he tries to start the book there is a problem: Chapter One isn't followed by Chapter 2 of the same book due to a printing error. Then the next book has the same cover but the text isn't from the same book. The intrepid reader (accompanied by us) goes on an increasingly bizarre search to try and finish at least one of the myriad of books that he has started.
The amazing thing with this book is that each part of the book that the reader starts is of a completely different genre: thriller to mystical to psychological, and Calvino does every genre with a skill that, I believe, is hard to beat.
I finished this book and was simply in awe of the man - his intellect, his skill, his humour and the beauty of his writing.
I can't recommend this book enough.

A fine fantasy, 21 Oct 2008
Jonathan Black mentions Italo Calvino as one of those many modern writers who have followed mystical and esoteric philosophy (The Secret History of the World) and this is clearly a novel that can be read at multiple levels. It is a fable about a Baron who as a youth climbs into the trees and never descends for the rest of his life; but it is also about the ideas of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Our tree-bound Baron, Cosimo, succeeds in being inspired by the Enlightenment, which was transforming society around him (this is the time of Voltaire and the French Revolution), and also by Romanticism, its antithetical spirit. He is practical, grounded in spirit and ingenious, yet at the same time a visionary who floats above the ground. That makes him the type for the Alchemical philosopher-king. But such deeper meanings are lightly worn and it is easy to treat this as nothing more (or less) than a delightfully told fable.

Brilliant, 02 Jul 2007
Recently I have read a lot of disappointing books so it was great to read this one. I thought it was brilliant. A little surreal and yet totally believable. Italo is a wonderful author and describes everything so well. I found it hard to put this book down. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something a little different to the usual 'modern' day novels churned out on a daily basis.

Above the ground, 24 Feb 2007
Italo Calvino was one of the most underrated maestros of magical realism, where atoms fall in love and empty suits of armor walk and talk. And one of his most polished, reader-friendly stories was "Baron in the Trees," a fable about a nobleman who lives his whole life in a tree. Yes, it sounds weird -- but the result is sweet, uplifting and full of childlike wonder.

A young nobleman, Cosimo, was enraged when his eccentric sister made dinner out of his pet snails. So when his father ordered him to eat, he ran up a tree and swore to stay there forever. And he did, from his adolescence up to old age, becoming famous as the Baron in the Trees. Even at the death of his parents, he remained in the trees nearby, watching and helping -- but not coming down. Even when the Baron dies, he finds a way to ascend even higher...

Without leaving the trees, he manages to hunt animals, educate himself with great philosophers, adopts an abandoned dog, lends bestselling books to a local bandito, battles pirates who are conspiring with his uncle, has an affair with a promiscuous Marchesa, and even lives with a band of tree-dwelling Spanish exiles.

"Baron in the Trees" is a whimsical little story on the surface, until you look deeper at the message of "living in trees." Cosimo removes himself from the ground, and also removes himself from the worries of ordinary people -- social position, power, material goods. He's happy just to have friends, books, and his own private kingdom.

But even if you take it at face value, "Baron in the Trees" is an enchanting little story. Calvino's lush, detailed writing is always full of a child's wonder, and he sounds like he's living his own fantasies as he describes how Cosimo manages to sleep (a sort of fur cocoon), store his possessions and fall in live... while never stepping out of the tree. But Calvino manages to convey the bittersweetness of Cosimo's life: While he loves his odd life, he also knows that it alienates him from the rest of the world and leaves him alone.

Cosimo himself is a relatively distant character, since the whole book is through the eyes of his otherwise-unimportant brother. But he is surrounded by equally quirky characters -- his Jesuit-phobic father, "general" mother, creepy disgraced sister, and an array of book-loving bandits, odd priests, and peasants who get used to the tree-dwelling Baron.

A sweet, quirky fable about a young man who just won't come down to earth, "The Baron in the Trees" is a truly enchanting read.

cosimo and co, 04 Mar 2003
the central conceit (someone who chooses to live in trees) is a good one, and is intelligently followed through. here we have the conflict between custom (nomos) and the natural law (physis), played out in a literal sense as the man-made house is abandoned for a life in the trees. what we are offered is a patchwork of stories that make up an unconventional life.

i progressed through the book slowly and found there to be little dramatic tension in it, the result, perhaps, of the author preferring the 'anecdotal' style of narrating; Calvino tells us how most of the episodes will end at the beginning of each episode. intensity is only really achieved in the complicated relationship between Cosimo and Viola, which is handled with great perceptiveness and literary skill. that said, there is plenty to enjoy in this book; tales of piracy, bandits, wars and philosophers.

the book contains some useful general insights too; Calvino is surely a prescient environmentalist when he tells us that the forests Cosimo inhabited throughout his life have been destroyed by men who loved nothing, not even themselves.

overall, i thought that the ideas in this book were very modern, and that the author was extremely competent at evoking places, scenes, characters, etc. but the force of the work was slightly reduced for me by the anecdotal manner in which it was delivered.

A modern fairytale tinged with the magic of Italy, 26 May 2001
The beauty and depth of The Baron in the Trees is so very special in a world where everything seems to be so superficial and capitalist. Calvino, yet again, paints a picture so fantastic yet so real. This is the Italy only the Italians know, and behind it the Italian author who is too unknow in Britain. When will the British public learn to enjoy works which are not anglophone?? Calvino is a master, and the Baron in the Trees is a wonderful fairytale tinged with a very subtle and wicked humour.

magcal realism realised, 23 Aug 2006
Calvino, the consummate allegorical fantasist, set himself the task of collating and documenting what was hitherto an untapped source of oral folk tradition in his adopted homeland. What he discovered was an unsurpassed wealth of folk tales and moral parables, and according to the introduction to this amazing volume, he was soon "possessed by a kind of mania" for collecting and comparing the vast portfolio with which he was presented. What is eminently evident in this collection is the passion which he brings to the retelling of the 200 stories, gilded with his inimitable style and bearing all the hallmarks of his own longer fiction. With a sensitive and intelligent translation that loses none of the almost tactile language of the original, this is truly a modern European classic.

Fabulous, 22 Mar 2002
This is one of the most astounding collections of folk tales ever, better, I would say, than the brothers Grimms'. The flavour of raw, hard peasant life comes through on every page, and very little imagination is needed to transport you back to 17th century taverns where story-tellers spellbound their listeners with these even more ancient stories of ogres, bandits, princes, witches, priests, kings and thieves. Some are ghost stories, meant to curdle the blood, while others are cheery tales of youngest daughters outwitting the bandits and marrying the prince that would charm any child. Some are witty, knowing tales of corrupt priests, or bandits competing with each other for title of best thief. They are all deeply moral, if sometimes heavy on the retribution and revenge. These are earthy, funny, tragic, witty tales which, best of all in my estimation, have not been "tidied up", censored for sex or violence, or otherwise bowdlerized. Whether for reading to children or out of academic anthropological interest, these cannot be beat.

Pure storytelling at it's best., 07 Dec 2000
Calvino's folktales are a wonderful assortment of simple stories. Make-believe for grown ups, most of the tales feature good v's evil, the trusting hero being outwitted by the evil sorcerer, only to rise again and marry the king's daughter- that kind of thing. The happiest book i`ve read.

An intelligent, witty, compelling and persuasive collection, 08 Sep 2003
It isn't often that you find a writer whose literature you enjoy and whose non-fiction writing is even more enjoyable. Calvino is one such writer for me. His Memos for the next millenium are his collection of musings on what makes great literature great and the skills that he aspired to holding as a writer, as well as those skills that he admired in other writers. For the student of literature and for would be writers everywhere this is an intelligent, witty, compelling and persuasive collection of lectures. Would be that all criticism were so balanced, informative and instructive as Calvino's.

A prophecy rapidly coming true, 02 Jul 2000
Calvino was of the last generation before the so-called 'information revolution', and the Six Memos came at the end of his life, just at the exact moment that the effects of this revolution were beginning to be felt. In this book he sets out an agenda for the importance of specific qualities of literature in the future. As we run around in circles in a society obsessed with globalism (the Internet and all its trappings, economics, and general short-termism) this agenda takes on a great deal of importance. This is not a 'fun read' as such, but if you believe in literature, then ignore this at your peril!

Fluent as a novel, 07 May 1999
Sure you never read an essay written in such a fluent style. It is like a friendly conversation on a sofa, with one of the best Italian writer and critic af the century.

Everyone who writes or reads fiction should have this book., 15 Jul 1998
There are only five memos, unfortunately. Calvino died before completing the sixth. But the five we do have are treasures of insight and intellect, giving shape to qualities of literature we might have recognized, but never had a way to express. Calvino's love for writing shows in every sentence, and by the end of the book, he has given us much to love, also.

A Guidebook for Artists of Every Discipline, 16 Jun 1998
Calvino offers us a bag of jewels with these five essays on the principle qualities that will carry great writing into the next century. The lessons learned from "Lightness," "Quickness," "Exactitude," "Visibility," and "Multiplicity" can be applied in any creative situation. They add strength to my own compositional efforts, but even more, the multi-faceted richness of Calvino's prose and Creagh's translation is something to savor and rejoice in. Even in his essays, Calvino is a storyteller, and as always his characters are the moods and motives of the people at large, as well as simply people themselves. Whether this is your first or fiftieth time reading this little book, the rush of inspiration that will sweep over you is not to be stemmed. Buy it, read it, write in it, draw lines and circle your favorite words and sentences. This is a book to imprint into your mind.

oh my!, 25 Sep 2008
My eyelids feel heavy and sleep overcomes me whenever I open this book.

It is extremely dull to read this book, though I suspect you're considered a total Philistine for saying so in polite company.

Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man..., 03 Jan 2007

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece, 27 Oct 2006
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?


A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition, 29 Oct 2004
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime, 10 May 2004
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Five stars? Hello? Are you MAD?, 08 Dec 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame our lives.

It is a chin-stroking, introspective dissertation on the nature of reading and objectivity. Life is too short!

Clever, but one for the post-modernists, 07 Nov 2007
I bought this book having seen it mentioned in various lists for 'Greatest Books of the 20th Century'. If you are a fan of the post-modernist novel then this should please you as it plays with the structure of the novel and with ideas of literary conventions in a very smart way. Calvino was clearly ahead of his time because authors like Peter Carey have clearly borrowed the convention in books examining the act of writing books. If you are a real literary 'nut' or member of the post-modernist cognoscenti then you should enjoy the way that the book leads you along various twists and turns, forensically examining the nature of writing and the fallacy of the novel.

I personally found the book to be a little too clever and I never felt drawn into the self-referential world that is created by the central quest of the book. I greatly admire the intellectual trapeze act, but was left feeling a little cold.

the pleasure of reading, 27 Jul 2007
I've never read a book like this one... A story about books, authors, readers and about the pleasure of reading. We follow the adventures of a reader that is searching for a book that starts but which is abruptly interrupted. Who is this person? I think it is me, each time I pickup a new book...

No one with a passion for reading will be indifferent to this one.

Strange but beautifuly strange, 21 Apr 2007
WOW what a strange book!
I mean, have you ever thought about how huge your reading passion is? To be honest I didn't. Of course I love to read and on question "Without what you can imagine your life?" my answer always includes books but what would you do (not in literally of course) to find your missing book and to heal your reading fever? I'm not sure I ever felt that agonizing reading fever - until now. I know sounds silly but let me explain:

Of course when you enjoy enormously in book you're reading you'll finish it in one swallow and maybe (probably) reread some of its parts or entire book; maybe you'll copy some quote in your special notebook and memorize them etc. and that is I guess normal destiny after meeting right book with right reader. But imagine this situation: You're reading one of the best books you've ever read and you're aware of that fact so you're eating, drinking, breathing pages, one after another; film is rolling in your mind, you thinking about surprise on the next page and you're running to see what is behind the corner and then ... nothing... blank wall, no streets, no cars, no people, no nothing ... blank page.... OK maybe this is printing error, maybe after that blank page the story will continue ... imagine that state of mind: no rereading, no quotes, no following of your new friends destiny. You're feeling cheated. Isn't that horrible? Oh it is, it is...
And this book is about that sudden emptiness you're feeling and that desperate search to find next page. And yes, the main character is "You" (dear reader), and yes precisely you are feeling tachycardia and yes your blood pressure is rising in that dark, surreal chase ... for a book (imagine this!)

This postmodern novel is some sort of reader's nightmare, always in search for your book or women (or both), or feeling writer's agony. This book is from time to time dark, totally surrealistic, and breathtakingly inventive. Did I mention that "You" are the main protagonist?

With its 260 pages some might think it's easy, light read but no, not easy read at all; sometimes you just need to rest a little bit to digest all what you eat so far (and it's a quite menu), this book is for savoring, for letting each sentence to melt slowly on your tongue. Or that is case with me who doesn't read several novels in the same time. However for some of you who practice that, reading this book will be, most likely, different experience.

Here I'd like to include one quote I like very much:

"Reading is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to the immaterial, invisible world, because it can only be thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead...
... Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible. Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be"

possibly one of calvino's best, 01 Apr 2007
If you're looking for a nice easy introduction to Italo Calvino's work, this probably isn't the one for you.
However, if you've already read a couple of his books (I'd recommend Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo as excellent starting points) this one is sure to confirm your positive opinion of him.
The idea of the story is that an anonymous reader has just bought a book, and we, as a reader of If on a Winter's Night, follow this reader in his quest to read the book. And a quest it is. Each time he tries to start the book there is a problem: Chapter One isn't followed by Chapter 2 of the same book due to a printing error. Then the next book has the same cover but the text isn't from the same book. The intrepid reader (accompanied by us) goes on an increasingly bizarre search to try and finish at least one of the myriad of books that he has started.
The amazing thing with this book is that each part of the book that the reader starts is of a completely different genre: thriller to mystical to psychological, and Calvino does every genre with a skill that, I believe, is hard to beat.
I finished this book and was simply in awe of the man - his intellect, his skill, his humour and the beauty of his writing.
I can't recommend this book enough.

A fine fantasy, 21 Oct 2008
Jonathan Black mentions Italo Calvino as one of those many modern writers who have followed mystical and esoteric philosophy (The Secret History of the World) and this is clearly a novel that can be read at multiple levels. It is a fable about a Baron who as a youth climbs into the trees and never descends for the rest of his life; but it is also about the ideas of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Our tree-bound Baron, Cosimo, succeeds in being inspired by the Enlightenment, which was transforming society around him (this is the time of Voltaire and the French Revolution), and also by Romanticism, its antithetical spirit. He is practical, grounded in spirit and ingenious, yet at the same time a visionary who floats above the ground. That makes him the type for the Alchemical philosopher-king. But such deeper meanings are lightly worn and it is easy to treat this as nothing more (or less) than a delightfully told fable.

Brilliant, 02 Jul 2007
Recently I have read a lot of disappointing books so it was great to read this one. I thought it was brilliant. A little surreal and yet totally believable. Italo is a wonderful author and describes everything so well. I found it hard to put this book down. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something a little different to the usual 'modern' day novels churned out on a daily basis.

Above the ground, 24 Feb 2007
Italo Calvino was one of the most underrated maestros of magical realism, where atoms fall in love and empty suits of armor walk and talk. And one of his most polished, reader-friendly stories was "Baron in the Trees," a fable about a nobleman who lives his whole life in a tree. Yes, it sounds weird -- but the result is sweet, uplifting and full of childlike wonder.

A young nobleman, Cosimo, was enraged when his eccentric sister made dinner out of his pet snails. So when his father ordered him to eat, he ran up a tree and swore to stay there forever. And he did, from his adolescence up to old age, becoming famous as the Baron in the Trees. Even at the death of his parents, he remained in the trees nearby, watching and helping -- but not coming down. Even when the Baron dies, he finds a way to ascend even higher...

Without leaving the trees, he manages to hunt animals, educate himself with great philosophers, adopts an abandoned dog, lends bestselling books to a local bandito, battles pirates who are conspiring with his uncle, has an affair with a promiscuous Marchesa, and even lives with a band of tree-dwelling Spanish exiles.

"Baron in the Trees" is a whimsical little story on the surface, until you look deeper at the message of "living in trees." Cosimo removes himself from the ground, and also removes himself from the worries of ordinary people -- social position, power, material goods. He's happy just to have friends, books, and his own private kingdom.

But even if you take it at face value, "Baron in the Trees" is an enchanting little story. Calvino's lush, detailed writing is always full of a child's wonder, and he sounds like he's living his own fantasies as he describes how Cosimo manages to sleep (a sort of fur cocoon), store his possessions and fall in live... while never stepping out of the tree. But Calvino manages to convey the bittersweetness of Cosimo's life: While he loves his odd life, he also knows that it alienates him from the rest of the world and leaves him alone.

Cosimo himself is a relatively distant character, since the whole book is through the eyes of his otherwise-unimportant brother. But he is surrounded by equally quirky characters -- his Jesuit-phobic father, "general" mother, creepy disgraced sister, and an array of book-loving bandits, odd priests, and peasants who get used to the tree-dwelling Baron.

A sweet, quirky fable about a young man who just won't come down to earth, "The Baron in the Trees" is a truly enchanting read.

cosimo and co, 04 Mar 2003
the central conceit (someone who chooses to live in trees) is a good one, and is intelligently followed through. here we have the conflict between custom (nomos) and the natural law (physis), played out in a literal sense as the man-made house is abandoned for a life in the trees. what we are offered is a patchwork of stories that make up an unconventional life.

i progressed through the book slowly and found there to be little dramatic tension in it, the result, perhaps, of the author preferring the 'anecdotal' style of narrating; Calvino tells us how most of the episodes will end at the beginning of each episode. intensity is only really achieved in the complicated relationship between Cosimo and Viola, which is handled with great perceptiveness and literary skill. that said, there is plenty to enjoy in this book; tales of piracy, bandits, wars and philosophers.

the book contains some useful general insights too; Calvino is surely a prescient environmentalist when he tells us that the forests Cosimo inhabited throughout his life have been destroyed by men who loved nothing, not even themselves.

overall, i thought that the ideas in this book were very modern, and that the author was extremely competent at evoking places, scenes, characters, etc. but the force of the work was slightly reduced for me by the anecdotal manner in which it was delivered.

A modern fairytale tinged with the magic of Italy, 26 May 2001
The beauty and depth of The Baron in the Trees is so very special in a world where everything seems to be so superficial and capitalist. Calvino, yet again, paints a picture so fantastic yet so real. This is the Italy only the Italians know, and behind it the Italian author who is too unknow in Britain. When will the British public learn to enjoy works which are not anglophone?? Calvino is a master, and the Baron in the Trees is a wonderful fairytale tinged with a very subtle and wicked humour.

magcal realism realised, 23 Aug 2006
Calvino, the consummate allegorical fantasist, set himself the task of collating and documenting what was hitherto an untapped source of oral folk tradition in his adopted homeland. What he discovered was an unsurpassed wealth of folk tales and moral parables, and according to the introduction to this amazing volume, he was soon "possessed by a kind of mania" for collecting and comparing the vast portfolio with which he was presented. What is eminently evident in this collection is the passion which he brings to the retelling of the 200 stories, gilded with his inimitable style and bearing all the hallmarks of his own longer fiction. With a sensitive and intelligent translation that loses none of the almost tactile language of the original, this is truly a modern European classic.

Fabulous, 22 Mar 2002
This is one of the most astounding collections of folk tales ever, better, I would say, than the brothers Grimms'. The flavour of raw, hard peasant life comes through on every page, and very little imagination is needed to transport you back to 17th century taverns where story-tellers spellbound their listeners with these even more ancient stories of ogres, bandits, princes, witches, priests, kings and thieves. Some are ghost stories, meant to curdle the blood, while others are cheery tales of youngest daughters outwitting the bandits and marrying the prince that would charm any child. Some are witty, knowing tales of corrupt priests, or bandits competing with each other for title of best thief. They are all deeply moral, if sometimes heavy on the retribution and revenge. These are earthy, funny, tragic, witty tales which, best of all in my estimation, have not been "tidied up", censored for sex or violence, or otherwise bowdlerized. Whether for reading to children or out of academic anthropological interest, these cannot be beat.

Pure storytelling at it's best., 07 Dec 2000
Calvino's folktales are a wonderful assortment of simple stories. Make-believe for grown ups, most of the tales feature good v's evil, the trusting hero being outwitted by the evil sorcerer, only to rise again and marry the king's daughter- that kind of thing. The happiest book i`ve read.

An intelligent, witty, compelling and persuasive collection, 08 Sep 2003
It isn't often that you find a writer whose literature you enjoy and whose non-fiction writing is even more enjoyable. Calvino is one such writer for me. His Memos for the next millenium are his collection of musings on what makes great literature great and the skills that he aspired to holding as a writer, as well as those skills that he admired in other writers. For the student of literature and for would be writers everywhere this is an intelligent, witty, compelling and persuasive collection of lectures. Would be that all criticism were so balanced, informative and instructive as Calvino's.

A prophecy rapidly coming true, 02 Jul 2000
Calvino was of the last generation before the so-called 'information revolution', and the Six Memos came at the end of his life, just at the exact moment that the effects of this revolution were beginning to be felt. In this book he sets out an agenda for the importance of specific qualities of literature in the future. As we run around in circles in a society obsessed with globalism (the Internet and all its trappings, economics, and general short-termism) this agenda takes on a great deal of importance. This is not a 'fun read' as such, but if you believe in literature, then ignore this at your peril!

Fluent as a novel, 07 May 1999
Sure you never read an essay written in such a fluent style. It is like a friendly conversation on a sofa, with one of the best Italian writer and critic af the century.

Everyone who writes or reads fiction should have this book., 15 Jul 1998
There are only five memos, unfortunately. Calvino died before completing the sixth. But the five we do have are treasures of insight and intellect, giving shape to qualities of literature we might have recognized, but never had a way to express. Calvino's love for writing shows in every sentence, and by the end of the book, he has given us much to love, also.

A Guidebook for Artists of Every Discipline, 16 Jun 1998
Calvino offers us a bag of jewels with these five essays on the principle qualities that will carry great writing into the next century. The lessons learned from "Lightness," "Quickness," "Exactitude," "Visibility," and "Multiplicity" can be applied in any creative situation. They add strength to my own compositional efforts, but even more, the multi-faceted richness of Calvino's prose and Creagh's translation is something to savor and rejoice in. Even in his essays, Calvino is a storyteller, and as always his characters are the moods and motives of the people at large, as well as simply people themselves. Whether this is your first or fiftieth time reading this little book, the rush of inspiration that will sweep over you is not to be stemmed. Buy it, read it, write in it, draw lines and circle your favorite words and sentences. This is a book to imprint into your mind.

I lost Mr Palomar!, 26 Aug 2003
I had never heard of Italo Calvino when I found this in a university second hand bookshop. I loved the name of another of his books on the shelf, "Adam, One Afternoon", and bought "Mr Palomar" because it was cheaper, and I liked its title too.

I was excited, feeling I'd found a book that was about to do what I like books to do, not get bogged down in plot, but explore character, quirks and observations.

The first story/tale/segment/chapter, "Reading a Wave" was intriguing. I enjoyed it. I felt there was plenty of Mr Palomar in his reading of a wave, and felt I was getting to know this character, through his observations, and his inclination to actually be watching a wave.

The second, "The Naked Bosom", too, gave me an insight into Mr Palomar, who by now I liked. I loved the humour in that short piece.

Then, I started to drift. Perhaps I was a bad reader, perhaps this book cannot be done justice a chapter a night, in bed, but the next, longer piece, felt quite external to me, and I started losing Mr Palomar. I started to get bored by his observations and thought patterns in a way I didn't expect. I like minutiae, I like contemplation, I like obsessions written down, but this, to me, was too much reading about things in which I was not interested. It started to feel like a catalogue.

I did enjoy Mr Palomar's thoughts on tortoises, blackbirds, the moon, cheese, goose fat...there are sparks of bleak humour throughout, and glimpses of Mr Palomar, but I found myself scanning sections of text, willing the next section to come along in the hope that it would grip me more.

I plan to re-read this book of short pieces, perhaps more carefully, because thinking about it now, and looking back at sections whilst writing this review, I am sure I should like it more than I did on first reading. Reading the back again, it sounds just the sort of book I should love! I feel the book deserves, and perhaps needs, a very careful, uninterrupted reading, in which you can completely immerse yourself in all observations and details.

The stars rating is tricky. I was left feeling slightly disappointed, but looking back, there are such brilliant moments, and I adore the matter-of-fact style of writing, and exploration of "the thingness of things" as one reviewer puts it, through this lovely character, that I have to rate it highly.

Sorry for the slightly confused tone of this review.

Be Mr. Palomar, even more than you are..., 21 Oct 2000
Mr. Palomar, the telescope into our hearts... this deals with everything, as is the norm for Calvino...! Palomar on the beach, ogling the naked lady, trying to play the politics of not looking, ending up being seen as a complete pervie!!! Palomar in the cheese-shop, thinking about original, spectacular cheeses, and buying cheddar... Palomar thinking about his own alienation and indulging his Christ fantasies looking at the albino ape... Palomar looking at the birds and the bees and thinking about silence... this is something which will make you realise you have always been wise, and make you hope you're not so stupid as you are now, ever again.... Life-changing - if he'd told it as it was, it wouldn't have worked.... Oh yes, and the translation: perfect. Nuances read like Calvino, sentence and paragraph lengths reflect his obsession with such things, grammar just as quirky as in the best Calvino translations - makes you wish you could read Italian to better understand just how bang on this translation is!!!!