Reviews

Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino

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colinmcafee's review against another edition

3.0

Not my favorite Calvino but still a worthwhile read. I don’t think I was paying enough attention to really appreciate it to be honest. My bad

gorecki's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a short little book that in my opinion was edited and published perfectly - letting you jump into it, enjoy it, discover it, think about it, and then adding a clarifying afterword instead of a spoiling foreword. I jumped into this collection without any prior idea of what I’m getting myself into, without knowing what the stories are about and what they’re meant to signify. For me, this was a collection of a couple of short stories by a popular writer whom I’d not read before. And I was in for a treat.

Calvino’s language is rich and lush, and I was delighted by how detailed his descriptions are without making them overwritten or over the top. The way he describes the senses is brilliant and you could almost taste, hear and smell everything he writes about. Add a dash of mystical, magical, mythical aftertaste to it and you have a delighted Georgi. And while l did start sensing a connection between the stories when I started the second one, the afterword came right on time to provide a clarification about what I’d just read and what else is there behind it.

sfletcher26's review against another edition

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2.0

Never having read any Calvino before I thought I'd start with this collection of short stories, the last stories he wrote. I'm not convinced this was such a good place to start in retrospect.
It left me perplexed and not tempted to read anything else by him.