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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
challenging
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I say this is what happened:
Italo Calvino was suffering from a writer's block. He would start a novel, get it to its first curve and abandon it before the resolution. A few months later he would start another with a similar result. Finally, his publishers got impatient because it had been years since the last novel and they said:
'Italo, get your shit together! We need a new book. Now!'
Italo panicked and did the only thing he could think of. He glued all his failed attempts together and delivered it to the publisher
'Here it is. My new novel'.
'Er.. Italo, but those are just beginning of some 10 different books...'
'Yeah. I know. Don't you get it? It's postmodernism!!'
'Ok...'
'You know, I am playing with the concept of the author. It is basically all about the reader now. The author has become obsolete. It is the reader that creates the work and the author is not even necessary!'
'Ah.. I see... Do we still need to pay you then?'
'Yah. Will mail you the invoice.'
I have read most of the reviews on here and I agree with all of them, with the bad ones and the good ones all the same. If you think this is contradictive and not possible, think again. And one word for you: deconstructionism.
There is no doubt that Calvino is (was) one hell of a writer and he plays with his poor readers like a cat plays with a mouse. This book was an absolute trip and really gets you dizzy. It might or might not be a coincidence that a day after finishing it I caught some weird bug that made me throw up for two days straight.
Now I am going to talk about one aspect that none of the reviewers have pointed out. It is so fucking sexist, like HELLO! All the female characters in each one of the novels as well as the main novel (that puts the novels together) have all the charecteristics of the Other. The female reader is actually called The Other Reader for crying out loud. Even when for a short moment the narration is switched to make the female reader the subject, it is only so that the male reader can run around her flat and describe her and define her – and check this, she is NOT EVEN THERE. Calvino makes her/me the subject for a few pages and she is not even there. She is forever passive. All the female characters are more or less passive. They are also mysterious, intagible and ethereal and their actions usually make no sense to the subject of the narrative (be it the You from the main narrative, or the various 'I's from the sub-novels). This kind of stuff really gets on my nerves. Especially since I read 'The Other Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir.
So Calvino, deconstruct that old as the world archetype, why don't you!!! (Only you can't because you are dead).
Italo Calvino was suffering from a writer's block. He would start a novel, get it to its first curve and abandon it before the resolution. A few months later he would start another with a similar result. Finally, his publishers got impatient because it had been years since the last novel and they said:
'Italo, get your shit together! We need a new book. Now!'
Italo panicked and did the only thing he could think of. He glued all his failed attempts together and delivered it to the publisher
'Here it is. My new novel'.
'Er.. Italo, but those are just beginning of some 10 different books...'
'Yeah. I know. Don't you get it? It's postmodernism!!'
'Ok...'
'You know, I am playing with the concept of the author. It is basically all about the reader now. The author has become obsolete. It is the reader that creates the work and the author is not even necessary!'
'Ah.. I see... Do we still need to pay you then?'
'Yah. Will mail you the invoice.'
I have read most of the reviews on here and I agree with all of them, with the bad ones and the good ones all the same. If you think this is contradictive and not possible, think again. And one word for you: deconstructionism.
There is no doubt that Calvino is (was) one hell of a writer and he plays with his poor readers like a cat plays with a mouse. This book was an absolute trip and really gets you dizzy. It might or might not be a coincidence that a day after finishing it I caught some weird bug that made me throw up for two days straight.
Now I am going to talk about one aspect that none of the reviewers have pointed out. It is so fucking sexist, like HELLO! All the female characters in each one of the novels as well as the main novel (that puts the novels together) have all the charecteristics of the Other. The female reader is actually called The Other Reader for crying out loud. Even when for a short moment the narration is switched to make the female reader the subject, it is only so that the male reader can run around her flat and describe her and define her – and check this, she is NOT EVEN THERE. Calvino makes her/me the subject for a few pages and she is not even there. She is forever passive. All the female characters are more or less passive. They are also mysterious, intagible and ethereal and their actions usually make no sense to the subject of the narrative (be it the You from the main narrative, or the various 'I's from the sub-novels). This kind of stuff really gets on my nerves. Especially since I read 'The Other Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir.
So Calvino, deconstruct that old as the world archetype, why don't you!!! (Only you can't because you are dead).
Because of this book, postmodernism is one of my favorite genres. The complex layering of the stories' events was quite fun; so was the story's events spiraling into absurdity as it went on. My English classmates called this book a tough read, so be wary if you don't read too complexly. Otherwise, this book is an amazing analysis into the concept of meaning in all its facets.
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If on a winter's night a traveler is a true masterpiece.
Some people think that the writing is very rambly, but the rambling is the purpose - of exploring a reader's relationships to stories, the relationship of stories to the reader's world. The second-person point of view brings the reader into the book immediately, starting with something that the narrator already knows in all cases: that you are about to read a book. From there, you are drawn into this world of unfortunate circumstances, of stories without an end, of a plot of falsehoods and mystery.
Some people think that the writing is very rambly, but the rambling is the purpose - of exploring a reader's relationships to stories, the relationship of stories to the reader's world. The second-person point of view brings the reader into the book immediately, starting with something that the narrator already knows in all cases: that you are about to read a book. From there, you are drawn into this world of unfortunate circumstances, of stories without an end, of a plot of falsehoods and mystery.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Murder
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is, if nothing else, inventive. It’s a book about reading, and it utilizes the second person fairly well to string together a series of unrelated first chapters.
I liked portions of this very much; the first 80-100 pages are very good. Each little first chapter (or short story) is interesting in its own way, and you get drawn into the spiral of the Reader in an effortless way.
However, the book loses a ton of focus for around 30-40 pages after this, and it has the unfortunate effect of detailing the book. The ending picks up the pieces in a way which is satisfying, but not as interesting as the first half of the book promises.
I am glad I read it, as its meditations on the nature of reading are fascinating. They come at you from all sides, and you consider your own relationship to reading as a result. I’m not sure if I’d recommend it, though.
I liked portions of this very much; the first 80-100 pages are very good. Each little first chapter (or short story) is interesting in its own way, and you get drawn into the spiral of the Reader in an effortless way.
However, the book loses a ton of focus for around 30-40 pages after this, and it has the unfortunate effect of detailing the book. The ending picks up the pieces in a way which is satisfying, but not as interesting as the first half of the book promises.
I am glad I read it, as its meditations on the nature of reading are fascinating. They come at you from all sides, and you consider your own relationship to reading as a result. I’m not sure if I’d recommend it, though.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced