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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
This book really shouldn’t work for me, but it does.
“… what was bizarre has become usual, what seemed normal is now an oddity, and virtues and faults have lost merit or dishonor in a code of virtues and faults differently distributed.”
“… what was bizarre has become usual, what seemed normal is now an oddity, and virtues and faults have lost merit or dishonor in a code of virtues and faults differently distributed.”
It was like an extended version of one of Borges's short stories, but not as good. As creative as the use of the city-as-metaphor is throughout, it has overstayed its welcome by the end. It's also a little annoying that there is an ongoing variation of "the point is that there is no point", which could've been guessed by page 5. It seems people seem to really like a line on the last page about escaping hell on earth by finding people who aren't hell, but that seems more autobiographical than anything else. Having suffered under fascism and then been a disappointed communist, I suppose you can understand Calvino's admittance that all he has left is a nihilistic surrender to pleasure. All greater cities of meaning have crumbled.
“The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognise who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.”
5/10 - Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind or this really just wasn't for me. The prose and visual storytelling was undeniably beautiful, but I found the fragmented style without purpose or narrative. I found myself skimming to read the interactions between Khan and Polo because at least with these there were poignant moments and interesting prose that I could digest like the quote I have included above.
5/10 - Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind or this really just wasn't for me. The prose and visual storytelling was undeniably beautiful, but I found the fragmented style without purpose or narrative. I found myself skimming to read the interactions between Khan and Polo because at least with these there were poignant moments and interesting prose that I could digest like the quote I have included above.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I probably should have read an explanation of this book before engaging, but I could tell the whole time it had a lot of metaphors that made me think a bunch. After finishing it, I read some commentary and analysis, and I was heading in the right direction for most of the time. Overall, a fascinating take on what a book can be, how to comment on current affairs, and the human condition.
There was some prose in it that I really enjoyed and thought was beatifully written. I think it just was too little of a plot for me to really enjoy it. As poetry, it was good, but it also felt at times like describing a same city over and over and it was a little difficult for me to get through.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
