Reviews

The Distance of the Moon by Italo Calvino

steelydan's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

2.0

janavi's review

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Title story the least challenging to get through; the rest required more thought. Upon first read I thought I was incapable of understanding, but am glad I revisited. short and unique ways of  blending creation myths and science with whimsy and earnestness

audreyx_'s review

5.0

so weird. in love w this!!

billietiger's review

4.0

Before Rick and Morty was cool :d
I really enjoyed those short stories and I would read the full collection Cosmicomics.
"I shall implode, collapse inside the abyss of myself, towards my buried centre, infinitely."
"Time is a catastrophe, perpetual and irreversible."
"Any way time runs it leads to disaster whether in one direction or its opposite and the intersecting of those directions does not form a network of rails governed by points and exits, but a tangle, a knot..."

mmooo's review

adventurous inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

sigkil's review

adventurous funny inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

ineffablebooks's review

5.0

“Climb up on the Moon? Of course we did. All you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were underneath, prop a ladder against her and scramble up.”
I thought this was going to be deep, philosophical non fiction about science. How wrong I was, and how glad I am that I opened it. It’s like if Tolkien wrote Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Pure sci-fi whimsy.

zoebasson's review

5.0

“we had her on top of us all the time, that enormous moon: when she was full - nights as bright as day, but with a butter-coloured light - it looked as if she were going to crush us”

this was amazing. honestly, now i just want yo read everything italo calvino has ever written because, what??? why was that so good. it was only like 50 pages lmao.

this was so beautiful. i got it at the tate britain yesterday, and it’s my first of the little penguin modern short stories collection. the book contains four short stories: the distance of the moon, without colours, as long as the sun lasts, and implosion. i think the first and last ones stood out the most to me, but they were all actually written so well, and made me think so much.

if you’re looking for quality over quantity, this one’s for you <33

omgnikki's review

4.0

literally when you still look for her as soon as the first silver spoears in the sky and the nore it waxes the more clearly you imagine you can see her. her or something of her. but only her in a hundred a thousand different vistas. when its she who makes the moon the Moon and whenever she is full sets the dogs to howling all night long and you with them!!!!

alles_allerlei's review

2.0

2,5 von 5 Sternen

Von den 4 Geschichten die dieses Büchlein beinhaltet gefielen mir leider nur eine so wirklich und eine andere ein bisschen.
Mein Favorit aus der Sammlung war definitiv "Without Colors" für die unfassbar tollen Bilder die Calvino hier in meinem Kopf geschaffen hat.
Das schaffte er auch ein bisschen bei "The Distance of the Moon" aber bei weitem nicht so eindringlich.
Die beiden anderen Geschichten "As Long as the Sun lasts" und "implosion" waren für mich einfach nur Mäh.
Fand ich bei der erstenern der beiden noch die Grundsätzliche Idee "nett" so hat mich letztere in keinster weise beeindruckend, tangiert oder gar begeistert.

Vor allem störte mich an allen Geschichten unfassbar wie die Weiblichkeit hier einen bestimmten Platz zugesprochen bekommen hatte über welche die Männlichkeit bestimmen kann. Klar wenn man bedenkt das (bis auf letzte) die Geschichten in den 60ern erschienen sind könnte man meinen "das war halt damals so" , stieß mir aber dennoch sehr übel auf wie hier die Macht die die Männlichkeit über die Weiblichkeit hat und wie über sie bestimmt werden könne dargestellt wurde.