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tiff_low 's review for:
Invisible Cities
by Italo Calvino
Sometimes, I have trouble showing my friends around Seattle because I am afraid that by doing so, I am treading over the thin threads of memories that I have of people that are no longer in my life. I am afraid that the city that we experienced together will cease to exist in my memory— what I failed to realize is that the city in my mind has always been changing, and that it is not the true form.
This book read like a bowl of soft, cooked rice. Absolutely delicious and textured— it leaves you turning Calvino’s magical imagery of reality and cities around and around in your mind’s mouth. What is past, present, and future? What are we protecting by naming it something else? What is mimicry, and what is reality?
“Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased," Polo said. "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”
I am afraid of losing some memories of my cities, even if they are painful, but it is the process of holding onto something so tight even though it’s no longer there that causes so much pain. Cities in this book are like people (if they aren’t describing people to begin with). You have to let go the illusion of having control.
I really want to read this again in a hard copy again before I give it any ratings, because it is a short book and I think that it deserves more of my attention so that I am listening, rather than just taking what I want.
This book read like a bowl of soft, cooked rice. Absolutely delicious and textured— it leaves you turning Calvino’s magical imagery of reality and cities around and around in your mind’s mouth. What is past, present, and future? What are we protecting by naming it something else? What is mimicry, and what is reality?
“Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased," Polo said. "Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it, or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”
I am afraid of losing some memories of my cities, even if they are painful, but it is the process of holding onto something so tight even though it’s no longer there that causes so much pain. Cities in this book are like people (if they aren’t describing people to begin with). You have to let go the illusion of having control.
I really want to read this again in a hard copy again before I give it any ratings, because it is a short book and I think that it deserves more of my attention so that I am listening, rather than just taking what I want.