A review by lesserjoke
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, Archibald Colquhoun

3.0

This 1957 Italian novel presents the whimsical tale of an eighteenth-century nobleman who climbs a tree as an obstinate child avoiding his dinner and then proceeds to spend the rest of his life up there. Roaming the countryside from branch to branch, he has a series of swashbuckling adventures that are fairly episodic but still good fun. I'm reminded of The Swiss Family Robinson, both for the treetop setting and the tendency for the text to focus on the logistics of this peculiar lifestyle rather than any pressing plot. It also sort of works as a metaphor for sticking to one's own principles, but it's all a bit too silly to take seriously. I would call it a good book for children were it not for the occasional arboreal sex scene.

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