Italo Calvino
1979
Around 260 pages
Continuing our run of impressive novels, we reach our farewell to Calvino. The List is killing off more likable characters lately than Joss Whedon. Here's my official Calvino ranking:
1. Invisible Cities
2. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
3. Our Ancestors
4. The Castles of Crossed Destinies
5. Path to the Nest of Spiders
As you can see, this one was only slightly edged out of being on top due to the awesomeness that is Invisible Cities. But I have to give Calvino credit here, he wrote a story in second person that didn't make me want to throw it across the room. I'm not sure that has ever happened before.
The main character in the first part of each chapter is the reader. I always knew I would be a star! The story begins with us reading a book, only to realize that all of the pages are out of order. We then go to a bookstore to get a new copy. At the bookstore, we meet a beautiful girl, Ludmilla, who shares our love of books. We develop a relationship while on the quest for the rest of Calvino's book.
So that's the frame narrative, and then we also get the first chapters of ten different novels. If a different author took on this premise, it might have been a post modernist mess, but thanks to Calvino's steady hand, it works. And I always love books that examine the acts of reading and writing.
A fitting farewell to one of the most creative writers on the List.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
The 2021 video game If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers was named after the book.
UP NEXT: The Safety Net by Heinrich Boll
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