Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

like a weird obsession with male characters wanting to either rape or have sex with every woman they encounter or some of the weird parody of feminism done through Lotaria’s character

but even with all of that, I still thought it a worthwhile read with lots of lines that make you truly reflect on things

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novelideea's review

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challenging medium-paced

2.25

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kutreen's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-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

4.75

This was a very unusual book. I never expected to enjoy a novel made up of disjointed, often rambling and very confusing stories. But it was so fun to start to find the connections between the characters the further along I went! I also love when an author talks directly to the reader and comments on the magical journey of reading! Italo is a ruminating weirdo but he really grew on me and I'll be checking out his other books.

Only negative are some unnecessary and painfully male-centric sex scenes. (~3 or so, and thankfully very short)

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I can honestly say that I have never read anything quite like this before. This is a clever, genre-crossing, self-aware piece of literature that truly understands what it means to be a reader, and I overall really enjoyed it. The beginning was fantastic, the ending was outstanding, the middle was a tad muddy, and I definitely preferred returning to the Reader’s story over the little snippets of other novels (sorry but some of the stories were flops and I was rather glad the Reader was interrupted). That said, I’m so glad I picked up this book as it’s a super ingenious way of telling a story, or rather, multiple stories.

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boomsplode_kat's review

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challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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persimmon_lover's review

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adventurous challenging funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I started out loving this book, then hated it, then loved it again. I think that it sometimes feels dated with postmodern tropes from the 70s/80s -- the world is a text, how can we know which text is authentic, what is an author, bla bla bla, it gets kind of tiring and annoying and feels too "on the nose". However, it is saved by the very intuitive and genuine feeling that Calvino brings. Also, the philosophical themes are indeed pretty interesting and deep, but it is just that they sometimes feel a bit overbearing or stereotypical, which I think is more due to the dating of the book and isn't the author's fault. The way that all of this convoluted nonsense gets built up just gets to the point of feeling overbearing and useless, but then it sort of wraps up nicely. Also too many stupid useless creepy sex scenes.

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conbeeni's review against another edition

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challenging funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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