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bookreadgirl21's review against another edition
1.0
DNF
Fuck this book, reading it is a chore.
No your writing isn't good when your sentences are half a page long and contain half a line of actual relevance. This isn't even overwritten, it's written entropy. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people who like this.
Fuck this book, reading it is a chore.
No your writing isn't good when your sentences are half a page long and contain half a line of actual relevance. This isn't even overwritten, it's written entropy. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people who like this.
bookreadgirl22's review against another edition
1.0
DNF
Fuck this book, reading it is a chore.
No your writing isn't good when your sentences are half a page long and contain half a line of actual relevance. This isn't even overwritten, it's written entropy. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people who like this.
Fuck this book, reading it is a chore.
No your writing isn't good when your sentences are half a page long and contain half a line of actual relevance. This isn't even overwritten, it's written entropy. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people who like this.
laynescherer's review against another edition
4.0
"In other words while a story usually consists in the memory you have of it, here not remembering the story becomes the very story itself."
While I was not as entranced by these stories as I usually am with Calvino, I found little turns of phrase that struck a chord. Very playful stories that bring a sense of narrative wonder into overlooked moments.
While I was not as entranced by these stories as I usually am with Calvino, I found little turns of phrase that struck a chord. Very playful stories that bring a sense of narrative wonder into overlooked moments.
margarete's review against another edition
5.0
‘The Soft Moon’ reminded me of the poem "Maria and Oceanus" by Erin Coughlin Hollowell. the moon as muse is fascinating—this satellite that pushes and pulls at us all, alternately goddess and false deity. the monstrosity and horror that the moon represents for the narrator contrasts with common poetic feelings regarding the moon (celestial, awe-inspiring) in a way that makes me want to re-examine lunar poems & writing.
‘Crystals’ really feels like Calvino at his best. that oscillation between one imagined world and another…..the interpolation of two idealized visions…..it is triumphantly poignant and incredibly morose, a familiar script of two beings passing each other in the night, never able to connect. makes me want to weep.
i love how timeless Qfwfq as a narrator and character feels—primordial but also wholly modern. somehow the reader is able to connect with this being and understand his contradictions and opinions, while also accepting the fantastical notion of his immortality. amorphous as he is, one identifies with him!
blood, sea = as within, so without
my most favorite section is the second, which expands on the theme of the previous story and plays with liminality in a really effective way. the focus on cellular structure is both minute and abstract; these three stories correspond and converse with one another so beautifully.
‘Mitosis’, my favorite of the entire collection, speaks to both interoceptive awareness and to the inner state of being that is constantly conflictive, the fear of change: “…yet there was always the repetition of that wrench of myself, of that picking up and moving out, picking myself up and moving out of myself, the yearning toward that impossible doing which leads to saying, that impossible saying that leads to expressing oneself, even when the self will be divided into a self that says and will surely die and a self that is said and that at times risks living on…” somehow here Calvino has penned words that sum up the crux of my existence.
“Priscilla and I are only meeting places for messages from the past”
‘Crystals’ really feels like Calvino at his best. that oscillation between one imagined world and another…..the interpolation of two idealized visions…..it is triumphantly poignant and incredibly morose, a familiar script of two beings passing each other in the night, never able to connect. makes me want to weep.
i love how timeless Qfwfq as a narrator and character feels—primordial but also wholly modern. somehow the reader is able to connect with this being and understand his contradictions and opinions, while also accepting the fantastical notion of his immortality. amorphous as he is, one identifies with him!
blood, sea = as within, so without
my most favorite section is the second, which expands on the theme of the previous story and plays with liminality in a really effective way. the focus on cellular structure is both minute and abstract; these three stories correspond and converse with one another so beautifully.
‘Mitosis’, my favorite of the entire collection, speaks to both interoceptive awareness and to the inner state of being that is constantly conflictive, the fear of change: “…yet there was always the repetition of that wrench of myself, of that picking up and moving out, picking myself up and moving out of myself, the yearning toward that impossible doing which leads to saying, that impossible saying that leads to expressing oneself, even when the self will be divided into a self that says and will surely die and a self that is said and that at times risks living on…” somehow here Calvino has penned words that sum up the crux of my existence.
“Priscilla and I are only meeting places for messages from the past”
saeed82's review against another edition
4.0
دو داستان منشا پرندگان و رانندگی شبانه معرکه بود
من هنوز منتظرم کالوینو باز داستان بنویسه
من هنوز منتظرم کالوینو باز داستان بنویسه
paigeweb's review against another edition
3.75
Lost me and then found me again and I'm so glad it did. One of those books that is entirely unique from any other and completely possessed of itself. I didn't know language was capable of what Calvino has made it do in this.
gritvmd's review against another edition
4.0
At times in each segment Calvino's philosophical tone sounds bleak, but there is always a redeeming sense of real emotion that breaks through. The questions of existence brought up and addressed through physical example feel so precise it is kind of spooky. The last part "the count of monte cristo" wraps up the futility question nicely and leaves you with hope. I need to go back and re-read the Calvino books I read in high school. I doubt I got from them what I got reading this.
moose2k00's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5