Reviews

As Cidades Invisíveis by Italo Calvino

tired_maia's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

gera_mtz's review against another edition

dark reflective

4.75

tregina's review against another edition

5.0

Upon reaching the end of this book I am left with the thought, "Now what was it really about?" An oral atlas of unknown urban spaces, it is made up of wisdom and imagination and mystery and fragments of the known world, of philosophical ideas and questions about the nature of reality. Are they fantasies? Are they metaphors? Is the dreaming and telling of the travels the most important thing? Or, ultimately, is it all about this:

“I speak and speak,” Marco says, “but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. The description of the world to which you lend a benevolent ear is one thing; the description that will go the rounds of the groups of stevedores and gondoliers on the street outside my house the day of my return is another; and yet another, that which I might dictate late in life, if I were taken prisoner by Genoese pirates and put in irons in the same cell with a writer of adventure stories. It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear."

itsyeboy's review against another edition

informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition

Probably the best book I read in 2013. Came across it a few years ago, reading a small extract in a postgrad lecture and was mesmerized. Took me a long time to pick it up, but it was instantly enjoyable. Beautiful prose even if there's no solid narrative as such. Had a very brief conversation about it with a stranger in a bookshop- he told me to get 'if on a winter's night a traveller...' as it would "blow my mind"- I can't make judgements on a book i've yet to read, but this one is sufficiently 'mind blowing' for now. About Venice, but for me it's just as much about Hong Kong.

(Italy)

jkey_hwood's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

trin's review against another edition

2.0

Wait, shit, now I think I'm back to not understanding Calvino again. I mean, I think I got at least part of this book intellectually, but emotionally it did nothing for me. The language was at times beautiful and clever and compelling, but mostly I was sitting here thinking, “And...?” or, like, waiting for Marco Polo and Kublai Khan to make out or something. Can someone who was affected positively by this book tell me why it worked for them?

chinooo's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

3.0

johannd's review against another edition

4.0

Nothing more than what you make of it. A collection of quasi-poems that you can either take time to meticulously decipher the individual metaphors of or just enjoy the prose and childlike wonder that it might instill. And honestly, both are equally rewarding.

forgpnod's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Id love to understand this book in any capacity.