Italo Calvino was only twenty-three when he first published this bold and imaginative novel. It tells the story of Pin, a cobbler's apprentice i... read full description
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Nov 18, 2009
Pamela
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Calvino's first novel written at the age of twenty three is set during Italy's struggle for Liberation during WWII. Calvino was a member of a partisan group based in the mountains and drew on his own experiences to write this novel of the Resistance. However, not content with a fictional memoir, he wanted to create a polemic. As he says in his preface: "I wanted to conduct a campaign on two fronts simultaneously: to launch an attack both against the detractors of the Resistance and agains
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Jun 16, 2009
Charlotte
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I don't really understand why I liked this book so much. But I did. I couldd finish neither invisible cities nor difficult loves, but this book, calvino's first, at 23(!), i picked up at 11 am last friday morning and was 10 pages from the end by the end of the work day. every free moment i was inside those pages.
so apparently i'm not a fan of later calvino.
published in 1947, this is a coming of age tale of a young urchin, abused by his older sister who is a prostitute f More...
so apparently i'm not a fan of later calvino.
published in 1947, this is a coming of age tale of a young urchin, abused by his older sister who is a prostitute f More...
Oct 13, 2009
Alison
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Apr 20, 2011
Moonquake
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I enjoyed the book for it's depiction of the ambiguities underlying the world of adults/children, men/women, partisans/fascists, Germany/Italy, etc. Perhaps the most intriguing duality, at least from Pin's perspective, is the one between war/games which he never seems to distinguish throughout the novel.
However, one criticism of Calvino as a critic of his own work is needed for any review of this book considering the addition of a very revealing preface by the author. The preface was More...
However, one criticism of Calvino as a critic of his own work is needed for any review of this book considering the addition of a very revealing preface by the author. The preface was More...
May 12, 2011
Pin è l’unico in tutto il carrugio a conoscere il sentiero dove fanno il nido i ragni. Quello è un luogo sicuro: il posto in cui ripararsi dalle ingiustizie dei grandi, dove scappare quando qualcuno vuole picchiarlo per aver fatto qualche battuta allusiva, dove andare a nascondere la pistola che gli uomini dell’osteria gli hanno imposto di rubare al marinaio tedesco che giaceva con la sorella. "Forse un giorno Pin troverà un amico, un vero amico, che capisca e che si possa capire, e allora
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Aug 18, 2011
Kate
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I am endebted to the editors of World Literature Today for their recent article on the literature of Liguria that led me to this absolute gem.
The Path to the Nest of Spiders was an exciting find for several reasons:
It is completely different from anything Calvino ever wrote after (it was his first novel, written at the age of 23). I love Invisible Cities also; to see how an authors style can change so drastically (and to read him explain why in the masterful preface by Calvi More...
The Path to the Nest of Spiders was an exciting find for several reasons:
It is completely different from anything Calvino ever wrote after (it was his first novel, written at the age of 23). I love Invisible Cities also; to see how an authors style can change so drastically (and to read him explain why in the masterful preface by Calvi More...
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Feb 06, 2012
Vale
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"Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno" è uno dei primi libri scritti da Italo Calvino. L'autore decise di pubblicare il proprio romanzo dopo aver curato per Einaudi "Una questione privata" di Fenoglio. Perché? Innanzitutto Calvino si rese conto che l'Italia aveva bisogno di narrazioni del dolore per ricollegare frammenti di storie tra gli italiani. La guerra aveva diviso, aveva suscitato odio, ma come un pianto spezzato, questo dolore era muto perché si voleva dimenticare, si voleva
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Aug 19, 2011
i.a.i.a
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Recensione su Temperamente: Pin è l’unico in tutto il carrugio a conoscere il sentiero dove fanno il nido i ragni. Quello è un luogo sicuro: il posto in cui ripararsi dalle ingiustizie dei grandi, dove scappare quando qualcuno vuole picchiarlo per aver fatto qualche battuta allusiva, dove andare a nascondere la pistola che gli uomini dell’osteria gli hanno imposto di rubare al marinaio tedesco che giaceva con la sorella. Forse un giorno Pin troverà un amico, un vero amico, che capisca e che si p
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Mar 07, 2011
Rhys
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Calvino's first book, a 'neo-realist' novel about the partisan struggle against the Nazis and the Fascists in the closing years of World War II in northern Italy. The story follows the resourceful child Pin as he steals a pistol from a German soldier and is forced to escape to the mountains, where he joins a ragged band of partisans -- volunteers in 'Dritto's Detachment', which is made up entirely of misfits who aren't really trusted by the more competent soldiers in the other detachments.
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Sep 05, 2008
Travis
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A very simple but effective book that Calvino seems to have had major misgivings about once it (his first book) became a big hit. I can understand his later-life qualms with caricaturing his own acquaintances and playing up vulgarity, and while he also questioned his own (unnaturally) neorealist style, I can't argue that it doesn't work perfectly for this book. His opening essay delves into this, explaining how it seemed so suitable at the time to use what they thought was objective realism to d
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Jul 18, 2008
Daniel
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This was Calvino’s first novel, by his account written hurriedly in the final months of 1946—though the available translation incorporates revisions the author made years after the book’s initial publication, as well as including Calvino’s apologetic and nostalgic preface, written in 1964, in which he laments the short lived era of postwar Italian literature where it seemed possible to recreate the novel from scratch. Calvino also muses (absurdly in his case, given the inventiveness of his later
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Oct 11, 2010
Eoin
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A powerfully strange first novel from one of the greats. Though not as fantastic (in the many ways Calvino is rightly known) as the later work, this book certainly holds a distinct way of seeing the world. Worth it as a companion to The Road to San Giovannior, perhaps,Catch-22.
Nov 14, 2007
Meghan
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I loved this book. It is absolutely pulsing with humor and suspense and sex and desperation and hunger. The novel is set in Italy during World War II and reminds me a lot of Hemingway because it deals so much with food and manhood and because there is a general distrust of women in it. But it is lighter than Hemingway (except perhaps Hemingway's Nick Adams). The main character is Pin, a boy who is too young to fight in the war, so he proves his manhood through jokes and clever insults at gro
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Sep 15, 2011
Peter
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A wonderful first novel from my hands-down favorite author. Calvino's work is rich enough to make you want to learn Italian, but this British translation seems apt, considering it's a wartime story. Described by Calvino in a critical Preface to the book (written 17 years later) as a work of "neo-expressionism" it is a cinematic and didactic but serenely beautiful story of a precocious boy's life with the partisans fighting the German occupation in the backcountry hills of the Liguria
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Nov 22, 2007
jeremy
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Italo Calvino joined the Italian Resistance in 1943, and his experiences as a partisan during the final years of World War II helped shape the ideas he would use for his first novel, written four years later at the age of twenty-four. Set in Italy during the war, The Path to the Spiders' Nests is a coming-of-age tale about Pin, an orphaned apprentice who spends his days hanging out at the bar frequented by his prostitute sister. After stealing a pistol from one of his sister's Nazi clientele, th
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Nov 26, 2008
Calvino "incorporates allusions to Kipling, Hemingway, Collodi's Pinnochio, and above all to Treasure Island. This too is an adventure story with a boy at its center in which the fighting men are flawed, bizarre, sometimes murderous, often morally contradictory" - Ann Lawson Lucas
Feb 15, 2010
Sarath
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the story reveals the complex human behaviour and asks fundamental questions about life. Written in the point of view of a youngster , Pim ,the novelist asks disturbing questions about the world of grown-ups and mocks the serious subjects of the people; like war, revolution etc.
Jul 30, 2011
Katie
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The Path to the Nest of Spiders follows the story of Pin, a child caught up in the Second World War in Italy. I enjoyed this novel which focuses on a country and period of history to which I am not completely familiar.
Apr 29, 2010
Matthew
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Calvino's first novel, informed by his experience as a Partisan in northern Italy during WWII.
It is not a memoir, or a story narrated by a proxy for the author. Calvino wisely looks at the confusion through the eyes of a child, a filthy little joker who identifies with adults, but despises their predictable habits. It is easy to grow fond of this character, and to look forward to his taunts and jeers the same way the shabby rebels do.
The best thing about this edition is More...
It is not a memoir, or a story narrated by a proxy for the author. Calvino wisely looks at the confusion through the eyes of a child, a filthy little joker who identifies with adults, but despises their predictable habits. It is easy to grow fond of this character, and to look forward to his taunts and jeers the same way the shabby rebels do.
The best thing about this edition is More...
Aug 02, 2011
Ryan
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This one was enjoyable, it didn't seem stretched or bothered... Calvino often makes his best writings concise, while this one was more about a journey for its main character, & the adventure that ensued!
Jan 04, 2009
Kelly
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I read this in Italian, in Italy. I believe this was my introduction to Calvino. While not his best, fortunately didn't dissuade me from exploring his other books.
Dec 21, 2009
Chris
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I read this book when I went travelling in my early twenties and it has in some way always atayed with me. A very touching well written story.
Aug 24, 2009
Todd
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This may not be my favorite Calvino work, but Pin may just be my favorite of his protagonists. It's a quick read and well worth it.
May 21, 2011
Paraskevi
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This is the first novel that Calvino wrote. not as good as some of his later work, but still I liked it a lot.
