The Baron in the Trees
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The Baron in the Trees
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4.02 of 5 stars
Cosimo, a young eighteenth-century Italian nobleman, rebels by climbing into the trees to remain there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficien... read full description

reviews

Jan 10, 2012
Patrizia rated it: 3 of 5 stars
La disobbedienza acquista un senso solo quando diventa una disciplina morale più rigorosa e ardua di quella a cui si ribella (I. Calvino, presentazione del Barone Rampante nell’edizione annotata per le scuole medie, 1965)

Un ragazzo sale sugli alberi dopo un litigio con i genitori e non ne scenderà mai più. Perché? Tutti ci siamo ribellati ai nostri genitori (e a quello che rappresentavano) anche se, per fortuna, pochi hanno dovuto adottare comportamenti così estremi per riuscire ad a More...
0 comments like (9 people liked it)
Jun 12, 2008
Andrew rated it: 2 of 5 stars
An all around story-teller in the strictest sense, Calvino guides the reader through a delightfully conceived but ultimately unfulfilling novella in The Baron in the Trees. This story is about the Baron Cosimo from a small provincial town in Italy who at the outset of teenagedom becomes fed up with the stale life of his family and the constant nagging of his father and, feeling the need to define himself amongst these trivialities, climbs into a tree and vows never to return to solid ground.
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0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Feb 12, 2008
Mike rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Originally I had read sections of this book in Italian for a class I took while studying abroad. Calvino's sentences and vocabulary can be a bear to translate, especially given the nature of the book; the protagonist, Cosimo, spends most of the novel climbing in various species of tree, and even at the moments of the highest dramatic tension I had to flip through a rather large dictionary to find out that he was traversing a holm oak.

Rereading in English, this fascination with the More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Oct 23, 2008
emily rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I'm just not sure I get Italo Calvino. This book is quite literally about a Baron who, when he's 12, decides he's going to live in the trees (good title, then). He does just that, and we get to learn about how he moves around in the trees, how he dresses, and what he eats. He never comes down, and a lot goes on, but I kept waiting for something else to happen or for something to be explained. That didn't happen. I'm sure this is a metaphor for something, but I’m not sure what. I found this book More...
1 comment like (2 people liked it)
Jan 15, 2012
D.M. rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I was not introduced to Italo Calvino's The Baron In The Trees until nearly thirty years had passed since it was written. I read this book in the context of the first decade of the Twenty-first Century and I may have missed some of its true import. This book needs to be read in the same context as Allen Ginsberg's Howl in that it is an early precursor to the youth rebellion of the 1960s. I can also be read, and should be read in the context of the 2010s in light of the Arab Spring and Occupy con More...
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Sep 06, 2011
Mike rated it: 4 of 5 stars
The twelve year-old heir to the Baron of Ombrosa climbs up a tree to escape an unappetizing family dinner, sometime in the late 1700s. Fifty years (and 200 pages) later, he dies in the treetops, having never again set foot on the ground. Climbing between branches, he travels, has adventures, conducts love affairs, and meets great men of his age. There are dozens of hardships brought on by his self-imposed lifestyle, and interesting methods of meeting these challenges.

This isn't my f More...
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Feb 04, 2012
Anastasia rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Gaber diceva che la libertà non è star sopra un albero, non è neanche il volo di un moscone, non è uno spazio libero, la libertà è partecipazione.

Lo sostengo pienamente.
Ma è anche vero che neanche Cosimo sapeva a che ideale stava dietro nel suo perseguire un proposito che più si va avanti con la storia, più diventa insensato.
Come si fa a dare un senso alle sue intenzioni, alla sua imposizione su un'intera vita, se neanche lui sapeva bene il perché della sua decisione così irr More...
0 comments like (4 people liked it)
Feb 24, 2011
Mike rated it: 4 of 5 stars
When you read multiple works by an author, you start to identify characteristics and themes that unify the oeuvre and allow for adjectives like "Kafkaesque" and "Joycean." The Baron in the Trees is the fourth novel I've read by Italo Calvino, who I consider one of my favorite authors. My experience with Calvino has been somewhat odd, however, because the order in which I've read these four books is almost exactly the opposite order in which he wrote them. I have no doubt that More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Mar 02, 2011
Michael rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Because I have shed more tears for Prince Andrei Bolkonsky than almost anyone else. And his appearance in this book was more miraculist and fabulist than the whole book combined!

Because the sun is now out for both my morning and evening train rides and there are new shadows everyday.

Because I read this book entirely on the trains.
Some days I didnt read it at all because it wasnt terribly great at first

Because Some days I read so much I took the train 50 st More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Nov 15, 2010
Maurizio rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Credo di avere letto per la prima volta Il barone rampante trentacinque anni fa, nell'edizione "ridotta per le scuole" che oltre a togliere il nome del torrente Merdanzo deve avere molto glissato sulle avventure amorose del Barone Cosimo Rondò di Piovasco - o forse ero io troppo ingenuo per ricordarmele? Ripresolo adesso dopo che mi è stato regalato non posso che confermare che è un capolavoro. A me personalmente non piace molto lo stile di scrittura soprattutto nei primi capitoli, che More...
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Nov 16, 2011
Matt rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I look forward to reading much more Italo Calvino. This was a great book. Calvino expertly executes a humorous premise into a fun and emotional tale of a great character with an incomparable will.

This is the story of the Cosimo, the baron of Ombrosa, who at age 12 decides he is fed up with the demands of his family and normal life and climbs a tree, never to come down. The story is told by his brother, which I think was a great point of view for this story. Cosimo is a smart and resour More...
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Apr 10, 2011
Juan Edoardo rated it: 3 of 5 stars
TITOLO: Il barone rampante
LUOGO E DATA DI PUBBLICAZIONE: Milano 1957
AUTORE: Italo Calvino
SINTESI IN TRE RIGHE: Cosimo è un ragazzo che per via di un patto deve iniziare a vivere sugli alberi. Il gioco però continua fina alla fine della sua vita.
SINTESI DELLA TRAMA: Questo libro parla di un ragazzo, di nome Cosimo, che un giorno per via di un litigio col padre decide di rifugiarsi sopra un albero. Lo stesso giorno stringe un patto con la figlia dei vicini, che si chiama Vi More...
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Jan 10, 2012
Luana rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Immaginate di avere una sorella brutta ed arcigna che si impossessa del monopolio culinario e detta per i vostri palati una poco succulenta dieta a base di lumache, lumache per primo, per secondo, per contorno, dolce alle lumache, lumache alle lumache; dopo l’ennesimo lumacoso pranzo della vostra vita, la decisione più sensata che potreste prendere è quella che ha preso Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò - sedicente protagonista de ‘Il barone rampante’ – ossia salire sugli alberi e non scenderne mai più.
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0 comments like (4 people liked it)
May 18, 2009
Shel rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Apr 12, 2011
apoc1985 rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Siempre había escuchado su nombre y me imaginaba que era italiano y seguramente filósofo (tiene nombre de filósofo, ¿no?). Lamentablemente no había tenido oportunidad de leer nada de él, lo que cambió hasta que dos buenas amigas me lo regalaron en mi último cumpleaños. Este autor, efectivamente italiano aunque nacido en la isla de Cuba, murió meses después de que yo nací.

Curiosamente, no erré al recrearlo en mi imaginación como filósofo. El barón rampante es eso: filosofía de vida. A More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Oct 10, 2010
Sara rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Sarà anche una storia di ribellione, quella di Cosimo. La controparte di quel gesto di sfida però – la famiglia e l’aria nobile che si respira nella tenuta - perde ben presto corpo, limitandosi a qualche accenno a inizio capitolo, sempre più sporadico. Da qui il Barone prende una strada tutta sua che lo porta a ricavarsi un posto ad hoc nel mondo, il suo. Non storia di isolamento, dunque, ma di personale interpretazione del vivere insieme agli altri, alla gente del suo tempo e dei suoi posti. La More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Nov 27, 2010
Adam rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Calvino comes up with strong concepts, and then lets them go. Essentially, this is a folk story about a boy who decides to grow up in the trees, creating his own world away from others. Because he doesn't like eating snails. The author then, once the concept is established as the narrative's reality, has to expand the scope and analyze how this could be possible for a real person, going on to establish how the character finds food, goes to the bathroom, has sex. There were touching moments (the More...
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Mar 16, 2009
Grace rated it: 5 of 5 stars
The Baron in the Trees is a story about a boy who climbs into a tree in rebellion against his family, and never comes back down. He doesn't conform to the standard ideas of what he as the Baron should be like, in fact he practically shirks his duties, leaving them to his younger brother to manage. At the same time, it's almost self-destructive. It's like he becomes so used to being in the trees that he doesn't come down, he forgets his reasons for going up and it's more about stubborness than an More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 06, 2009
Solange rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Cosimo, filho do Barão de Rondo, não gosta de caracóis, em sinal (atitude) de revolta (pois o jantar era caracóis e ele recusou-se a comer) decide ir viver no cimo das árvores. Uma promessa para a vida.

Cosimo aprende a viver o seu dia-a-dia (necessidades básicas como comer, lavar, ...) em cima das árvores e a coabitar com as pessoas da região. Leva uma vida “tão” normal quanto poderia levar sem qualquer restrição para além do facto de não descer das árvores.

A evolução de More...
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Aug 20, 2011
Víctor rated it: 5 of 5 stars
El barón Cósimo Piovasco de Rondó sube a un encino a los 12 años de edad debido a un berrinche familiar. No bajará nunca más. Vivirá en los árboles hasta su vejez y desde allí será testigo y a veces actor de todos los episodios históricos de su siglo: será amigo de un bandido famoso, gracias al cual se sumergirá en el placer de los libros; logrará vivir los mejores momentos de su vida con Viola, la mujer amada desde la niñez; será un filósofo admirado por Voltaire; un masón fundador de la Logia More...
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Jun 01, 2011
Elisabeth rated it: 4 of 5 stars
The premise of the story sounds dubious at best, but Calvino's whimsy, his love and appreciation of learning, exploration, literature, and of life in general is contagious. Also, the man can write. His ability to write with a vibrance and joy that still has a tinge of sorrow, his ability to capture a love that is both beautiful and yet stunted by hubris and pride, and his ability to convey with a tender nostalgia both the excitement and sheer stupidity and stubborness of youth is poetry disgui More...
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Nov 16, 2010
Laginestra rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Pensare a quella degli antenati come una trilogia mi è sempre sembrato un torto a questo capolavoro. Lo spessore del Barone rampante è infinitamente superiore ai suoi due cugini (sebbene i tre romanzi portino avanti un discorso unitario, dall'uomo diviso all'uomo che sceglie alla sconfitta del puro razionale, incapace di vivere e, in conclusione, suicida): i fili del romanzo intessono una trama allegorica potente sul significato dell'esserci nel mondo, dell'impegno e del ruolo dell'intellettuale More...
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Nov 18, 2007
Sigi rated it: 4 of 5 stars
When I read this in middle school it was excellent. I couldn't believe that I didn't know Calvino existed; I had to read everything else he wrote.
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jun 19, 2010
Jeremy added it
This is such a breath of fresh air. Calvino seems to be really good at taking these incredibly simple premises and weaving this wonderful sort of fantasy out of them. He does such an amazingly precise job of balancing between these great little moments of pastoral humor and levity along with some very sober reflections on unrequited love and loneliness. Sure, the style is often cute to the point of being treacly, but so what? It's really hard not to fall in love with this world, trees, aristocra More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 20, 2009
Karena rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Simply bizarre. This excerpt from able2know.org sums it up perfectly:

In 1767, 12-year-old Baron Cosimo Piavosco di Rondo refuses to eat the snails he's been served at table and, in an Italian snit, takes to the trees. He spends the rest of his considerably long life in the trees -- with an occasional stopover on a roof or ship's mast, but never touching solid ground again -- in protest against his father and his family, then society in general. The delightful and witty tale, related More...
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May 17, 2010
Natalie rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I love Italo Calvino for the whimsical fables he tells. I usually end up smiling while I'm reading his work. The Baron In The Trees is one of his shorter novels, about a twelve-year-old boy who gets pissed at his parents and decides he will live the rest of his life in the numerous trees in town... and he does. Cosimo, the baron of a small Italian town, has many love affairs, reads all the great philosophers and novelists of Europe, hunts game, fights pirates, helps with the annual crop harve More...
4 comments like (2 people liked it)
May 14, 2010
Mark rated it: 4 of 5 stars
One of the things I love about reading Calvino is that (so far) every story has been different, every literary experiment has yielded insights that are unexpected, witty, and touching.

I found this book no different, though clearly not as deep and brilliant as If On a Winter's Night a Traveller, it is nonetheless worth your time. The story follows Cosimo, who decides, at the ripe age of 12, to live in the trees; he sticks with this whimsical notion for his entire life. It's set in t More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jun 13, 2009
Juliet rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This is a fabulous book! Cosimo decides after an argument with his father that he will go and live in the trees and not come down! In fact he is true to his word (how many of us made equally silly promises when we were young and couldn't keep them?). He manages to live a full and useful life in the trees, preventing fires spreading, hunting food for himself and even having love affairs. Here is a lesson in sustainability and living closer to nature, a plea for tolerance for everyone who chooses More...
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Feb 17, 2009
Foroogh rated it: 4 of 5 stars
من چند سال پیش این کتاب رو خوندم ویه مقدار کند پیش می رفت ولی از اون کتاب هاست که باید یه بار دیگر بخونمش.(بدینگونه عشقشان اغاز شد.کوزیمو خوش ومنگ بود.دختر نیز خود را خوشبخت حس می کرد اما هیچ شگفت زده نبود.(دختران هیچ کارشان اتفاقی نیست )
از همه شگفت تر که می دید عشق چیز ساده ایست.و در ان هنگام می پنداشت که همواره چنین خواهد بود)از متن کتاب More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Sep 23, 2009
Jeff rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I'm trapped between 3 and 4 stars. I give it 3 stars for story power and 4 stars for writing power (though as some other reviewers have said, this translation is a bit ... wooden). And i've chosen to round down because story usually trumps writing for me.

Speaking of the translation, in English when we say "in the trees," we can mean "on the trees," but the reverse isn't really true. The title is translated as a native English speaker would expect but throughout t More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)