Leah's review

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374233.If_on_a_Winter_s_Night_a_Traveler?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1175386803m/374233.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374233.If_on_a_Winter_s_Night_a_Traveler?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">If on a Winter's Night a Traveler</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/155517.Italo_Calvino">Italo Calvino</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26168328?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>Italo Calvino's book, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, begins by assaulting the reader: <br/> <br/>"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!" Raise your voice--they won't hear you otherwise--"I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell; "I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!" Or if you prefer, don't say anything; just hope they'll leave you alone." <br/> <br/>And so goes the opening paragraph. The entire introduction is an encouragement to read, with the punchline being that Calvino himself is delaying your reading of his novel! <br/> <br/>But don't think this book a non-fiction. The book is in fact a text that is part short story collection, part novel within a novel, part commentary on reading, and part... well, I don't know... It's hard to say. The format follows The Reader and The Other Reader (the latter a woman named Ludmilla) as they go through reading ten very different novels, never quite finishing any one. As the characters find themselves not finishing their novels, so do the readers of Calvino's book. <br/> <br/>Interspersed through these engaging vignettes are some very interesting ideas on what reading means and how different types of reading can affect the way a story is perceived. In showing us this view into his mind, Calvino in effect plays a magic trick on the reader by affecting the way his very novel is read. Unlike authors who try to immerse you in the worlds of their novels, Calvino takes his words and encourages them to float off the page, insisting that you be reminded over and over again that you are, in fact, reading the novel. His idea becomes then to not "let the world around you fade" but to capture it and celebrate it in text. <br/> <br/>The texts themselves are far from humdrum. In fact, their stories are so absorbing that it is no wonder that some readers simply can't take it. Consisting of everything from romances to typical airport thrillers to strange science fiction, the stories remain threaded together by the equally enthralling experience of the two characters. For those who find the Reader and Other Reader less compelling than the stories they read, frustration is definitely a given. Hence, this novel is not for everyone. <br/> <br/>In the MTV generation of fast-moving everything, it's hard to believe that this novel doesn't have some place among those not interested in a unique and entertaining treatise on reading and writing, but it's very possible that we're just not as finicky as we thought. There's no doubt in my mind that Calvino tells a great story. In fact, he tells several great stories. Still, keep in mind the caveat that picking up this novel is not the same as picking up a focused one-story narrative novel; it's not even the same as picking up a collection of short stories. <br/> <br/>Still, the novel as a whole is funny, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and, yes, frustrating. It is a love note to the act of reading, and a love note to all kinds of readers. And, sometimes, love hurts. It's possible that Calvino derives some kind of masochistic enjoyment from playing with the readers, and it's possible that those who get to the end of the novel are masochists themselves. Still, it is also possible that Calvino is letting his readers in on a delicious secret, if only they are willing to stay for the ride. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1293927?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>