Invisible Cities in On Paths Unknown

Feb 23, 2016 Xandra rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1950-1999, european, surreal-fantasy-magic, 1001-books, z-m, italian-roman

I think I haven’t clashed so violently with goodreaders’ opinion since reading Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet, but I can’t trick myself into liking this book when I didn’t care for it at all. It is beautiful, poetic, dreamlike, subtle, clever; yes. I can see it materialized as a sculpture, a painting or even turned into a sonata. It’s the kind of book that has the potential of making you feel like you're floating in the sea on a pleasant summer evening. But for me it was more like being thrown into t ...more

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Nov 02, 2015 Nandakishore Mridula rated it really liked it

Oh,the city, city... the endless sea...
Fun and games on top, mud and filth beneath -
A beauty who smiles on the surface;
The mistress who wouldn't let you go...

So wrote one of our poets.

You live in the city: and slowly, the city starts living in you. It takes on a life of its own in your mind. Once the city gets to you, it won't let you go. (I speak from personal experience. I spent twelve eventful years of my life in Cochin, and I carry that city with me, even here in the Middle East.)

Italo ...more

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Dec 06, 2013 Himanshu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: magical-realism, hulk-smashed-my-mind, quickies, reviewed, favorites, want-to-live-in

What in the world was Calvino smoking?

This is my immediate reaction and I can't get over it. Now that I look at the copy that I have just read, it seems absolutely impossible to have been written. Absolutely IMPOSSIBLE. ...more

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Aug 28, 2015 Phil J rated it really liked it

A dumb person's review:

I would probably like this book more if I was smarter. A smart person or a person with a lot of time on their hands would create a vast chart containing all the themes and motifs, all the relationships between the elements, and their development as connected to the Polo/Khan scenes. That smart person is not me.

To me, this was a mosaic of vignettes. Each vignette described a city or a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. The Polo/Khan pieces are supposedly a fra ...more

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