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Title: Mr. Palomar (Helen and Kurt Wolff Books) by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0-15-662780-9 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: "We don't know what they mean..."
Comment: Here is another great example of how versatile a writer Italo Calvino was. His work always had a philosophical side to it, and in Mr. Palomar that side almost takes over completely.
Mr. Palomar is the main character (in fact, one of the only characters) and the world simply befuddles him to an extent that he needs to find order and meaning in everything. His attempts are often very funny, but how they're all inevitably spoilt is even funnier. Probably the best example of this is the section entitled "The Naked Bosom" - Palomar tries to find a way to both not deny himself the natural pleasure of seeing a topless sunbather and not denying the naked sunbather digity and respect. His attempts cause him to pass by the sunbather so frequently that she gets up in a huff. Good intentions, bad implementation. The book circles around similar themes, but within many different contexts. Palomar looks at waves, rhapsodizes on mating turtles, examines the night sky, examines the patrons of a cheese shop, etc. Mr. Palomar is always in natural and real-life situations, but over-analyzing them to a degree almost of unreality. Though it sometimes reads like a very heady, and bordering on the pretentious, book, it's actually a very funny book about trying to find meaning in life, and the inevitable problems one will likely have in finding meaning all by oneself. It almost reads like a parody of intellectualism; of someone so thirsting for knowledge that they forget their very surroundings and paradoxically neglect themselves and others in the process. The more Palomar examines the world, the less he feels comfortable in it, and the further he seems to drift from people and society. By the end of the book, Palomar is in pretty bad shape in this regard, and the book's final sentence will either stun you or make you laugh very hard. Yes, there is a story (and arguably a plot) it's just told very unconventionally.
Some of the standout sections are "The Naked Bosom" (mentioned earlier, about the sunbather), "Marble and Blood" (about hidden guilt in a butcher's shop), and "Serpents and Skulls" (about interpreting ancient meanings). All of these are at once funny and profound. Through Palomar's search the reader gets a peek at some of the great questions and some controversial issues. How one deals with these questions and issues is something every reflective, for those fortunate enough to have time and resources for reflection, human being must wrestle with. In the end the book asks a big question: "How to deal with all of this?" It is doubtful that Mr. Palomar provides a good example, but it is entertaining to follow his steps through the maze of existence's puzzles.
The table of contents of this book are not where one would expect. They have been put to the back of the book as an index, and coded thematically and experientially. The index explains the structure of the book. I can't say I've seen this approach elsewhere, but it makes me wonder if Palomar is responsible for them - is the index part of the parody?
Palomar is experimental, funny, profound, unconventional, and at last entertaining and challenging to read. This pretty much sums up all of Calvino's books. He never settled on one approach or one style for too long. One never knows what they're going to get when one picks up a book by Calvino.
Rating: 5
Summary: superb
Comment: There is one group of people who will not appreciate this piece: the illiterate.
Rating: 1
Summary: GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!
Comment: Published in 1983, this is unfortunately one of the last works by Calvino to appear in his lifetime (He died in 1985). It is apparent that his inspiration had left him and instead of creating great novels, he started dabbling in pseudo-philosophical meanderings. Well, I guess all writers lose their power at some point.
Mr. Palomar is about a man who is so afraid of living in the harsh world of change and interaction that he develops a system of order and analyzation that will explain the reason for everything. For example, at the beginning of the novel he is watching waves crash on the beach. The watching makes him uncomfortable until he puts a logical system in place that will allow him to predict how each wave will rise and fall.
Palomar tries to get at the underlying first cause and reason of everything he encounters. For example, he tries to figure out the language of birds, or the thought processes of an albino gorilla. The problem is that there is always something around which messes up his perfect system and sends him back to the drawing board. There is no plot in this book so no summary will explain what goes on in the book. It is merely one character's ramblings about the world and himself.
Frankly, I thought this book was drop dead boring. I'm all for intellectual head scratching but this book just wouldn't shut up. There is no motion in the novel. It just sits there and expects you to say "great book". Well, that wouldn't be a true statement. There isn't even a shadow of a plot and the whole thing just seems lifeless. I would recommend The Baron in the Trees or Marcovaldo, also by Calvino instead of getting this book.
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Title: Difficult Loves by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0156260557 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: T Zero (Harbrace Paperbound Library, Hpl 70) by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0156924005 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 01 October, 1976 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Cosmicomics (Harbrace Paperbound Library, Hpl 69) by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0156226006 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1976 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Invisible Cities (A Harvest/Hbj Book) by Italo Calvino, William Weaver ISBN: 0156453800 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 01 May, 1978 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0156572044 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1983 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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