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Title: Invisible Cities (A Harvest/Hbj Book) by Italo Calvino, William Weaver ISBN: 0-15-645380-0 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: May, 1978 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.59 (59 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Nervewrackinly Hypnotic
Comment: I took a college class recently which featured this book. I found the concept behind this book original, clever, and intelligent. A number of reviewers here have used the word "pretentious," but I don't see it as such at all. I will warn you now however, that if you are looking for a plot, you won't find one in this book. But the story that nevertheless unfolds in you mind, is indescribable.
The backdrop for the story is an imaginary Marco Polo telling an eqully imaginary Kublai Kahn about all of the wondrous cities he has visited in his travels across the known world... but what the reader gets is far from "known." Instead, through Polo's vivid descriptions, Calvino takes you on a journey through a number of mythical cities, each more fantastic and surreal than the last. Slowly the reader comes to understand that the cities Polo describes, do not per-se exist in reality, but in his imagination and dreams. Time, we find, has no meaning to these characters who we find later are as mythical as the cities that they describe.
In summary, Calvino tells a hypnotic and poetic story with his imaginative depictions of these fantasy cities. The book is pure imagination, with no plot to get in the way. It will give your imagination a well-needed workout. It is different than your average novel, and it will certainly have an acquired taste to it, but if you are willing to try, you will not be disappointed. If you enjoy this book, I would also recommend Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams," which is similar in style, just as imaginative, and twice as good!
Rating: 5
Summary: Invisible cities - visible genius
Comment: Calvino is well-known for stretching the form of the novel, and Invisible Cities is certainly innovative in this respect. Somewhat in the style of '1001 Nights', the reader is offered a series of one page descriptions of the cities Marco Polo has visited on his travels. Interspersed with this are conversations between Polo and his patron, Kublai Khan. The Khan has not seen these places because his empire is simply too big. In this sense the cities are invisible. However, it becomes increasingly likely that Marco Polo hasn't seen them either. Is he describing nothing but different facets of his home town, Venice - or is he making the whole thing up?
Wherever the truth may lie, each city Polo describes is simultaneously fantastic and true. Each page captures the magical reality of urban life, in a way that no 'realist' account ever could. Not only is this a great novel, it is a novel all town planners and architects should be forced to read. Calvino reminds us that we will only ever live in cities as grand as our imaginations. What we need is to imagine more vividly.
Rating: 5
Summary: The journey of all journeys
Comment: I will not go on a trip without this book. It provides insight and intrigue each time i pick it up.
I've actually lost my original copy and am on the search for the next.
The tales are like day dreams drifting in and out of the air with a gentle breeze. They lift and entice the senses.
Get this in your collection and begin your armchair travels as soon as possible.
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Title: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, William Weaver ISBN: 0156439611 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino ISBN: 0156226006 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 04 October, 1976 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Difficult Loves by Italo Calvino, William Weaver, Archibald Colquhoun ISBN: 0156260557 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino, J. Ferrone, H. Wolff ISBN: 0156659751 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: March, 1977 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, Archibald Colquhoun ISBN: 0156106809 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: March, 1977 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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