Invisible Cities (A Harvest/Hbj Book)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but not Calvino's best
Review: I had the good fortune to read "Invisible Cities" while in Venice and other parts of Northern Italy, where I felt like I was visiting many of the cities described in the book. This book is a tiny little gem collection, with descriptions of each city stretching your brain in a different direction. However, I do feel that some of the chapters are repetitive, particularly on the theme of cities that contain their opposites. For that, I have taken away one star in my review. It reminded me very much of Alan Lightman's book "Einstein's Dreams" which I would also recommend (he's no Calvino, but the format and brain-stretching are similar). My favorite Calvino book will forever remain "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler," which if you do not own you should immediately order a dozen copies and pass them out to everyone you know.

Rating:
Summary: a magnificent novella
Review: Sublime beyond description.
I have loved this book for years. Like so many others, I stumbled into the arms of Calvino through "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller", a book at once beautiful, clever and maddening. And what an intriguing embrace it was. But this - this is truly extraordinary and any attempt to describe it would be utterly futile. I must have read it a dozen times or more, and yet every time I pick it up, it still gives me goosebumps.
Read it now.

Rating:
Summary: ad nauseum
Review: It is one thing to dabble in petty paradox, but when a writer opposes the components of paradox obveresly AND makes the ironic comment on it everytime it becomes apparent that the technique is a stylistic contrivance, more so than the workings of a fecund mind. It is very easy to confuse this type of work as being 'meaningful'. To be sure, the writing in 'Invisible Cities' is greatly crafted, but 'great writing' is not equipollent with 'a great book'. It is also repetitive; I realize this was intended, but it is too repetitive. When a motif is repeated too often it suggests that the writer does not sufficiently trust the audience to be diacritical. When I started this book I was excited, by the end I was incensed with Calvino's egregious overuse of a technique reserved for subtlety.
As characters in the book go, the audience is represented by the self-satisfied ignorance of the Khublai Khan character and Calvino by the obviously superior Polo. The book may even be a blatant display of contempt for the reader. Insincere, prolix and trite observations dolled up in cloying mysticism.

Rating:
Summary: Building Inspiration of Invisible Cities
Review: Readers and fans of Calvino's Invisible Cities may be interested to know that an entire hotel has been hand-crafted on the theme of the book. It is located on the Balearic Island of Menorca, in Spain. Each room is based on a different 'invisible city'. I've seen it, it's amazing, no, it's overwhelming, astonishing. Pictures are at: www.tressants.com

Rating:
Summary: Pales in Comparison to IFOAWNAT
Review: Others have noted the resemblance between Lightman's book "Einstein's Dreams" and this, one of Calvino's less brilliant Theme and Variations. The frame story, in which Marco Polo tells a frustrated Kublai Khan (who realizes he will never truly know the extent of his empire) about cities, real and imagined, that he has visited, is vaguely reminiscent of the 1001 Arabian Nights. Like Scherezade, Marco Polo panders to the Khan, and staves off his ill-humor through stories.

The cities themselves are named after women. Like the majority of Calvino's female characters, they suffer from an over-romanticized flatness that in this case falls short of his usual charm. The cities are mental constructs; they are hypotheticals, along the lines of Borges' "Library of Babel" or even "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." But unlike Borges, who commits to the construct for the space of a story, Calvino just weaves the world and moves on, not bothering to consider the consequences of the rules he's set up. I find it unsatisfying, but this is what some people love about it.

Pretty light fare. Repetitive. Doesn't quite hit its mark.

Rating:
Summary: Why is the print so bad?
Review: This is one of the greatest books I have ever read.

I'm really upset that the only version available at the moment is so badly printed. The body text has been typeset in bold italic, and the printing is so bad that some of the letters have bits missing.

Wait until the publisher decides to print this masterpiece properly, then rush out and buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Cities as a reflection of reality...
Review: Calvino created many books that utterly defy description and evade simple laconic summaries. "Invisible Cities" provides the exemplary of all exemplaries for these traits. This book is to be experienced more than discussed or analyzed. Each reader will likely mine personally unique reflections and meanings from the multitudinous vignettes and themes. Though physically very thin it's actually about three miles thick with meaning. Reading it in one sitting gives the feeling of overeating, like some things ingested were not quite fully digested. This leaves a lingering feeling of regret that one may have eaten too quickly.

Probably the best thing to do after reading "Invisible Cities" is to read it again soon. On a second reading, voluminous nuances begin to peep out from between the lines of text. Then read it again and again and again... every reading reveals something new.

The writing, like all of Calvino's works in translation, is stunning and hypnotic. Most of the book contains second person descriptions of cities, real or imagined, past, present, or future. Discussions between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo bookend these one to three page narratives. The two famous personages often wax philosophical. Sometimes Kublai Khan accuses Marco Polo of lying, or laziness, or stubborness. Kublai Khan wants nothing more than to possess his empire, and he looks to Marco Polo's tales for assistance. But almost immediately something seems awry. The historical Marco Polo died around 1324, but the tales he spins include references to radios, parasols, oil refineries, airports, and other very twentieth century items. Something far juicier than historical fiction begins to unfold.

Though the subject of the book encompasses much more than a mere reflection on cities, it manages to evoke much about their unique nature. Each city contains everything it was and everything it will be. A city contains perspectives, opinions, relationships, inhabitants, and exiles. Calvino pushes his theme almost to its limit. Section nine, the book's final section, becomes almost surreal but still manages to leave a lasting message.

Some standout sections include: the description of the spider-web city supported by veins of ropes; the city where the visitor sees the faces of people he or she once knew in its inhabitants; the city formed by men who dreamt of a naked woman running through city streets; all of the passages are ultimately noteworthy, but some contain shocking beauty. Discernible patterns also weave through the sections and thier titles, and the table of contents itself reveals a pattern.

Written between the lines of this amazing book is the ineffability of all being. Past, present, and future, when put under the microscope, can become incomprehensible and overwhelming. At the same time past, present, and future appear present in everything. "Invisible Cities" reflects this somewhat mind-bending characteristic of reality. Similar to many of the cities Marco Polo relates to Kublai Khan, the book itself is a work of imagination that attempts to envelop the past, present, and future with the analogy of cities and their physical and metaphysical stratifications. It also points out that we all need anchors in this puzzling and fuzzy infinity. Marco Polo reveals his. Does Kublai Khan? Finishing the book will leave readers with a sense that something monumental has occurred, but words won't do justice to this feeling. One will know that "Invisible Cities" stands as an amazing literary achievement, and one of Calvino's finest.

Rating:
Summary: Memory of a past world
Review: This collection of interconnected remembrances- most of which are only a page long is quite amazing. It is like remembering what your ancestors' cities looked like. Moreover, it is like remembering your ancestors' dreams and your own from childhood. If only the world was theis way. I cannot say enough good things about this novel. Get up and buy it today.