bab reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Dnf, don’t get the point of it
165 pages
English language
Published Oct. 29, 1974 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
4 stars
(88 reviews)
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which "has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be," the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating fine details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.
Noam reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
One of the most magical books of all times
5 stars
This book is unlike almost any other book out there. A series of philosophical poetic vignettes that explore how people relate to the places around them, the time they move through, and each other, every one-page chapter is a poignant, self-contained thought. Sometimes wistful, sometimes funny, sometimes just downright weird. This is a must-read.
Robin reviewed Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Review of 'Invisible Cities' on 'Goodreads'
I probably didn’t get it.
hunterowens reviewed Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
what is a city
5 stars
a weird khan and marco polo dialogue mediatation y thing about the nature of cities
fucked me up A+ would recommend
"a city too probable to be real "
tgt reviewed Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Review of 'Invisible Cities' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
Excellent prose and several cities really worked for me, but much of it left me confused, searching for meaning where none may exist. I can see it gaining additional stars on re-read.
chrisamaphone reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. More poetry than narrative. But every time I picked it up was an interesting meditative experience.
It was a very male-centric book and that made it pretty boring to me at times. The only points at which women were mentioned were describing wanting to have sex with them.
Steen Christiansen reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Refreshingly imaginative and clear-sighted in its view of humanity, this is a wonderful book.
loppear reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on Goodreads
4 stars
Thought-provoking sketches of cities (or the layers of a city), though despite some standouts and a nice iterative thread and theme, did not rise above the level of a collection of vignettes.
Eduardo Santiago reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Such a treat to read Calvino again! Especially interesting to read so closely after listening to Dan Carlin's podcast series on the Khans, although my newfound knowledge of the Mongol empire wasn't especially helpful for enjoying Calvino's quirkiness.
Invisible Cities seemed more melancholic than Calvino's other works (as I remember them) but was still lovely and delightful.
Fionnáin reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
Stunning moments, glimmers of life in cities that are each independent of one another, held together by the joy of dipping in and out. This is not a page turner, it's a treasure of ephemeral fits. Incredible.
tradecraft reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I think it's inescapable to compare Calvino to Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams." Calvino is the early explorer of this sort of surrealistic fable; Lightman does a better job of creating an aesthetic and meaningful whole. After reading Einstein's Dreams, I have a clear sense of the message of the author (live your life with mindfulness; experience time with mindfulness). Calvino seems to have been sending out signals into the aether, never getting an answer back. That being said, his imagination, and his language, are fantastic, comparable to the imaginative punishments of Dante.
nekokat reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Exquisite. Quick to read, but vast and full of possibility. A love poem to an infinite number of cities, or perhaps just to one: a city defined by the superposition of all the stories -- or by the things left unsaid, when all the stories are told. Echoes of [a:Jorge Luis Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1306036027p2/500.jpg].
nicknicknicknick reviewed Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Review of 'Invisible Cities' on Goodreads
4 stars
1) ''This---some say---confirms the hypothesis that each man bears in his mind a city made only of differences, a city without figures and without form, and the individual cities fill it up.''
2) '''It has neither name nor place. I shall repeat the reason why I was describing it to you: from the number of imaginable cities we must exclude those whose elements are assembled without a connecting thread, an inner rule, a perspective, a discourse. With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.'''
3) '''Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased,' Polo said. 'Perhaps …
1) ''This---some say---confirms the hypothesis that each man bears in his mind a city made only of differences, a city without figures and without form, and the individual cities fill it up.''
2) '''It has neither name nor place. I shall repeat the reason why I was describing it to you: from the number of imaginable cities we must exclude those whose elements are assembled without a connecting thread, an inner rule, a perspective, a discourse. With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.'''
3) '''Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased,' Polo said. 'Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.'''
4) ''Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong and their figures are unable to describe the heavens, or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters.''
Ted reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Vignettes, charged with antiquity and universality.
jami reviewed Invisible cities by Italo Calvino (Harvest/HBJ book)
Review of 'Invisible cities' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Invisiville is beautiful, populated with fascinating people in homes of spectacular inventiveness, with undiscovered cultural traditions. You can enter Invisiville through several similar passages, to see the varied parts of the city. Once you leave, however, you will not remember which passages you have used before. It is frustrating, as you want to see all of this wondrous city, without missing any, but you find yourself using the same entrances again and again. Your best bet is to put aside your itinerary and see all of Invisiville at once.
Subjects
- Polo, Marco, -- 1254-1323? -- Fiction
- Kublai Khan, -- 1216-1294 -- Fiction