Invisible Cities

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Some of the most beautiful and imaginative prose written by man... - Rated

This is truly the work of a genius: Calvino's imagination here exceeds the normal limits of poetic prose, and the beauty of this book is near limitless.

However, it is possible that you will not feel the same about this book if you have never visited Venice. Calvino's beloved city is described hundreds of times over in "Invisible Cities", and for me each description was equally accurate, beautiful and stirring - so anyone without a knowledge of the manifold charms of Venice may miss the point of this book entirely, through no fault of their own.

So, since this book struck me on a particularly personal level, it's not necessarily recommended to all.

Oh, and on a point of information, I thought this was almost infinitely better than "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller...", which I found to be rather gimmicky and contrived. For me "Invisible Cities" was neither of these.

A masterpiece - Rated
This book is a masterpiece for me. It accompanied me throughout a long journey that I took in Europe in the past. It is written in a poetic way that makes you think, reflect and enter into the fantastic world of the invisible cities of Kublai Khan's empire, created by Calvino. Marco Polo works for the Khan. He has to visit many towns of the Mongolian empire so that later he can share his impressions with the great Khan. This is mainly because the empire is so big that Kublai Khan would never be able to visit all towns of his empire.

Each chapter has the name of a town, which is described by Marco Polo. In addition, there are many dialogs between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo that are, in my point of view, the most exciting part of the book. The dialogs are so intelligent and stimulating that I read some of them many times. They can trigger our natural curiosity about the way we see things around us, the future, the past, the present, etc. It is a book to be read in a slow pace so we can reflect upon each part. It helped me to slow down my frequently rushed rhythm of life. How conscious are we while we write the pages of our lives?

A technical warning about "Vintage classics" edition - Rated
Not sure whether this applies to all "Vintage classics" prints of this book, but the one I just go has so miserable printing quality that it is actually quite difficult to read. This might be related to "environment friendly" paper they claim to be using, however the first page (with isbn numbers and company information) for whatever reason is ok. I have never imagined that problems like this might be possible (cheap 3rd world editions in this aspect tend to be much better), unfortunately, as it seems, from now one must start to pay attention to such things...

Truly Sublime - Rated
Before reading this novel, you must note one thing - there is no plot whatsoever. Despite what the blurb says about Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, that is simply a framework, a structure to hold a series of highly impressionistic descriptions of cities together. The book covers a remarkable range of ideas - death, life, religion and relationships to name but four. However, the lack of plot does not make it any less worthwhile nor any less literary - the prose is lush and poetic, lucid and evocative, and it would be hard not to be captivated by Calvino's remarkable style. Inventive, enlessly imaginative, extremely experimental, Calvino created a beautiful and memorable book - in effect, Calvino wrote the plotless novel.

Quality Pretentiousness? - Rated
Authors like Calvino (along with similar authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez) tend to produce extreme reactions in their readers - as evidenced by the reviews for this book, which range from one star to five.

This is predominantly due to the elusive nature of the text. Upon a swift first reading, "Invisible Cities", could be regarded as a pleasing collection of prose works on imaginary cities. It rapidly becomes clear however, that the book is larger in scope than this. Intended not merely as a descriptive work, but as a musing on the concept of city life and home (and belonging), the problems for reviewers begin primarily because parts of this book are very difficult to understand indeed.

Those that fail to notice (or understand) the deeper meanings of the book hold that it is an interesting if ultimately pointless exploration of the imagination (and give one star). Others who fail to understand the work assume that since Calvino is a widely respected author, he must know what he's talking about, and therefore opaqueness must be indicative of genius (and give five stars).

In actuality, the book is worthy of neither condemnation nor lavish praise. It contains some beautiful imaginary cities (sufficiently good for the book to be enjoyed simply on this basis alone) and some interesting concepts in relation to man's interaction not only with the people around him, but also his surroundings. However, some parts of the book seem overly pretentious (especially the latter conversations between Khan and Polo) and lack of clarity clouds Calvino's meaning to the point where it is impossible to tell if he is being very clever or wilfully unfathomable (to produce the former effect).

Overall, an enjoyable and thought-provoking book, evidencing both Calvino's evocative description and also his ability to confuse everyone around him! If you're new to Calvino, it's probably best to start with "If On A Winter's Night A Traveller", which is superior and easier to understand.