If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino - better than Inception? | BOOK REVIEW

The end is never the end is never...
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino is a very complex novel, even more so than Inception! It takes the idea of a world within a world to another level that is enlightening to both avid writers and readers who wonder about what makes a good book. This is one of the greatest books from Italy in the chaotic age of the Western Canon, making it one of the best-known modern classic books from Italy. Italo Calvino is one of few Italian authors who are studied in English literature in translation.
If On A Winter's Night, A Traveler is a postmodern classic, as it really breaks the fourth wall in addressing reader expectations, and demonstrates poststructuralism in destroying what is normally thought to be expected from a novel, and keeping the reader in the present flow of the text, to places where stories normally do not go. It is like a film that goes backstage, and through it, we learn what makes a story good at the level of structure. Even with all this intellectual zigzagging this ends as a satisfying read, but it does really make you work to keep with it, so be patient and you will be rewarded!
I make reference to Christopher Nolan's Memento and Inception, because as films, they strive for the same thing Calvino is doing here but for the medium of cinema. This makes me want to read more western canon books from Italian authors, I much prefer this to Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov although I think that book was attempting a similar level of postmodern innovation. Calvino's funnier.
BUY HERE:
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GoodReads review: / 2915505762
Introduction: (0:00)
Literary Comparisons: (1:41)
Film Comparison: (3:09)
Analysis: (4:00)
/ oolevityoo
* = Dislike (not recommended) ("failed")
** = Okay (recommended to select audience) ("flawed")
*** = Like (recommended to general audience) ("fine")
**** = Really like (strongly recommended to select audience) ("focused")
***** = Love (strongly recommended to general audience) ("fervent")
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[@joannaa1724]

Wow...you are so right. It's so much better than inception (but more complicated to make the connections). Thank you for the upload. I've just finished reading it. I like how you added some scholarly interpretations that you've read about. The images and names of authors he mentions in thd book was great.

[@levitybooks3952]

I actually thought he was talking about a real language and place when I was reading it until I got quite late into the book. It was all very convincing until the fourth or fifth story! I could've been more in-depth in the video but I wanted to keep it short, but I felt like with every new story we were going a layer further from the book and more toward us. I do wonder whether, if this was taken to an even further extreme, there could be a book that tries to work out who the reader is and what they will do next week. Or if he'd added a 'choose your own adventure' style on top of this - it'd have been too much but I wonder whether it could work. It'd be scary but exhilarating to read something that writes so closely about the reader!

[@joannaa1724]

@@levitybooks3952 thanks for the deeper reply. I think if it went any deeper about the reader, it will become a too niche book. It's already challenging for some casual readers, who just want to read one main story line (based on reviews uploaded on KZbin only). That's why I enjoyed your review on KZbin. I'm sure there is lots of scholary discourse about this book. But I'm sure the writer wanted to question that and push boundaries of what a novel is and could be. I've got Ben Lerner's book. It's suppose to be a contemporary reply to push the novel boundries. I haven't read it yet to commnet. But if you ever read his book, which coincidently is also based/staring a train station, I would love to watch your KZbin video review of that too.

[@hannaghasser539]

I am currently reading this book, and I searched the title on KZbin to see what other people thought of it; and then I found your channel !!! Please keep posting book review videos and I am sure you’ll be able to do big things for BookTube community. Sending love.

[@levitybooks3952]

Aw how did I forget to reply to this comment, it's probably the nicest one I ever got, thank you :') I think I need to get back to my old style of recording reviews, I like this one too.

[@Jane-dn5le]

I'm opening a bookstore (book bar actually) this year and I've been reflecting a lot on my favorite books of all time. Been loving Calvino's Cosmicomics for my bedtime stories, then was so jazzed to find a cute used copy of Mr Palomar on sale - I was just feeling Calvino so much and decided it was time to give If On A Winter's Night a Traveler a reread (listening this time). It's such "a vibe" to sit with the windows open to the rain outside, listening to this novel so vibrant with life and bursting with creative genius. The perspective, the leaning on the fourth wall, the referential tone, the romantic subtleties, the compelling suspense of it all, it just hits the spot! When I first read this book I actually got in a fight with someone in my book club because he read only 3 chapters and said it was GARBAGE. The whole experience really sparked a deeper dive into postmodern literature for me and a new way of thinking and talking about postmodern art in general. Great video, subscribed!

[@levitybooks3952]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Yes I was hooked on this from the opening pages, I basically knew this could not be a bad book from that first page. I see why some people lose patience with it but I really think that is on them - the book continually unfolds, informs, and entertains. I'd like to listen to it narrated, I imagine it would be more funny 'hearing' the narrator's chapters. I would really like to read more Calvino I'll probably buy some more of his books later this year. Definitely trying Invisible Cities soon! I've never had a good book club experience yet, which is one of the reasons I took up to doing this for the time being!! I'm a long-time reader and very active on GoodReads so stick around and hopefully I'll review some more books you like, you can send any recommendations my way whenever too.

[@rorystockley5969]

Probably my favourite book of all time! It just an infinite creative energy to it. Love it.

[@levitybooks3952]

Glad to hear, do let me know if you find similar things like it as I too like how creative and vast this book seemed! I found the layering of it reminded me of how wonderfully bewildering Infinite Jest was to read, and the only contender for this level of writing I have on my TBR is House of Leaves, although I've heard that's a horror story so I don't know if I will enjoy it so much!

[@andymejia5456]

i saw this book at my local book store yesterday it had a very simplistic white cover that grabbed my interest. i read the first page and got hooked 😂 can’t wait to read the rest!

[@levitybooks3952]

Yes! It's such a great introduction, my all-time favourite first chapter I think. I think the first chapter alone demonstrates Calvino writes incredibly well, it's hard to try something that original and do so well at it. Unfortunately I lived alone at the time so I couldn't actually call out to someone saying I was reading the new Italo Calvino book! It might get tough-going later on, but if you persevere with it, you'll be rewarded!

[@ToddMikosh]

Yes! I read this novel several years ago, in a copy borrowed from a friend. I must get my own copy so that I can read it again!

[@levitybooks3952]

After filming this video I mailed it to my friend in Toronto, I also think I need to buy my own copy again!

[@BonzoDrummer]

My favorite Book That I've Read but It's Time to Reread.

[@aboriginalalex]

some very nice insights here my guy

[@TheGilbalfas]

Ok. I'll read it.

[@robinborchert]

Convinced - I'll try again

[@levitybooks3952]

I think once you can get past the initial disruptions and see it more as an essay than as a conventional story you'll get more out of it! Some people do just get fed up with it though, but I think it's more due to people wanting a story and getting something else...

[@1995yuda]

I came here because of Atlas Cloud. This book sounds great, I'm gonna give it a go for sure after this.

[@levitybooks3952]

This book is a bit of a mindbending experience but it's quite funny and unlike anything else I've read! Hope you enjoy it, the introductory paragraph to this book for sure will be enjoyable!

[@1995yuda]

@@levitybooks3952 I'm all about Mindbending stuff, as a Reader and as an aspiring Writer who's aim is to create these type of works. Thanks again :)

[@proximumargento]

Love the review! the name "Italo" is pronounced with emphasis on the i (as in "eat-alo", not "it-ah-lo")

[@levitybooks3952]

Ah, yes! I should've corrected my British accent for that. I sometimes worry if I try pronounce foreign words in their native accent I might exaggerate the accent and make it worse!

[@trashyink2132]

This book did remind me of Inception when I first read it!

[@levitybooks3952]

Glad you saw the parallels too! I'd like to read more experimental fiction in the near future that play with other aspects of the novel. It's made me think differently about what we want from stories as readers, and that's stayed longer with me as a message than more conventional plots!

[@dontpickonme]

I found the comic mode of the book quite dated (the publishing house really over the top) and the switch of You to Ludmilla lost me emotionally. The writing about reading was all well and good, but didnt sustain the novel for me

[@kuttikuttan]

Couldn't appreciate If on a.... by Italo Calvino. Found it too artificial whether it is labelled as post modernist writing or by some other names. I always love to read books like Zorba the Greek or No One Writes to the Colonel