I absolutely loved the experience of reading If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, in a stunning English translation by William Weaver, yet it is not a book that I would universally recommend.
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It’s classed as a postmodernist novel and the structure is unusual to say the least. It’s split into ten sections with You, the Reader, attempting to find a novel you started reading but had to stop because of a printing error... but every time you think you’ve found the novel, it turns out to be a completely different one!
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I know it sounds stupid and pointless when you summarise it but I think it’s just one of those books where, if it works for you, IT WORKS. And it certainly did for me. It’s filled with gorgeous passages that all book lovers will relate to and say, HEY! That’s me! And as for the ten different novel beginnings... Surely writing ONE decent start to a book is hard enough but to get me hooked on all ten and then take it away?! Calvino, you evil, brilliant genius.
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The start, the actual start, is one of the best introductory chapters I’ve ever read and I loved the ending almost as much! Sometimes books that are described as ‘clever’ annoy me because they come off as pretentious, but I was just blown away by this one.
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The translation was seamless, I cannot praise Weaver’s work enough, BUT I also want to read the Italian in the future, just because I know it will be even more stunning!
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So proceed with caution, but if you’re up for a playful, literary wild goose chase then take a chance on Calvino!