April 2014: Italo Calvino: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

[Meadow337]

Discussion for April..

 

[Conscious Bob]

I'm in.

 

[Polly Parrot]

Me too, just need to dig out the book. I know OH has it in one of the book cases.

 

[Peder]

I'll be there, come April. Should be able to find it on the shelf and reread it by then.

 

[Polly Parrot]

I found it, right next to the other Calvino's.

 

[Conscious Bob]

Getting into this.

 

[Peder]

Likewise. Starting now.

 

[Conscious Bob]

I'm really enjoying this novel and maybe that's because it's a book about reading which is a theme I think many forumites on here can relate to.

 

[Ell]

People might want to look at a thread we had way back in 2005 --> If On A Winter's Night a Traveler

It pre-dates most of the current members, so could be of some interest. I loved this book and it's one of the few I'd like to re-visit.

 

[Peder]

People might want to look at a thread we had way back in 2005 --> If On A Winter's Night a Traveler

It pre-dates most of the current members, so could be of some interest. I loved this book and it's one of the few I'd like to re-visit.

It sounds like everyone loves it who reads it.

 

[Conscious Bob]

It sounds like everyone loves it who reads it.

It's a very clever book insofar that it plays with narrative never allowing the reader to identify with any one character.

 

[Conscious Bob]

Now that I think about it that's not strictly true.

 

[Peder]

It's a very clever book insofar that it plays with narrative never allowing the reader to identify with any one character.

Very sorry to say, I came away from my reread disappointed.

 

[Conscious Bob]

Very sorry to say, I came away from my reread disappointed.

No need to apologise, I wasn't a fan of Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter of Dec 13 BOTM. Not all books do it for me.

 

[Conscious Bob]

I plan to finish this before my flight.

 

[Conscious Bob]

I finished the book during the flight back home and it left an odd impression.

Is The Reader the main character or a cipher? Italo deliberately doesn't give a name or occupation and through the narrative we the readers are identified with 'The Reader'.

The problem with this approach as I see it is 'The Reader' is male. Sure we have 'The Other Reader' but she has a name and backstory and so is separate and distinct as a character.

In my view then Italo pulls a neat trick but it's limited to the male part of the audience.