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| Invisible Cities | 
| Author: Italo Calvino
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Category: Book
Buy Used: $6.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 734511
Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0099429837
EAN: 9780099429838
ASIN: 0099429837
Publication Date: 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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| Customer Reviews:
 Incredible Story Teller November 16, 2008
This book is simply amazing. Italo Calvino is one of the best story tellers. This is a timeless book that could be read at any age.
Reads like poetry June 16, 2008
A ruler of an empire so vast he has never seen most of it, and a foreign traveler who describes for him the cities he has visited. The narrative voice is poetic, even nostalgic, and the story derives from a conversation between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, a conversation which is interrupted by a series of vignettes describing the many fantastical cities that Marco Polo has seen, dreamed of, or invented. This book does not have a traditional plot, and readers looking for conflict and action will be disappointed. But readers who enjoy nostalgic, dream-like images and prose that reads like poetry will be enchanted by this short book.
 Wonderfully Borgesian, with a regrettable dash of Gibran May 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The descriptions of fantastical dream-cities, which make up the bulk of this book, are wonderful, and I only have one small nit to pick: Calvino, during the mercifully short dialogues between Polo and Khan that book-end each section, tends to become a little too sententious for my liking, subjecting his patient readers to such groaning, sage-like laconicisms as, quote:
Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone-by-stone.
"But which is the stone that supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan asks.
"The bridge is not supported by one stone or anther," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form."
Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds:
"Why do you speak to me of stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."
Polo answers: "Without stones there is no arch."
Unquote.
At its best, Invisible Cities could have been written by the insuperable Borges; at its worst, the insufferable Kahlil Gibran.
Unique and thought provoking March 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Calvino's INVISIBLE CITIES is very original in concept and execution. A fictional Marco Polo tells a fictional Kublai Khan about the cities he has visited in his travels, all having female names and all having fantastically unique and in many cases, disturbing qualities. During the course of his recollections, Kublai and Polo digress on various topics relating to those cities, the state of Kublai's empire, and the symbolic meaning of it all.
The effect is quite hypnotic, as each city in turn, through physical descriptions of it's architecture and culture presents a unique perspective on mankind. Calvino is saying things about modern as well as ancient civilization. Each city is a city of the mind..a city everyone knows, has known, or will know.
This book is unique and thought provoking, but I did find it a bit repetitive in style. It kind of droned on. That's my only criticism.
 for aspiring writers and folks looking for the poetry in the prose February 2, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
5 stars for brilliance, 3 stars for enjoyment.
The expectation that had been set for me when I added this to my reading list? "This is the book where the city is the story." That said, I was expecting more narrative than what I found here. (Call me a traditionalist but I expect a bit of characterization and plot.) As a "book", I didn't much care for Invisible Cities -- but I would add it to my bookshelf as a good lesson in how to write about places. There is some pretty potent imagery and interesting wordplay at work in here.
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