The opening line to The Windmills of your Mind seems a rather fitting title for an entry about a story that is many stories within a single volume. Indeed, it it not just many stories, but many books. And on top of all that, it's a probing insight into what it is to read, how we do so and why. If that seems like a lot to ask from what is a pretty slim volume, it manages it with aplomb. I refer (of course?) to Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller.
Intrigued enough to acquire it some time ago now after a spate of friends were reading it, I scoured my shelves not only for something that had laid dormant for too long, but also because it's a lot more exciting than packing and it never ceases to amaze me what people will do to put it off. Like write a blog... Anyway, I'm pleased to say that it was a great find and didn't turn out to the complicated headfuck I was worried it might be. Although it took me a little to get into it and work out what was going on, the premise is at heart very simple and exceedingly clever.
The many different stories and styles, all elegantly written combine to make a whole that fits together in myriad ways. The execution is excellent; the reader hardly notices the ebbs and flows as the narration changes and this is to the writer's great credit. In the hands of a lesser writer it could have been a complete mess of ideas jumbled together, pastiche and a sense of trying to be too clever. Fortunately, it isn't. It's skilfully constructed and as well as the central plot strand, which is gripping, each vignette makes the reader – both this one and the one in the book – want more. Which can only really make it a success.
Book number: 62
Title: If on a winter's night a traveller
Author: Italo Calvino
Category: Books that have been sat on my bookshelf for too long
No comments:
Post a Comment