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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but 10, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.
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What listeners say about If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- literate rose
- 02-09-18
The position of the feet during reading...
Mine were dancing!
I'll start by acknowledging that I don't really need to review the book itself: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler has long been one of my favorite books of all time. It continues to be one of the most original, inventive, delightful, thought-provoking pieces of literature I've ever encountered. It was my first Calvino book, and remains my favorite. The title caught my eye, in a bookstore, and when I opened the book to the table of contents and saw that the titled chapters formed their own tiny story of sorts, I just knew I had to read it. (And please, if you can, go look at a copy in a bookstore or library, or even online if you can find an electronic visual of the table of contents, because that is just one of the many sly, wonderful elements of this endlessly creative book that should be experienced, but really must be seen to be appreciated fully.)
But my excitement seeing this as the Daily Deal, and my irresistible dancing while listening to the first chapter (and oh, I was so nervous about the narration, but not to worry: it's marvelous!) have another source, as well. For many, many years, the first chapter of this book has been one of my top two Read-Aloud pieces to anyone who will sit still long enough to hear it. I've read it to groups of people, to individuals. It never fails to delight. And my very first time reading this book was done with my (now ex) husband: we took turns reading chapters to one another. So I have a long history with hearing this book read aloud, and it works so well. Having it in my permanent audio library, to hear at will, is a true delight.
Don't hesitate. It may not be like other books you've read (probably not); it definitely doesn't go in anything like a straight line. But the writing is sublime, the narration is lovely, and if you're a bibliophile of any degree, there are moments, passages, and whole chapters that will make you squee with delight. Go on, dodge past all those other books calling to you, get Italo Calvino's masterpiece, find a position or activity that satisfies you (this is audio, after all: you can listen in the dark, or while walking or even running--don't forget, the position of the feet during reading is of maximum importance--while baking a cake or cleaning out the garage...or even in bed!) and dive in. I suspect you won't regret.
175 people found this helpful
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- Thomas R Eberhardt
- 04-22-19
What did I just listen to??!
This book, if nothing else, is entirely unique. I've never heard anything like it and probably never will again. The opening passage immediately sucked me in with it's fourth-wall shattering (is there a fourth wall in books?) introduction. I was even on board for the first few stories-within-the-story. But by the fifth, sixth, seventh embedded stories with no resolution, my interest was flagging. By the last quarter of the book, I was begging for it to be over.
While I'm sure the book was attempting to say something very profound about the relationship between author and reader and what the act of reading means on a very deep level, much of that was lost on me. The narration was top notch and I give the book high marks for originality. Beyond that, it was hard to find much to like in an anthology of barely-started narratives loosely bound to one another by the overarching meta-plot.
11 people found this helpful
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- Mary K Foster
- 09-01-18
Infuriating, but Consuming
Listen, if you've arrived at this book looking for a simple fabulist novel, then, buckle up. There is absolutely nothing straight-forward about this book except that you will go flying through the windshield of the narrative if you don't relax and lean into the sharp turns it takes when jumping plot-line to plot-line. You should not read this book if you do not like absurdist writing, meta-fiction, or a coercive second-person narrator. But! If you're down for a whacky international postmodern fabulist tale that infuriatingly plants dynamite in your mind for 9 hours and then makes them all explode at once with (literally apocalyptic) realizations about the vulnerable, powerful, passionate, intimate, insane, and divine experience of reading, this book is for you. Godspeed, fellow Calvino acolytes.
11 people found this helpful
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- Gillian
- 02-09-18
Brilliant For Writers--Engaging For Listeners
As a reviewer stated--the fourth wall is completely and unutterably broken with If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. Because you, my dear friend, are absolutely necessary as a character of this book.
Calvino involves you from the get-go, and if you're a writer, you'll learn SO much about the craft and engaging your audience. He critiques his own style of writing, and what a tremendous use of words and phrases. He is obviously a skilled, skilled writer.
As with any literary novel, don't expect a lot of plot but do expect some pretty fantastic writing, that ability to drag you in and look at the edges of a book's binding with new eyes. There is a bit of a detective feel to it, though, that makes it rather fun, and things, after going all over the place, wind up neat and tidy, all in clever manner.
I did, however, have to listen at x1.25 speed because Jefferson Mays, while very good, gets rather pause-y, and he lingers over some of the phrasing.
I can't tell you if this is a book you'll want to listen to in one sitting -because- the chapters split themselves in two and then pick up back at the beginning and you don't want to fall behind. Or if you'll want to listen to this in pieces -because- the writing is so good, the words/phrasing so clever and you can savor things/learn a thing or two about how to work words.
But, hey! Who am I? Don't expect perfection; do expect some cutting here and there, some genre switching; a different kind of an experience...
117 people found this helpful
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- Wyoming Bas Bleu
- 05-10-18
Different type of book
This book didn't really capture my interest so it was a slog to get through. There wasn't enough different characters and so it seemed like the main character was basically lecturing. It was like listening to the most boring dinner host who is an extrovert and thinks everyone should think like them. The narrator was good. But what can you do with a story like this?
5 people found this helpful
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- Jeremy S
- 08-07-18
A Description Defying Postmodern Masterpiece
A unique work of staggering beauty that must be experienced in order to be understood, so sampling a preview is suggested. Recommended for lovers of perspective, the meta, reading and books. A treasure.
3 people found this helpful
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- Aaron
- 10-09-17
Unreal! An amazing reading for an amazing tale!
I feel unworthy writing a review for this. I'm sorry my words will be the first you see before you start, since the book you're about to listen to is otherworldly, and I don't want to taint your experience with an appraisal from a random person whose opinion you have no way of trusting. Still, for what it's worth, this is an incredible book; and I'm truthfully quite jealous of you, since you're about to experience it for the first time!
66 people found this helpful
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- Will
- 12-18-17
An experience hard to find! Objectively beautiful!
Here we have great naration accompanied with clean audio. There are no chips or qirks in the production. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has given me a new perspective on writing. The 4th wall is abducted to offer an intimate point of view of the novelist. The book explores the uncreated "idea" of the story. This is not a casual read and if you reader, are prepared to strain your brain, it's right here, the book that you've been looking for.
40 people found this helpful
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- Darwin8u
- 01-16-20
Slick trick and trap of a novel
A slick trick and trap of a novel, a complex story of cogs and frames. Narrators and readers collide and disappear. Styles float by (are experimented on) and are quickly replaced by other metafictional techniques. Anyway, I'm going to need more time and more sleep to absorb this book, but I'm not sure how anyone after first reading it could dislike the spirit, creativity, and absolute panache (yeah, I'll edit out panache tomorrow) of this novel.
5 people found this helpful
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- Fred
- 07-09-18
Rambles on about nothing
This sounds like someone who has nothing to say, and spends hours staying it! Very hard to follow, good if you need something to put you to sleep.
4 people found this helpful