Books: "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler" by Italo Calvino

I could think of no other more appropriate book to write about in my first Wednesday installment than Italo Calvino's "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler." I first read the book almost fifteen years ago, and it's remained a favorite of mine ever since. Unlike most books, which I read only once, I've read "Traveler" four times. Calvino is considered a postmodern master, but yet very few readers are familiar with his work. He's certainly not for everyone, and that is especially true of this book. Oddly, I've found that the only people who seem to enjoy this book are men. I have yet to meet a woman who enjoyed either this book or Calvino in general. I'm not quite sure what that's all about. I've tried to recommend him to over ten women, all of whom either couldn't get past the first few chapters or just plain didn't like it. It could have something to do with postmodernism, or this book's purposefully nonlinear trajectory, or something that I haven't thought of yet, but I'm no expert.

"If On a Winter's Night a Traveler" is told in the second person (mostly). That means that the reader becomes the main character. The first chapter of the book has Calvino speaking to 'you' and writing about how 'you' are going to start reading "Traveler." This jars people right out of the gate. Thoughts such as, "I thought I was already reading it," bounce around your brain. It's not an introduction. It is the first chapter. Calvino, in the second chapter, presents a more traditional type of story in which you begin to become engrossed. The problem is, the third chapter finds you back in the second person as 'you' discover that the next chapter in the 'book' you're reading is completely different than the first. Besides a bit of self-reflexive tongue in cheek as it somewhat reflects the actual book you're reading, it is also perplexing and mind-blowing at the same time. This continues, as the second person narrative chapters trade turns with many 'first' chapters of several different novels. However, it all comes together in the end.

The brilliance of this book lies not in a gimmick, or any kind of ability to find order in chaos, though that is impressive, it is in Calvino's storytelling ability. From the very first chapter, he grabs you. Had he not written in the second person, or made the book intimately 'yours,' any reader could have easily lost interest. But, from the get go, you are invested. Not only that, but there is a whole lot more going on in the relation of the bogus first chapters and the subsequent narrative chapter than one might think. (i.e., after reading the first chapter of a detective story, 'you' become a detective of sorts to find out why the books you keep attempting to read seem to go kablooey) Also, each of the 'first' chapters are very very good and could have been actual books that would have been intensely interesting. I cannot even begin to comprehend Calvino's mind. To have come up with this idea, this structure, and then to make it readable, enjoyable and so densely layered is beyond me.

The best books are the ones you can come back to again and again and find something new. I recently read the first chapter of this book as a promotional gimmick for the store in which I work. It couldn't have gone more horribly. There were only maybe four people in the audience, all sitting as far away from the stage as possible, all waiting for the music segment after the reading. They all seemed completely disinterested and impatient. I was definitely reading the wrong book for that audience, but then again I suppose I could have been reading their own lottery numbers as 'winners' and they still wouldn't have paid attention. "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler" is a book for people who like to read, and probably for those who don't just read 'for pleasure.' If all you read is Clive Cussler adventures or Nora Roberts romances, this book will probably just frustrate the hell out of you. But, if you're like me, and reading has to involve more than just a plot, then you should really pick up this title. Of course, if you're like me, you probably already have...