Invisible Cities

A world-weary Kublai Khan seeks news of his sprawling empire from his travelling ambassador Marco Polo. The book consists of Polo's descriptions of strange and far-flung cities, punctuated by dialogues with the Khan. Each of these imagined cities, though not lacking physical detail, is distinguished by some thought-provoking peculiarity that makes it of more interest as a META-physical notion. Argia, for instance, is a buried city whose inhabitants presumably tunnel their way around:"From up here, nothing of Argia can be seen... The place is deserted. At night, putting your ear to the ground, you can sometimes hear a door slam."It's a short book, but not for me a quick one. Lacking conventional plot and characterisation, it did not pull me along but left me to travel under my own steam (like Polo). But also it was as if the author lowered a barrier at the end of each city's description, a built-in and unavoidable pause for thought. For Calvino is not of course talking about mere cities, but about life, human nature, time, fate, memory and civilisation.It's an intellectual, anachronistic fabulation, a collection of philosophical fragments rather than a traditional novel. As such, it made me think more than feel; but it's no less impressive for that.

An absolutely gorgeous book! Pick it up and put it down around your busy lives one page at a time, or devour it in a single sitting. I love it - the imagery that Calvino conjures up is so vivid, and so thoughtful. Wish I'd found it much sooner, but glad I have it in my life now.

An unusual book, very entertaining- it tells of Marco Polo's reports back to Kublai Khan about the imaginary cities he has visited. Each city is different, the account never more than two pages. It is good to pick up when you only have a few minutes.

Read a few at a time the descriptions of the cities are intreaging and to an extent amusing. Does seem to repeat some of the ideas a bit. Not sure what it is about.

a wonderful book - A dream like imagining of many cities, or perhaps just one city seen from different perspectives, or all cities and their dark complexities, you can take from it whatever you like. A daydream on the nature of place and people. This is a short book, but a slow book, you cant rush through. Ideal for a traveller who needs to stop and think.