Hvis en vinternat en rejsende

If there were only the first 6 chapters and then the last chapter set in the library, I would rate this 5 stars. The last half of the story bogged down and I wanted to be done with it. It seems pretty amazing when you analyze the story and the interlocking unread novels, but in the end it just wasn't really my thing. ( )

If on a winter's night a traveller is an enjoyable, twisty novel that explores what it is to be a reader and a writer in a very meta way.

I enjoyed the intriguing framing device of a reader - you - investigating a series of books that they only ever read the openings of. There are recurring characters in the main narrative who never seem to be what you think they are, but the alternate chapters are all ostensibly the openings of completely different novels - or are they?

I can't say that I completely understood every idea in the book - it felt at times like it was written for someone much cleverer than me! - but turning its pages as both a reader and a writer was quite an enthralling experience. Writers in particular would do well to read If on a winter's night… to absorb Calvino's meditations on what makes a compelling story, because he's spot on with pretty much all of them! ( )

This is exactly the kind of book for a literary criticism class to read. While the book-within-a-book trope got tiresome, the novel is a terrific deconstruction of text, the reader, and reading. ( )

Ara tinc por d'escriure un llibre. ( )

What an unusual book that reads so addictively! What a remarkable and exhaustive exploration into books - into reading and writing them... Sounds dry? Not at all! It's funny and serious and downright enchanting at times, with characters who are puzzling and very real at the same time. Plots within plots, individuals and cultures as to their attitude towards books and reading; what makes something a good read - from different perspectives; some unavoidable criticism of censure; satire directed at tendency of some to over-examine or over-interpret a novel and lose the best of it in the process, and so much more tackled in this little book. This is a book in which I didn't want to miss a single sentence... ( )