If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (Everyman's Library (Cloth))

1. I started to read this book with absolutely no idea of what it is about. From page 5 (the passage about all the different kinds of books) I was hooked. That was very smart and witty writing I thought. And there are many such passages scattered in the book that shows Calvino's marvelous ability of reading human psychology and presenting it in words.

2. The English translation is very good. Flows like water.

3. The organization of this book is very unique and innovative. I like most of the short stories except the last ones which are very weird. The main story is unfortunately thin and uninteresting to me. I hasten to finish the book in one afternoon just to see how it ends.

4. In my opinion every novel has a theme hidden or visible that says what the novel is really about. This book claims that it has none and I didn't find one until the next-to-last page. But there it is. It says: It Is Possible To Write A Novel Without A Theme. That's fine but had I known this in advance I'm not sure that I would have read it.

In sum: locally excellent globally unconvincing.