If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

By: Italo Calvino, William Weaver - Translator

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

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.

©1979 Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.A., Torino; 1981 Harcourt, Inc. (translation) (P)2017 Recorded Books

Personal favorite!

My all time person favorite book in spoken word! Listening to it was a whole new experience to just reading it! Loved the narration!!

Unusual, but thought-provoking

In a parallel to life, I loved some of these stories and disliked others. I felt Ludmilla disappeared in the last third. This is a book I need to listen to more than once. So complex any mysterious.

Intellectual exercise

This book is more of an exploration of reading than a novel. Calvino’s examination of authors, readers and reading evolves through a strange puzzle of unfinished novels and a reader’s search for the rest of each story. The novel may be intellectually brilliant, but it does not make the best story to listen to for entertainment . Unless you are seeking a literary challenge, I recommend this only as a great book to fall asleep to.

Narrator was great

While it was amusing and funny at first, it started to get old when the same obstacle kept repeating itself. By the half way point I was getting pretty exasperated and antsy for the book to just end especially with the random and uncomfortable pornographic scenes. It was very intellectual and sharp but just a little to random and unfocused for my taste. The narrator did a great job though.

Was difficult to listen to.

My mind kept wandering. I found the book a dull. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read the book instead of listening to it. The story skipped around and was difficult for me to follow without having visual cues.