The Book I Read in June - Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino is well known for his imaginative, experimental books. If on a winter's night a traveller, for example, is about someone reading If on a winter's night a traveller. However, this review is not about If on a winter's night (though I will hopefully write a review on it one day).

Invisible Cities is another example of Calvino's creative style. There is no plot to the book - rather, it is Kublai Khan talking to his diplomat Marco Polo about the various cities Polo has encountered. The whole of the book is small, poetic descriptions of these brilliantly written cities, with interactions between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo interwoven between the cities. 

That's it. Yet the book still works brilliantly - depending on how you approach it.

When I was reading Invisible Cities, I made the mistake of reading it as if wanting there to be a plot. Now that I am writing this review, I realise that instead, to fully enjoy Calvino's style, you should immerse yourself into the various creative cities that all differ in their own whimsical ways, going from the more realistic cities to the dreamlike ones. All of the cities also have something different to say, with many seemingly having an underlying message to them, such as Despina and its two differing perspectives depending on how you get there.

Invisible Cities is a short book - my copy has around 150 pages - but it is undeniably a brilliant book, and one that I highly recommend. Whilst the quick descriptions of each city (only about a page for each) might put one off, for you are immediately transported to somewhere new, Invisible Cities is one of those unique books which doesn't truly have a duplicate. So sit down and immerse yourself in this wonderful experience.