Invisible Cities
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4.2 • 13 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
Fifty-five fictional cities, each described in beautiful detail - each with a woman's name...
In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, but gradually it becomes clear that he is actually describing one city: Venice. As Gore Vidal wrote 'Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvellous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant.'
This is a captivating meditation on culture, language, time, memory and the nature of human experience.
'Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose... The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island' Jeanette Winterson
'Touches inexhaustibly on the essence of the human urge to create cities, be in cities, speak of cities' Guardian
'A subtle and beautiful meditation' Sunday Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At its most basic level, Calvino's novel is a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, as the former describes the fantastical cities and landscapes he's visited during his explorations. Of course, this is severely understating the scope of Calvino's book, which at times feels like a novel, at times like a travelogue about a voyage to mysterious and imaginary places, and at times like a series of puzzles. John Lee is the perfect performer to depict the disorienting nature of Calvino's masterpiece. Lee has become the go-to narrator for stories with unusual structures and ideas he previously narrated China Mieville's The City & the City and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. In this audio edition, Lee's clipped, accented elocution encapsulates the mystery that permeates the novel's numerous settings. But Lee also adds interesting details throughout his reading for instance he beautifully captures Marco Polo's charisma and showmanship as he crows about his findings to Khan. Despite narrating a book with no discernible plot, this is a truly entertaining and electrifying performance. A Harcourt Brace Jovanovich paperback.
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