If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

If it isn’t clear from its sentence fragment title, If on a winter’s night a traveller is metafiction. In fact, from the very beginning Calvino breaks the fourth wall, using a title that seems to speak directly to the reader: “You’ve never heard of a novel called something like this… isn’t it intriguing? Go ahead, pick up this book and read it.” And few readers will be disappointed by the promise of a story as strange as its title, because this one truly is delightfully weird, in all the best ways.

From the moment the novel opens in the second person, the reader should know that this will be anything but a conventional story. The narrative alternates between your quest to read a novel and the first chapters of ten different books. At times, it feels a little disorienting, like being dropped into a literary funhouse, but mostly curiosity consistently pulls you forward along a surprisingly joyful journey.

Much of the novel’s charm lies in Calvino’s openness about what he’s doing, how he’s doing it, and why. You might expect that kind of self-awareness to cheapen the literary effect, but instead, he sidesteps gimmickry altogether by breaking the rules (or more accurately, rewriting them) as he goes.

The result is a story so unpredictable, so alive with invention, that it’s impossible to look away. You keep reading because you don’t want to miss whatever breathtaking, playful, or profound turn it will take next.

This one is definitely for those who love books about books, or stories that invite you to be part of the game.