Elisabeth Jeremko end of Calvino's novel

"You have come all the way...to hunt a counterfeit of novels, and you find yourself prisoner of a system in which every aspect of life is counterfeit, a fake. Or, rather: you were determined to venture into forests, prairies, mesas...lost certainly while seeking the source of the oceanic novel, but you bang your head against the bars of the prison society which stretches all over the planet, confining adventure within its mean corridors, always the same...is this still your story, Reader?" (Calvino, 215).

This passage from Calvino in Chapter Nine pretty much sums up the entire book for me. Like Emily, I found the ending of the novel unfulfilling, vexing, and anger-inducing. Calvino has a lot of nerve to send us a readers on this wild goose chase, poking fun at our curiosities and teasing us without ceasing. Thus, I cannot really say that the reading experience for this book was a completely positive one. Despite my gripes, I see how Calvino has completely broken up the particles that comprise the structure and workings of a novel. For this, I was able to see how fake my reading experience really is. It was a neat concept on the part of Calvino. Unfortunately, I am not the most willing of subjects for his experimental fiction. Perhaps it was just so alarming and foreign to me that I had trouble just going with it. This is the type of novel I definitely think that I have to read again. I think it is possible to appreciate an author's talent or writing ability, while not enjoying the fiction. Maybe I am too traditional of a reader -- but the reason that I love literature is because I like being encased in a world that an author creates for me. I like an escape from reality -- I do not want to be constantly reminded that my reading experience is meaningless and fake. In the above quote, Calvino seems to acknowledge this.

After reading this frustrating novel, I am looking forward to reading a "traditional" novel again -- "I can't wait to go into reverse, to make the things of the world exist again, one by one or all togehter, to set their variegated and tangible substance, like a compact wall, against the men's plans of general vacancy" (249). I totally see how this is a postmodern novel -- there is a dissolution of that which is "fake". Calvino breaks down the novel to show its careful construction. He also recognizes the desire to have order and togetherness, a yearning of the fragmented individual for meaning.