3.5
Last Comes The Raven
ByPublisher Description
The first complete English-language edition of one of Calvino’s important early short story collections
Blending reality and illusion with elegance and precision, the stories in this collection—one of Calvino’s earliest—take place in a World War II–era and postwar Italy tinged with the visionary and fablelike qualities that would come to define this master storyteller’s later style. A trio of gluttonous burglars invade a pastry shop; two children trespass upon a forbidden garden; a wealthy family invites a rustic goatherd to lunch, only to mock him. In the title story, a compact masterpiece of shifting perspectives, a panicked soldier tries to keep his wits—and his life—when he faces off against a young partisan with a loaded rifle and miraculous aim. Throughout, Calvino delights in discovering hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life.
Stories from Last Comes the Raven have been published in translation, but the collection as a whole has never appeared in English. This volume, including several stories newly translated by Ann Goldstein, is an important addition to Calvino’s legacy.
Blending reality and illusion with elegance and precision, the stories in this collection—one of Calvino’s earliest—take place in a World War II–era and postwar Italy tinged with the visionary and fablelike qualities that would come to define this master storyteller’s later style. A trio of gluttonous burglars invade a pastry shop; two children trespass upon a forbidden garden; a wealthy family invites a rustic goatherd to lunch, only to mock him. In the title story, a compact masterpiece of shifting perspectives, a panicked soldier tries to keep his wits—and his life—when he faces off against a young partisan with a loaded rifle and miraculous aim. Throughout, Calvino delights in discovering hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life.
Stories from Last Comes the Raven have been published in translation, but the collection as a whole has never appeared in English. This volume, including several stories newly translated by Ann Goldstein, is an important addition to Calvino’s legacy.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesLast Comes The Raven Reviews
3.5
Diverse representationLikeableMinor characters stand outMultilayeredOriginalAction-packedAddictiveFast-pacedLoose endsAtmosphericEvocative imageryHistoricalIdyllicImmersive world-buildingLushOtherworldlyPicturesqueRusticSetting fits the storyUnique locationVivid descriptionsEasy to readFlowery/lushStraightforwardMurderSexual assaultWar violence
“I thought some stories were pretty good and some stories weren’t. a lot were heavily war based which i thought was interesting. the characters weren’t that fleshed out or memorable but i liked the way he described them and i liked the setting for all the stories. i thought the writing style was interesting so maybe i’ll give the author another chance.”
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