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Trapper King's Reviews > If on a winter's night a traveler
If on a winter's night a traveler
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Trapper King's review
bookshelves: 5-star-favorites
Feb 16, 2022
bookshelves: 5-star-favorites
Read 2 times. Last read June 25, 2024 to July 22, 2024.
From my first review a few years ago:
"Took quite a bit longer than I needed to with this one. I stretched it as much as I could, because I truly, genuinely didn’t want it to end. Give me a never-ending continuation of this, with the readers and countless books in which for them to dip, and I’d never need another."
Since then, I have generally considered this to be, if not my favorite novel, at least tied for the spot. A couple years on, I have given it a reread.
In 2004, author David Mitchell wrote for The Guardian a review of rereading If on a winter's night a traveler, sixteen years after his first read. His closing remark sums up his experience: "however breathtakingly inventive a book is, it is only breathtakingly inventive once. But once is better than never."
This sentiment resonates with me; I didn't have quite the same giddy feeling that I first had. This novel was more-or-less my introduction to this sort of metafictional game playing, an exciting new phenomenon in my reading career. The book had felt like nothing short of magic. But having been through it once already, and having branched out into more complex, postmodern, metafictional, and experimental literature in the interim, I return to this performance of magic with an eye out for the misdirection and sleight of hand, the tricks of the trade. Does this ruin the trick? That's the sort of attitude Mitchell seems to have, and that's where I differ. Sure, the awestruck, childlike wonder is gone; I've learned how the trick is performed. But now I can wonder at how fluid and skilled the magician's moves are.
Yes, I enjoyed the book in a different way than before. I'm sure I'll never be able to experience anything like that first read again. But unlike Mitchell, I'm not relegating the book to some dusty shelf for has-beens and curious artefacts of bygone literary movements. For me, it's still a hoot, and it's still a favorite. Maybe I'll change my mind in 16 years, but I don't think so.
David Mitchell's piece for The Guardian
"Took quite a bit longer than I needed to with this one. I stretched it as much as I could, because I truly, genuinely didn’t want it to end. Give me a never-ending continuation of this, with the readers and countless books in which for them to dip, and I’d never need another."
Since then, I have generally considered this to be, if not my favorite novel, at least tied for the spot. A couple years on, I have given it a reread.
In 2004, author David Mitchell wrote for The Guardian a review of rereading If on a winter's night a traveler, sixteen years after his first read. His closing remark sums up his experience: "however breathtakingly inventive a book is, it is only breathtakingly inventive once. But once is better than never."
This sentiment resonates with me; I didn't have quite the same giddy feeling that I first had. This novel was more-or-less my introduction to this sort of metafictional game playing, an exciting new phenomenon in my reading career. The book had felt like nothing short of magic. But having been through it once already, and having branched out into more complex, postmodern, metafictional, and experimental literature in the interim, I return to this performance of magic with an eye out for the misdirection and sleight of hand, the tricks of the trade. Does this ruin the trick? That's the sort of attitude Mitchell seems to have, and that's where I differ. Sure, the awestruck, childlike wonder is gone; I've learned how the trick is performed. But now I can wonder at how fluid and skilled the magician's moves are.
Yes, I enjoyed the book in a different way than before. I'm sure I'll never be able to experience anything like that first read again. But unlike Mitchell, I'm not relegating the book to some dusty shelf for has-beens and curious artefacts of bygone literary movements. For me, it's still a hoot, and it's still a favorite. Maybe I'll change my mind in 16 years, but I don't think so.
David Mitchell's piece for The Guardian
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Reading Progress
January 18, 2021
– Shelved
January 18, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 6, 2022
–
Started Reading
January 6, 2022
–
13.08%
"34 pages in, not sure Ive ever been this giddy about a book before."
page
34
February 16, 2022
– Shelved as:
5-star-favorites
February 16, 2022
–
Finished Reading
June 25, 2024
–
Started Reading
July 22, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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Paul
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rated it 5 stars
Feb 16, 2022 11:13AM
Il libro definitivo...
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Great review, wow I loved this book. But that Mitchell line is really spot on wow, thank you for sharing. I definitely had read this one because of Cloud Atlas so that is fitting.
s.penkevich wrote: "Great review, wow I loved this book. But that Mitchell line is really spot on wow, thank you for sharing. I definitely had read this one because of Cloud Atlas so that is fitting."Thank you! Your review of this one is stellar!
I somehow have not gotten around to Cloud Atlas yet, but in learning about how its conceit is so in conversation with Calvino, I will definitely have to bump it up within the tbr.
