Invisible Cities

No matter how good the narrator--and John Lee is quite fine here, precise and elegant--some books are difficult to put across in audio. In Calvino's 1972 classic, Marco Polo describes the cities he visited on his expeditions to Kublai Khan. You must set aside everything you expect in a novel, such as character or plot, and be prepared after each city's description to think about what it means and how it fits into the book. Lee never rushes, but you may still feel the need to pause and reflect before going on. You may even want to look at a map as this is a work that talks a lot about atlases. Or you can just sink into the music of Lee's voice. D.M.H. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

November 25, 2013
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.