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The Baron In The Trees [Paperback]

Italo Calvino
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 28, 1977 Harbrace Paperbound Library, 72
Cosimo, a young eighteenth-century Italian nobleman, rebels by climbing into the trees to remain there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an arboreal existence and even has love affairs. Translated by Archibald Colquhoun.

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The Baron In The Trees + The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount + Cosmicomics
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Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation)

About the Author

Italo Calvino (15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979). Lionised in Britain and America, he was, at the time of his death, the most-translated contemporary Italian writer.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (March 28, 1977)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0156106809
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156106801
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Memory, love and history all combine and swirl throughout the story. Tory  |  9 reviewers made a similar statement
I love this book and it's one of my "Calvino favorites." Patrick O'Brien  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Calvino at his best August 10, 2004
By Tory
Format:Paperback
The Baron in the Trees is one of the most enchanting novels ever written. When the Baron decides to take up his arboreal existence, one cannot help but believe he is making the right decision. Calvino fleshes out the Baron into one of the most believable characters in literature. This is an amazing feat considering the farcical lifestyle the Baron decides to adopt. Calvino takes the opportunity to create a world at once steeped in history, philosophy and politics while at the same time illustrating the everyday existence and lives of those around him. The cat skin hat, the exiles in the trees, the Napoleonic troops all brought to life with amazing detail. Memory, love and history all combine and swirl throughout the story. While there is nothing exactly magical or out of this world about this book, it is one of the best examples of magical realism I have read. I could not put this book down. Stop reading this review and buy the book.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A kingdom among the foliage August 1, 2004
By A.J.
Format:Paperback
Like most of Italo Calvino's fiction, "The Baron in the Trees" is pure enchantment that charms the reader into an alternate reality with the warmth of subtle humor and the pioneering spirit, similar to Borges's, that desires to explore fascinating new literary territory within the context of world history. In this novel, set in Italy in the late eighteenth century, Calvino tells the story of a young baron named Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo who lives with his eccentric family in a villa on the edge of the town of Ombrosa. One day when he is twelve years old, after an argument with his parents (about having to eat snails), he runs out to the garden and climbs an oak, declaring that he will spend the rest of his life in the trees and vowing never to set foot on the earth again.

Like an arboreal Robinson Crusoe who has chosen his fate, Cosimo determines to make his living in the contiguous group of trees that link his family's garden with those of his neighbors and the forests beyond the town. He travels between trees by climbing and jumping from branch to branch, becoming as nimble and elusive as a squirrel, while he trains himself to survive by hunting wild animals for food and clothing and building a flume to draw drinking water from a waterfall. Even in the trees he engages in activities normally reserved for people on the ground: He continues his formal education, befriends a dachshund that helps him hunt, supports a bumbling brigand's reading habit, and even has an adventure on a pirate ship without touching the deck.

Through his life in the trees, Cosimo becomes notorious throughout Europe and attains a reputation for madness that gradually turns into a strange sort of esteem.
... Read more ›
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40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Fable November 16, 2001
Format:Paperback
Calvino is another of those writers I'd heard of, but would never have read had it not been for our book group's selection of this book. I'm glad to say that this is a tale enjoyable by children and adults alike, skillfully operating on several levels. The story concerns Cosimo, a noble born boy in late 18th-century Italy who one day defies his parents by climbing a tree and refusing to come back down. His life story is narrated by his younger brother, and Cosimo's adventures in the trees work both as charming tale for children, and as a metaphor for the Enlightenment for adults. Living among the treetops, Cosimo is seeking to distance himself from social traditions and norms while creating his own world and relationships. It obviously requires a little suspension of disbelief, but even those who normally hate magical realism (like me) will find it palatable. The cast of supporting characters are quirky and vividly entertaining, including his dog, militarist mother, disaster-in-the-kitchen sister, and exiled Spanish nobles. It's one of the most enjoyable (and short) piece of utopian literature I've encountered, and would make ripe reading for high school students.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Life goes on in the trees... May 30, 2004
Format:Paperback
Calvino never fails to mesmerize. His books suck you in and don't let go until the final word (and that final word always seems to include a touch of sadness that the novel is over). This is one of Calvino's earlier works, written in 1957, the same year he left the communist party (his reason is summed up in: "my decision to resign as a member of the party is founded on the fact that my discrepancies with those of the party have become an obstacle to whatever form of political participation I could undertake"). "The Baron in the Trees" does include some passages about disappointed political ideals (e.g., about the French Revolution), but the book touches on far too many topics to reduce it to a mere "political" novel.

The story begins, as the first line of the novel tells us, on the fifteenth of June, 1767. Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò is a member of a family whose father has sights on climbing the aristocratic ladder. In the very first chapter there is a family scuffle, during dinner, which results in Cosimo going into the trees and vowing never to come down ("And he kept his word" Cosimo's brother, who narrates the story, states). Cosimo then resigns himself to a life in the trees. After some initial mishaps (dealing with rain, bathing, food, etc), he proves himself very adaptable to living off the ground. Human adaptability seems to be at the back of the story (along with many other things); his family and town almost grow accustomed to Cosimo's darting amongst the branches. Cosimo even makes a name for himself "up in the trees" (Voltaire asks about him, and Napolean insists on meeting him). Of course the big question that comes from this action, in the very opening of the novel, is why did Cosimo go up into the trees?...

The novel reads like an adventure in places (e.g., when the feared, or imaginary, "Gian dei Brughi" is terrorizing the countryside, but evetually becomes addicted to novels - which in and of itself makes for a hilarious few chapters - Cosimo is there for almost every move); in other places it reads like a heartbreaking love story (e.g., Cosimo's nearly lifelong affair with Viola, which becomes so intense it's almost painful to read). A lot of action goes on in the trees, and the reader will likely not conclude that Cosimo has "missed something" as a result of his decision. Overall the novel is so readable that it's hard to put down (it could probably be completed in one long sitting). It has that mix of reality and fantasy that Calvino is famous for (it's easy to find references to Calvino as "one of the world's best fabulists"). Like other Calvino it's funny (Cosimo's sister serves bizarre arrangements of food to the family), heartbreaking (did Cosimo find true love in the trees or did he fail miserably?), poignant (he finds a great comrade in a small daschund he names "Ottimo Massimo" but the dog ultimately belongs to someone else), and a great read. The decisions one makes in life have impact on oneself and others, and in Cosimo's case his decision had vast impact on his immediate surroundings, regardless of the reasons why. Make a good decision for yourself and read this book. Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A parable disquised as an intellecual exercise, or is it?
Never underestimate Italo Calvino, for what you think you are reading may turn out to be something else entirely from your original impressions. Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. B Collins Jr.
3.0 out of 5 stars Fun read. Interesting storytelling.
I thought this was a really fun read. So clever and of the like as I had never read before. Fiction, but convincing. Would recommend it.
Published 7 months ago by TillyMom
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, precise, and poignant
This is such a breath of fresh air. Calvino seems to be really good at taking these incredibly simple premises and weaving this wonderful sort of fantasy out of them. Read more
Published 15 months ago by jafrank
4.0 out of 5 stars delightful and clever
Life without assumptions, thinking truly outside the box and staying out, and yet not depriving oneself of the riches and heartaches in life. Read more
Published 15 months ago by whj
4.0 out of 5 stars Baron in the Trees
Totally original...evocative Calvino at this best. I loved the cameo from Prince Andrei at the end. Read more
Published on April 18, 2011 by Stephen Quinn
3.0 out of 5 stars One brilliant idea. Is that enough?
The concept behind The Baron in the Trees is brilliant. I'm not so sure that the story itself is.
Readers will find the idea haunts them and follows them around. Read more
Published on October 9, 2010 by Noah K Mullette-Gillman
5.0 out of 5 stars Fanciful and touching literary delights
One of the things I love about reading Calvino is that (so far) every story has been different, every literary experiment has yielded insights that are unexpected, witty, and... Read more
Published on July 21, 2010 by Mark A. Rayner
4.0 out of 5 stars A Real Change in Perspective
In addition to his other skills, Italo Calvino had a real knack for hiding serious themes under light and quirky tales. Read more
Published on December 20, 2009 by benshlomo
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent novel
This slim novel is so well worth reading. Magnificent. Calvino tells a story, that is the reader's for interpretation - kind, generous, wise and real. Read more
Published on August 23, 2009 by Sarah Vibrantzek
5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Fantasy About Real People
Italo Calvino's The Baron in the Trees, is about a family and one son in particular, who chooses to live his life in the trees. Read more
Published on June 26, 2009 by Lois Requist
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