This is one of my all-time favorite books It's part fairy tale, part philosophical text; its got this whole freedom to be yourself, ease of self-recreation thing working. It's not without similarities to objectivist literature. Unlike Ayn Rand, though, Italo Calvino is more interested in telling a story than beating you over the head with his ideas. Beating, until the bleeding starts.
The really interesting thing, for me anyway, is that the book is actually narrated by the eponymous Baron's brother. From the very first page, the narrator speaks in adoring tones about his brother. I think that helps explain the fact that the Baron doesn't actually die. He builds a hot air balloon and sails off into the endless blue sky.
Okay, okay, I know. It's an obvious metaphor for death. But, it also protects both the narrator and the reader from the physical reality and the immutability of that death.
I think that's really what makes this novel seem like such a fairy tale. It's not just the ease with which fantastical things happen; it's not the relative lack of strife in the lives of the central characters, or the speed with which that strife passes away. It's the way that the story leaves the main character suspended in a state of contended existence, forever.
On another note, the Baron has several lovers, but never seems to build any Swiss Family Robinson-style tree-houses, nor does he ever leave the trees. So, I have to wonder... How do they stay balanced up there?
