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I read the Finnish translation, bought by my father in 1988 (I can see easily why he would’ve gotten it now that I have read it :) ). This was the last novel released in the author's lifetime. I felt that I should read another Calvino novel, so I read this one because it was the slimmer one of my two unread Calvino ones on my shelf.

Here is the story of how Mr Palomar observes the world, one part at a time, trying to form a bigger pictures of the world that would make the world make more sense, and give him a better peace of mind of being in it. He is married with a daughter, travels occasionally (here in an Italian seaside town, Barcelona, Paris, Kyoto, Tala (Mexico), and some Orient country where he buys slippers), smokes a pipe, wears glasses, lives in Rome in an upper-floor flat with a view over the city, and is more of a thinker than a speaker. In the last chapter he seems (view spoiler)[to die, but it’s not completely clear if it happens for real, for he is imagining how he behaves like he’s dead even while still living (hide spoiler)].

The book is laid out in a certain way, explained in the back of the book here. Mains are: on a vacation, in the city, and quiet thoughts. Then smaller mains: on a beach, in a garden, looking at the sky; on a roof terrace, food shopping, at a zoo; traveling, talking with people; philosophical pondering.

He views each object of his attention in length, as a whole, in its details and variations. Occasionally this lead to embarrassment, which can be amusing sometimes, but you do sometimes think he was just asking for trouble (see the chapter about (view spoiler)[him trying to see how to approach and go by a woman sunbathing topless; of course taking so many times to go makes gets him noticed eventually (hide spoiler)]). But it’s nice to see how some humor enters the stories here and there. He’s more learning towards being an introvert; he wants to make sense of the world, wants it to have some sense and rules, but the world isn’t really like that.

My favorite chapters: the one about the waves was a good start for the book; the three chapters about looking at the night sky; the starlings in Rome; the cheese shop. The book reminded me of “Invisible Cities� - another Calvino book, about various imagined cities � the observation of various things was quite rich, with a view on how Mr Palomar tried to make sense of things, what his attitudes and feelings were about each, and so on. The places and the times of year when each scene happens also vary nicely.

While a bit plain (and in some cases I didn’t agree with him, thus 3.5 stars), it was interesting to see what sort of wholes, details, and variations he could find in each chapter, and this might make the reader want to sometimes same kind of observation on things one meets in life, and ponder on the meanings of things. A great read.