Glimpses of exceptional ordinary lives...: Difficult Loves provides a comprehensive look at the art of storytelling, and its ability to expose the subtle emotions and personalities of everyday life. Calvino is particularly adept at honing in on a definitive moment, or succession of moments in the lives of his characters, and capturing the surprising shifts of relation and consciousness that occur suprisingly and spontaneously. The last section in the book, Stories of Love and Loneliness, shows Calvino at his most artful, examining the ways that certain types of people experience life and love. An earlier reviewer pointed out that everyone can find something to connect with in these stories. This is true in an even deeper sense, namely, that within the narration, sparkling moments of truth are revealed about the workings of the human mind, and they can only be read with a consistently deepening respect for the author and his art. There is a confessional quality to the work as well, and Calvino hints at his own obsessions and deviancies and shortcomings as a thinker. This authorial honesty conforms well with the subjects of the stories, all of which are betrayed in a state of almost disconcertingly fallible humanity. These are the anti-heros, the heros of everyday life and love. With Difficult Loves, Calvino maps out another essential area of human experience, and does it with a simple beauty that belies the complexity of his grand project.

4th Quarter book. 290 pages
Difficult Loves By Italo Calvino is a Novel that contains a variety of stories. I read the all of the stories. Calvino has unique way in grabbing his readers attention and having them be able to connect to his stories. His usage of words always had me confused and I would find myself having to re-read what I had just read. The one story that I liked the most was "The Adventure of a SOldier." Reading this story reminded me of the BAQ of How do we connect with others? We all sometimes have the need for physical touch in order for us to connect with one another, some kind of intimacy. A lot of times we come to judging eachother by our physical appearance. When Tomagra saw the widow sit next to him, he automatically started to judge how she dressed and made assumptions.
"She didnt move; he thought: maybe she wants this. But he also thought: Another moment and it will be too late. Or maybe she's sitting there studying me, preparing to make a scene." (190) I loved how calvino decribed his train of thoughts and how he described his actions. Many of us can relate to Tomagra, moments where you are over thinking your actions and you end up not doing what you are supposed to do, later regretting your decision. I thought it was interesting how the two characters were a soldier and a widow, where love can/is lacked in their lives. So, it made sense that maybe a stranger's touch is exactly what eachother needed in their lives for the moment. I wondered why the widow didnt say anything to him? why they didnt just talk? Maybe because calvino is trying to say that "actions speak louder than words", that physical touch is stronger than just trying to "touch" a person through verbal actions.
Through out the story Tomagra is very tempted to touch this widow but he finds himself trying so hard to come up with ways to get her attention but it doesnt worlk. Finally at the end. He jumps and reaches out to her and touches her and doesnt really do anything about it. I found that really weird.

my favorite calvino so far, even trumps if on a winter's night a traveler... but i haven't read cosmicomics yet! ( )

A story from this book was read at our wedding. ( )