Rating: 7.3/10.
A novel by one of the most famous contemporary Italian writers, Italo Calvino. It is about a boy, Cosmino, who, when he is twelve years old, refuses to eat snails at dinner and climbs a tree, vowing never to come down again. Despite his family’s assumption that he will descend in a few hours, he does exactly what he vowed to do. He ends up spending his life in the trees, moving from one to another, wandering in the forest without ever touching the ground again. Although he lives a life akin to a monkey in the trees, he also maintains connections with his family and friends, enjoys reading, and continues his lessons with his teacher, among other things.
As the book progresses, Cosmino ends up in several adventures, getting into fights with bandits and pirates, visiting a nearby Spanish village by jumping through the trees, and falling in love, etc. However, the book does not seem to have any overarching theme and the adventures are not terribly interesting, which led to me getting bored about 200 pages into the book.
