You want a job as my PA for doing book reviews Nesa?...
That's a very neat summary of the book and main themes, well done. I think this book is the kind of read that is very easy to loose oneself in, which is paradoxical when one considers a particular premise of this story suggests that reading is never a valid avenue to "escapism" as life's trials are never far away from the door. As usual Calvino's prose is both rich and considered, and makes this work possibly his greatest.
Apparently upon his death in 1985, the Guradian quoted him as "Italy's greatest writer of the 20th Century", and Yes he's liklely one of them as I'm sure now authors of the ilk of Umberto Eco amongst others may have a claim to that particular title.
@JD You mean you've not read Italo Calvino? *Shock shudder*..
Reading Calvino is a worthwhile exercise let me tell you, especially this novel and his
Invisible Cities.