Appearances is a book of four novellas that play with the distinction between appearance and reality. Like Kafka and Calvino, Celati never loses sight of the fact that a good story is one that entertains and, whether describing the ups and downs of the rugby?mad Barratto, the conditions of light on the Via Emilia, the disappearance of a respectable man or the students in Milan bent on discovering the true meaning of books, the four novellas in Appearances are a dazzling blend of storytelling and philosophical speculation.