Alessandro Piroddi reviewed Piranesi
Unconventioal!
5 stars
Unexpected, mysteryous and very engaging. A fresh fantasy with a touch of philosophy.
272 pages
English language
Published April 7, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Piranesi
5 stars
(33 reviews)
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.
For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces …
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.
For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth full of startling images of surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.
mark reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Perfectly Crafted... Fantasy Novel? Oneiric Mystery?
5 stars
It's hard to overstate how much this book feels written specifically for me - I love books with any sort of physically improbable gigantic building, fantasy books where people enter other worlds, academic thrillers, etc - and Piranesi nails the blend perfectly. A sheer delight with an extremely thoughtful denouement.
AJ Kerrigan reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Wonder, unfolding
5 stars
This is one of those "sense of wonder turned to 11" books for me. A great story that unfolds beautifully in the moment, and also makes you continually re-evaluate what you've read along the way.
The book's description mentions "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" and "Circe" as reference points. While those feel fair, I found myself thinking more about Patrick Rothfuss's "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" and M.R. Carey's Rampart Trilogy ("The Book of Koli", etc). There's a certain feeling I don't have the words to describe, but which feels shared among those books. "Reverence for the mundane" isn't quite it, but maybe close.
I had passed over "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" despite many recommendations, and now I feel compelled to revisit that!
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
5 stars
This is one of those books that's unlike any other. It's surreal and dreamy and the sheer "what the heck's going on?" factor compelled me to read it all in one day.
A novel like this - light on plot, with an extremely limited cast of characters, told in an epistolary style - really sinks or swims on the narrative voice. Luckily the titular Piranesi is fun to read, and comes across as practical and clever, curious and sweet. His ignorance is charming rather than frustrating, and of course his naivete is all part of the mystery.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves an atmospheric and/or experimental story.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
5 stars
This is one of those books that's unlike any other. It's surreal and dreamy and the sheer "what the heck's going on?" factor compelled me to read it all in one day.
A novel like this - light on plot, with an extremely limited cast of characters, told in an epistolary style - really sinks or swims on the narrative voice. Luckily the titular Piranesi is fun to read, and comes across as practical and clever, curious and sweet. His ignorance is charming rather than frustrating, and of course his naivete is all part of the mystery.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves an atmospheric and/or experimental story.
Karvala@lectura.social reviewed Piranesi
Review of 'Piranesi' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Al principio no sabía muy bien dónde me había metido y estaba un poco perdida, pero enseguida me ha enganchado. En cuanto estás apunto de aburrirte, pasan cosas y te enganchas más. La segunda mitad no podía dejarlo.
Carmela reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi
5 stars
Part fantasy, sci-fi and mystery. One of the books I wished I have written.
Blackberry Jim reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Great Bedtime Story
5 stars
Content warning Spoilers at the bottom under a cut
I read this aloud as a bedtime story for a couple of months, and it worked really well. Mostly very short chapters mean plenty of built-in 'another chapter?' breaks; beautiful contemplative descriptions full of wonder, especially in the first half of the book; occasionally gently funny and slow-paced until the last fifth or so. Like Clarke's previous book, Piranesi has a style inspired by historical writing, this time 18th c British diaries, which was a plus for me (I was also reading an actual 18th c diary coincidentally, which was nice. Thomas Hollis' diary is available for free online & his handwriting is very readable...!). It's a lot shorter and less dense than Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, quiet, often contemplative, and lovely to read.
Content warnings: Manipulation & gaslighting, violence (not particularly graphic)
Spoilers below: Strong plural vibes in this book, that don't end up (afaik as a non plural person) in any of the bad plural character holes.
I kept expecting the European Enlightenment style of the House and Piranesi's initial narration to be reframed from a beautiful and wise force to something reflecting the evils of actual Enlightenment thought & politics, but it ended up as mostly an aesthetic choice, if I'm not missing something. It's a very well executed book and, for example, the capitalization serves a narrative purpose very well, but I am a little wary or weary of mobilization of the neoclassical aesthetics of the Enlightenment, & Enlightenment-inspired exploration and categorization, to represent wisdom, truth, peace, tolerance etc without any acknowledgement of the slave trade & colonization that many of its thinkers were supported by and ideas were formed in response to. This is a mostly unformed thought and I have not read anything outside the book on its approach.
lep@bookwyrm.social reviewed Piranesi
Piranesi
No rating
Nice little book. Had to read it in one sitting.
slow to start, but it does get very good
5 stars
I found this book a bit slow for the first 50–60 pages, which are spent mostly describing the World without much of any sort of Plot happening. It only really begins to pick up around Part 3, when the mystery inherent to the setting starts to unravel, all through the eyes of a narrator not so much unreliable as naïve and lacking in knowledge, which makes him unable to understand things which are clear to the reader. It's the sort of book where it's worth reading (or at least skimming) the first few parts again to see what you missed the first read through.
Jan Kjellin reviewed Piranesi
The House gives you wings
5 stars
With splashes of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Buried Giant" in a setting partly reminiscent of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast"-trilogy, Clarke's book is a melancholy, yet innocent, account of the life of the man known to himself (and referred to by the Other) as "Piranesi".
Between the lines lies the question of identity (also asked by Ishiguro); who this "Piranesi" is, was and will become forms a central part of the story. As does the general question of what defines me as an individual and how this current manifestation of "Me" relates to earlier manifestations of myself. Where does yesterday-Jan Kjellin reside and what influence - if any - does he have the power to wield over now-Jan Kjellin? And further: what influence will now-Jan Kjellin have over tomorrow-Jan Kjellin? Does yesterday-Jan Kjellin sleep inside me? Can I wake him when/if I should need him?
Let's get back to the book, though. I …
With splashes of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Buried Giant" in a setting partly reminiscent of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast"-trilogy, Clarke's book is a melancholy, yet innocent, account of the life of the man known to himself (and referred to by the Other) as "Piranesi".
Between the lines lies the question of identity (also asked by Ishiguro); who this "Piranesi" is, was and will become forms a central part of the story. As does the general question of what defines me as an individual and how this current manifestation of "Me" relates to earlier manifestations of myself. Where does yesterday-Jan Kjellin reside and what influence - if any - does he have the power to wield over now-Jan Kjellin? And further: what influence will now-Jan Kjellin have over tomorrow-Jan Kjellin? Does yesterday-Jan Kjellin sleep inside me? Can I wake him when/if I should need him?
Let's get back to the book, though. I find the House to be one of the better incarnations of Gormenghast that I have read so far. Of course, it's not a Gormenghast per se, but it still has that immense, bordering on the infinite, feel to it that make Peake's books so intriguing. A world within a world.
We live in a world in which we exist and live and need to make sense of to be able to exist and live in. The House is a world within and without that world, that helps us to live in this world, given that we can access that inner/outer world.
If I'm to take anything with me from "Piranesi", it might be that it communicates the value (to some it might be a need) of having that access. Of being able to communicate freely with yesterday-Jan Kjellin to the benefit of today-Jan Kjellin as well as tomorrow-Jan Kjellin. It has he power to set you free.
Or, in the words of a current energy drink commercial: "The House gives you wings".
Antonis reads reviewed Piranesi
Multilayered, mysterious & delightful
4 stars
I'm a big sucker for mysterious spaces and Piranesi delivers in spades. Characters are very interesting too, the story's theme resonates as well.
Review of 'Piranesi' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is part mystery, a little bit thriller, but mostly thought-provoking philosophy.
When I first started reading, I had no idea what was going on. At first, I was reminded of the beginning of
John Kelly reviewed Piranesi
Review of 'Piranesi' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
When I was in my 20s, I had a healthy social life AND social anxiety which is a hell of a cocktail. Every night I'd come home full of beer and emotions and I'd have real difficulty in shutting my brain off so I could go to sleep. Nothing worked. I'd just lie in my bed going over everything I'd said or did trying to think about things I could have said or did differently. For hours. And then I bought a DVD box set of The Prisoner. I'd put on an episode and it would pummel my brain into submission. Everything about it is so strange and confusing that my mind would give up trying to figure out what was happening and just shut down after 10 minutes.
Piranesi brought back this feeling so hard. I don't just mean thematically (although there are plenty of similarities between …
When I was in my 20s, I had a healthy social life AND social anxiety which is a hell of a cocktail. Every night I'd come home full of beer and emotions and I'd have real difficulty in shutting my brain off so I could go to sleep. Nothing worked. I'd just lie in my bed going over everything I'd said or did trying to think about things I could have said or did differently. For hours. And then I bought a DVD box set of The Prisoner. I'd put on an episode and it would pummel my brain into submission. Everything about it is so strange and confusing that my mind would give up trying to figure out what was happening and just shut down after 10 minutes.
Piranesi brought back this feeling so hard. I don't just mean thematically (although there are plenty of similarities between the book and The Prisoner -- similarities I'm sure someone with a medium dot com account and a pathological inability to allow a take go un-taken will happily point out). I really struggled with the opening of this book because every night I would feel my mind saying "fuuuuucccck this book I can't figure out what's going on" and shutting down. Every single time. It wasn't until page 100 or so where something finally clicked for me and the story started to make sense and I blasted through the second half.
Loved it. It’s a perfect perfect autumn story.
Jim Liedeka reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Review of 'Piranesi' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I really enjoyed this book. At first, I was getting a bit of a Borges vibe. The house in which the story is set reminded me of the infinite library. I liked the way the story unfolded through the eyes of an unreliable narrator.
