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".