Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Piranesi

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

225 reviews

vessel's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Beauty of the House is immesurable; its Kindness infinite.

This book was very interesting, though for me, a bit hard to get into. My personal issue was that due to attention problems, I found the protagonist's voice extremely difficult to read at times, since he tends to capitalize every word he finds important. This is excellent characterization, and I do not wish it was different, but it made getting into the groove more challenging for me.

It's a beautiful, achingly human story. I recommend borrowing or getting a physical copy if at all possible, because when the connections started connecting, I really wanted to flip back to look at stuff that was going on 50 pages ago in a new light, which was difficult with a digital copy. It's a lot of fun watching the mystery unfold.

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sxndaze's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

an absolute whirlwind

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yokai_garden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bluebellfallen's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book is a fantastic read and I cannot recommend it enough!!

The main character (known to the audience as Piranesi) keeps a written log of his life and his discoveries within the (labyrinthine) House / World he resides in.

The book is made up of Piranesi's journal entries, and as time goes on, the audience starts to see a much darker story at work.

Piranesi is an unreliable narrator (we only see what he deems important enough to write about after all), but the structure of the book makes this a very intimate reading experience. I cannot provide much detail without spoiling the book, but it is absolutely and without a doubt my current favorite book I've ever read - and I haven't chosen a new one of those in literal years.

The only place this book fell a little short for me was the final transitional entries between Piranesi's interactions with the 16th, and his final entry about the House before the book ends - that section felt a bit long to me, like I was just *waiting* for that final entry that I knew was coming and would be so satisfying. And it was! ... when we finally got there. And I get why that section is there and feels like that - Piranesi is continuing to accurately log his experiences as best he can, and quite some time passed between that interaction with the 16th and the final entry - but even knowing why and agreeing that yes, it should in fact be there, it was my least favorite part of the book.

Other than that one, very minor issue? Absolutely, without a doubt, 100% a masterpiece.

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kitkathw871's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Brilliant storytelling that feels like walking in a labyrinth. I am not a fantasy person so the world building in the first part was a little hard to get through, but I read the rest of the book in one go. I love the way the story unfolds as you gain more and more information alongside Piranesi, but the focus stays on him and his wonderment of discovery even while the fascinating backstory unravels. This book is a delight even while handling some dark subject matters.

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ursa_arlo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really liked this book, especially the slow unraveling of Myself's mystery and the descriptions of the House, but I think I was led astray by all of the positive reviews.

Because, while Piranesi is a good book with an interesting format and mystery, I have read similar books that are similar in subject that hit a little harder and push the boundaries a little further. (A personal favourite is Beneath the world, a sea.) So ultimately I was a bit disappointed by the end.

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