Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

422 reviews

wildcatrevival's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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? No

4.25


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scurvotron's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Brilliant. If you're interested in this book at all, go get it as soon as you can. Go in completely blind. Don't even read the blurb.

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chiming_bells's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0

When I finished I wanted to start up all over again. High recommendation for Piranesi. 

I felt the dropped clues exciting enough that while you can guess what’s coming - the build up is satisfying, and the conclusion darkly poetic.
 

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medini_l's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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acorny's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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yellowbinge's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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rebeltheflow's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book is great but I can’t tell you much about it. Its beauty is in its vague first half & how it unravels the mystery. What I will say is the book is brilliantly genreless & unique. It is both fantasy & philosophy wrapped in the binds of mystery. 
I do think the mysterious first half was more interesting to me than the second half or the reveal itself, however neither portion of the book would make sense or interest without its other half (beginning/ending). Overall it comes together in way that just feels soothingly earned by its audience.

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lianaet's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It was certainly a struggle to get through Part 1 of this book, and the rest was still fairly hard to read in big chunks (until this last bit). The confusing aspect of the World is hard to follow most of the time, but you do kind of just have to accept that's how this book is. And it's an important aspect, with Piranesi's character.

Also minor spoilers? Kind of? But this book resonated with me towards the end, with the gaslighting, and the realisation of what's really going on - but still feeling a confusing type of way towards that person. As well that Piranesi is forever changed by the House and what he lived through there.

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godfrina's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

When the Moon rose in the Third Northern Hall I went to the Ninth Vestibule.

If I have to read the word "vestibule" one more time this year...


Look, I gotta be honest, I did not love it.

Obviously, I read it for the hype / just wanted a shorter story inbetween other reads. I don't know what I expected.
I mean, I kind of do know what I expected, reading the short and deliberately confusing synopsis and such, but I guess........eh?

The first 40% or so were an absolute slog for me. I dredged through, like Piranesi through the Drowned Halls; I was this close to my first DNF for the year.
Don't get me wrong, the prose as a whole is beautiful, albeit almost unintelligible. There is paragraphs of "I read it, but that's it". It knits together in the end, yes, however, it left me with an "huh"-feeling, with looming ✨anxiety and dread✨ behind it. I did not think it inspirational or hopeful.

I upped my initial rating of 2 for the second half of the novel to 2.5 as I clearly had a lot of thoughts right after finishing the story and that in itself always counts for something in my book.

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karwc's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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