Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

84 reviews

aksha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

The book was so singular, and I wish I could experience reading it again for the first time. I was not quite sure what people meant when they said they couldn’t reveal anything about the book, but after reading it I understand. Truly, it is best to go into the book knowing as little about its plot as possible because of how the main character builds and unravels his world. It did take me 30-50 pages to get used to the narration style and be able to envision Piranesi’s world from his long and detailed descriptions (they feel unnecessary at first, but I ended up enjoying the description of his surroundings). I gave this five stars not because it’s perfect, but because I even when I wasn’t reading it I kept thinking about it. You have so many questions from the first page to the last, so if you do not like ambiguity this is probably not the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

nickel_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Murder

mogmogmog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, Gun violence, and Medical content

itisthelaw's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, and Slavery

allyhoo811's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I'll make my comments about Piranesi brief, because I believe it is best to go into this one knowing as little as possible. Piranesi had the potential to be a 5 star read for me; it was a combination of everything I love (getting thrown into the middle of the story, a puzzle box feel, dark academia, allusions to classic myth). Unfortunately, I had to drop it down a star because, for me, the journey for this one was better than the destination. The ending just fell a bit flat. I didn't really feel an emotional connection and was left wanting something different (not sure what exactly, but not what we got).

I still would definitely recommend giving this one a read!

P. S. You don't need to keep track of all the dates, locations, etc. to understand the story -- don't waste your time with that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Slavery

Minor: Child death and Murder

martinatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

What a lovely gem of a story with such a tightly revealed world. The perspective of the narrator told in the journal format was genius, and it was rewarding to experience how the mystery unraveled and answered my questions in the most surprising ways. The classical inspiration combined with a modern plot and the change in type styles to convey the narrator’s evolving point of view made this incredibly satisfying and awe-inspiring. It reminded me of Swiss Army Man and His Dark Materials in how it juxtaposes a timeless wonder for the world with sobering reality of human nature.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Murder, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

tiredtori's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been a few weeks since I read this now and I'm still thinking about it. The character of Piranesi is really loveable and innocent and the mystery that unravels the further you get into the book is enough to get you hooked. It's not a long book at 245 pages but it leaves a lasting impression. I'll be picking up more of Susanna Clarke's books in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

touchegiantsquid's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

It's a quiet, reflective fantasy that will probably stay with me for a long time. Being trapped in my house since March 2020, the themes and details of the story felt urgently relevant.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Gaslighting, Slavery, and Fatphobia

The big bad is depicted as sinister and as a way to underline his perversion he is also gay. It's a homophobic trope. At the very end a parallel is drawn between a fat statue and the big bad because fatness is also a perversion to this author. It's fat hate that didn't add to the story.

rusya's review against another edition

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia

baileycowen's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is insane. It took me a little while to get into, but once you do it’s captivating and mysterious and shocking in its own way. So good! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Slavery