Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

228 reviews

abyissmal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Oh, boy. I was on the brink of bawling before I even finished the book. 

When I had a couple of pages left, my eyes were blurry. 

My heart's a thunderous storm of joy, sadness, anger, and relief. As Piranesi discovers peace, I, too, found peace. It'd too been a bittersweet peace because how do you make peace with the World you'd known as home yet being far from comfort? How do you make peace with a World you had never known that turns out to be a small fraction of a bigger world? How do you make peace knowing a part of yourself from the past was taken? How do you live with that?

There is just something magical about the way Clarke weave words together. She strings you along to the mystery of this strange world. Giving enough for you to be curious, but not so much that it completely spoils it. Her meticulous world-building never cease to amaze me. It's a well-realized world, lifting Piranesi's (the architect) intricate etchings to life. The seemingly never-ending stairs; the curves and corners that leads to nowhere; the lack of life itself.

I have smiled, cried, and laughed at every page when Piranesi is being Piranesi. He is a bright, curious soul with simple desires and a whole lot of hope. I wanted to hold his hands when he ventures to parts of The House filled with fear, to protect that very hope he holds until the very end. Needless to say, I'd grown affectionate towards Piranesi and I was left broken bearing witness to the immense changes he had to go through. His World can never be the same because he's no longer the same. He needed to make peace with that. And that really hurts.

All in all, "Piranesi" is a story about belonging. I should also say this book might not be for everyone. It spends plenty of its narrative with Piranesi wandering through this world almost aimlessly and making observations that's left unanswered. But, the journey of belonging, too, requires patience. So, be patient with it. Let yourself flow through the story. Enjoy the magic of it all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Death, and Gun violence

bookiemadi's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Gun violence, and Death

crazytourists_books's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

2.0

Now I know how it would feel like if I were high on lsd or magic mushrooms. 
It was different, that's for sure. Different from everything I have ever read. But being different doesn't mean being special. It was a quick read, but lukewarm. With too many repetitions of words and phrases; I understand why, but that doesn't mean it wasn't annoying. And that end... Pffff

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Excrement, and Murder

mim_flowers's review against another edition

hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Minor: Violence, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Vomit, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Cursing

Minor: Excrement, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Slavery, and Vomit

booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Dementia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, Mental illness, and Animal death

daniellekat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

A perfect blend for readers who love character books and readers who love plot books. 
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that I couldn’t put down. The beginning was confusing and slow, but the writing was worth pushing through. I’m glad I didn’t know much about this going in because I think that really helped me enjoy it and reflect on it. I wasn’t sure about the ending as soon as I had finished, but going back to read it again made me bump up my original rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness and Gun violence

Minor: Murder, Violence, and Vomit

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

The mystery was intense and it had me hooked start to finish. I loved Piranesi as a character, as tragic as he was. It brushed right up against the myth of the Labyrinth, but it wasn't so overt that it felt redundant.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

themirrorball's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective relaxing 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

i absolutely loved this book. the prose was fantastic, and created a vivid world that i missed whenever i wasn’t reading the book. piranesi is honestly the most pure thing to ever exist, i love him. the pacing of this book was perfect, with just the right combination of world building and plot. towards the end, i could not put it down. this book was definitely an amazing surprise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gun violence and Death

thewitchwhoisabook's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Some of the best writing out there, Piranesi delights as much for its prose as its plot. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness and Toxic friendship