Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

217 reviews

hobby1's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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rubyredders's review

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mysterious reflective 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

2.25

,I get why this is a highly rated book but it is just not for me. 

I felt very distant from the characters, short of a general feeling of
Ketterley is a massive cunt I would like to see get his comeuppance and a feeling of sympathy for Piranesi for being so blindly optimistic.
 

Despite the shortness of the story it felt like it really dragged to me. It took until after the first 50% before I felt anything other than god I hope this speeds up soon. 

The world sounded interesting but I just couldn't engage with it and found the mapping of the place difficult (although I think that was kind of the point, it was still somewhat frustrating) 

The ending left me more confused as to if I was supposed to feel some grand awe inspiring emotion or not - that was it? Huh, ok then.

The references to other media and locations were neat though when noticed, such as the allusion to C.S.Lewis' Mr Tumnus speaking to Lucy under the lamppost early on in the first half. 
 
I think this is one of those books you'll either really enjoy or will struggle to connect to and for me it was the latter. 

The slow start and unsatisfying ending is what ultimately has me giving this such a low rating though I can see how this would be a compelling story for others if you can really sink yourself into the mystery of the world early on, as Piranesi has such an optimistic view of the world and joyful nature that you want to see him achieve a happy ending
(the lack of which is part of the reason why I think the ending feels so unsatisfying)
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acorny's review

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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

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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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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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kajasversion's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I loved the writting style and the characters mind captivated me completely. The main focus of the book is how Piranesi perceives the world, and his experiences through his eyes, which is a type of book I love. I found the psychological part of his character study at the end very interesting, but the ending ultimately left me feeling a bit disappointed. Though it is true to the character, I couldn’t help but hope for something to be different. 
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horizonous's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

Beautifully written and with every new piece of information more and more engaging. I think, the depiction of loneliness was the hardest but also somewhat most comforting part about this story. Definitely a book that will stay with me for a while. 
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20sidedbi's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

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