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A review by writtenontheflyleaves
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke π
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Really in my @novelspots cosplay for this pic π€ͺ
π The plot: Piranesi lives in the House. Maybe he always has. Countless statues line the walls, clouds roll in the upper storey and Tides crash in the basement. The House is the World and vice versa. It is Piranesi's job to explore the World and report what he finds to the Other, the only other person to visit the House - but when chalk messages start to appear for him on the pavements and he revisits his old journals, Piranesi begins to doubt everything he thought he knew about this world and his place in it.
I went into this book knowing very little about it, and that's the way I think it's best experienced. I had no idea what was going on for the first half, but unlike a lot of similar stories I didn't find it hard to get through at all - I never had the sense that it wasn't going anywhere, or that it was trying to be too clever.
Piranesi is a delightful narrator, full of wonder and openness to the world that endears you to him straight away. I really don't want to give too much away about the plot because I think this book so rewards an open mind, but I will say that it muses beautifully on the relationship between loneliness and hope. It asks us who we are when we are alone, looking at solitude not only as a kind of bereavement, but as an opportunity for creating meaning for ourselves, for other kinds of companionship. Above all it asks how we might create a conversation with the world around us by looking for the ways it has made itself ready to our hands. It's a book that's full of hope and loss, and that understands that those things more often than not coexist and even rely on one another.
π Read if you love Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, hopeful novels with a bit of mystery, or if you're feeling lonely and want a bright companion.
π« Avoid it if you're looking for a very high-concept fantasy or sci fi read - this is quite gentle!
πππππ
Really in my @novelspots cosplay for this pic π€ͺ
π The plot: Piranesi lives in the House. Maybe he always has. Countless statues line the walls, clouds roll in the upper storey and Tides crash in the basement. The House is the World and vice versa. It is Piranesi's job to explore the World and report what he finds to the Other, the only other person to visit the House - but when chalk messages start to appear for him on the pavements and he revisits his old journals, Piranesi begins to doubt everything he thought he knew about this world and his place in it.
I went into this book knowing very little about it, and that's the way I think it's best experienced. I had no idea what was going on for the first half, but unlike a lot of similar stories I didn't find it hard to get through at all - I never had the sense that it wasn't going anywhere, or that it was trying to be too clever.
Piranesi is a delightful narrator, full of wonder and openness to the world that endears you to him straight away. I really don't want to give too much away about the plot because I think this book so rewards an open mind, but I will say that it muses beautifully on the relationship between loneliness and hope. It asks us who we are when we are alone, looking at solitude not only as a kind of bereavement, but as an opportunity for creating meaning for ourselves, for other kinds of companionship. Above all it asks how we might create a conversation with the world around us by looking for the ways it has made itself ready to our hands. It's a book that's full of hope and loss, and that understands that those things more often than not coexist and even rely on one another.
π Read if you love Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, hopeful novels with a bit of mystery, or if you're feeling lonely and want a bright companion.
π« Avoid it if you're looking for a very high-concept fantasy or sci fi read - this is quite gentle!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement
Minor: Death and Violence