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A review by thebookgem
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
4.0
I need three business days to think about this.
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Okay it's the next day and I have had the whole night to think about this. I still don't know what or how I actually feel about this book. I have watched countless videos about this book and countless people explaining their own views and what they think the book is about; and the fact that there actually is no one wrong or right explanation to what the hell is this book even, makes this book beautiful to me. I have seen people explaining how this book might represent mental illnesses, or how it might be more about trauma and how it causes us to repress our memories (which can be seen by the fact that Piranesi can not remember the "other" world at all), or it can represent DID (the way he says his past self is sleeping inside of him)- the possibilities are truly endless and that really shows the brilliance of Susanna Clarke.
Coming to how I personally felt while reading this book - I am going to be very honest I was not in a mood to read this when I started it but because of my very beloved friend Aleezah I continued to read it and I am glad I did.
The book started out a bit slow for me, the environment building is really beautiful and extremely detailed. At first I was trying to remember literally every Vestibule, Every hall, Every direction but later on I gave up since it became a little too repetitive for me and I found myself skimming through quite a few of these descriptions later on in this book.
Talking about Piranesi I found his character to be so so SO beautifully written. I am truly in love with that man, his nature, his child-like wonder, the way he talks is so distinct, the way he looks at "the House", his character is so beautifully written. I hated "the other" from the very start as we all did I am sure, and I found it very interesting that this book was not about "oh who is the villain" but about "when will Piranesi realise the other is the Villain?" And the storyline of him when he finally discovers the truth and has this whole monologue of how he is going to kill the other is so beautifully written and sooo saisfying!!!
Talking about Raphael I saw in a video that Raphael might also represent a therapist trying to break into Piranesi and bring him slowly out of his trauma and I think how amazing this view is!! They also compared this storyline to the movie Shutter Island which is truly brilliant!!!
So in conclusion I would say that I really like this book and I think it is beuatifully and Brilliantly written however I hope I enjoyed the process of reading the first half a bit more than I actually did, So I would personally rate this a 3.75
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Okay it's the next day and I have had the whole night to think about this. I still don't know what or how I actually feel about this book. I have watched countless videos about this book and countless people explaining their own views and what they think the book is about; and the fact that there actually is no one wrong or right explanation to what the hell is this book even, makes this book beautiful to me. I have seen people explaining how this book might represent mental illnesses, or how it might be more about trauma and how it causes us to repress our memories (which can be seen by the fact that Piranesi can not remember the "other" world at all), or it can represent DID (the way he says his past self is sleeping inside of him)- the possibilities are truly endless and that really shows the brilliance of Susanna Clarke.
Coming to how I personally felt while reading this book - I am going to be very honest I was not in a mood to read this when I started it but because of my very beloved friend Aleezah I continued to read it and I am glad I did.
The book started out a bit slow for me, the environment building is really beautiful and extremely detailed. At first I was trying to remember literally every Vestibule, Every hall, Every direction but later on I gave up since it became a little too repetitive for me and I found myself skimming through quite a few of these descriptions later on in this book.
Talking about Piranesi I found his character to be so so SO beautifully written. I am truly in love with that man, his nature, his child-like wonder, the way he talks is so distinct, the way he looks at "the House", his character is so beautifully written. I hated "the other" from the very start as we all did I am sure, and I found it very interesting that this book was not about "oh who is the villain" but about "when will Piranesi realise the other is the Villain?" And the storyline of him when he finally discovers the truth and has this whole monologue of how he is going to kill the other is so beautifully written and sooo saisfying!!!
Talking about Raphael I saw in a video that Raphael might also represent a therapist trying to break into Piranesi and bring him slowly out of his trauma and I think how amazing this view is!! They also compared this storyline to the movie Shutter Island which is truly brilliant!!!
So in conclusion I would say that I really like this book and I think it is beuatifully and Brilliantly written however I hope I enjoyed the process of reading the first half a bit more than I actually did, So I would personally rate this a 3.75