A review by godfrina
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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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