A review by slowshows
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

“I almost forgot to breathe. For a moment I had an inkling of what it might be like if instead of two people in the World there were thousands.”

what a stunningly haunting book! the first chapter or two are definitely confusing as you’re thrust straight into this strange labyrinthine story, but the payoff as it unfolds is so worth it; you really just have to trust a story sometimes. the writing is economical, yet so marvelous at the same time, piranesi’s love and admiration of the House and its surroundings bleeding through the narration. i loved piranesi as a protagonist the way i don’t think i’ve loved a main character in a very long time; he is so earnest and endearing, which makes his fate all the more devastating. 

piranesi reads as a dream and a nightmare and a puzzle. i can see that some readers might find the almost lack of a huge climax unappealing, but i can’t think of a more suitable ending than the devastatingly quiet manner in which the mystery unravelled. somewhere around the 80% mark i felt a heaviness in my heart & didn’t stop crying until the end. it’s incredible how masterful clarke is at evoking that oppressive loneliness piranesi feels. it’s the kind of read that i will have to come back to, as i’m sure i will find new perspectives each time. 

i’ve listened this partly on audiobook and i have to give chiwetel ejiofor his flowers - it was one of the most masterfully-done audiobooks i have listened to; he breathes so much life into piranesi and his story.