trade paperback, 272 pages
English language
Published Sept. 13, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one …
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.
For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth full of startling images of surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.
This description comes from the publisher.
I really really loved this book. It has elements I gravitate towards - fantasy, mystery. Labyrinths! It also has a wonderful and truly inspiring main character. Add to that Susanna Clarke's beautiful, poetic, image dense writing. And a sly sense of both humor and horror. There is also an amazing audio version read by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Hard to say much about this book without spoiling the fun. I definitely recommend going into it knowing as little as possible.
A very fun and easy read. Some of the fun mystery gets explained away, but there is still enough left that made me want to continue to the end.
The book seemed like it was going to end in a predictable way. I was kind of right, but it didn’t even matter. The ending I got was much more comfy and satisfying than I was expecting.
I like this a lot. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. it was like a really good, really satisfying meal.
Todavía estoy procesando lo que he leído, y creo que va a permanecer dando vueltas por mi cabeza durante mucho tiempo.
Es increíble todo lo que albergan las pocas páginas de esta novela. Leer Piranesi es muy parecido a caminar por un sueño. Cuando te quieres dar cuenta, sus descripciones de la Casa y sus extraños personajes te han absorbido y todo lo que quieres es desentrañar sus secretos y desvelar qué hay detrás de esta narrativa tan intrigante.
Recomiendo encarecidamente su lectura.
I've been excited by Susanna Clarke's writing since I first picked up Jonathan Strange, and when I first heard this book was coming out, I was suddenly aware that I hadn't heard about her in a long while! Some Googling revealed that she'd been suffering from severe health issues for years now, and this book was the result of more years of hardship than I could fathom. I preordered it immediately, and read it the moment it arrived.
Wow. So different, so quiet, and so, so good.
I've read plenty of reviews that disparage the book (usually because they felt the plot was thin or easily deduced, or because the narration was too simple or unrelatable), but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was surprised when reveals came, I was drawn into the narration and worldbuilding, and I found the narrator endearing, if a bit alien in perspective. …
I've been excited by Susanna Clarke's writing since I first picked up Jonathan Strange, and when I first heard this book was coming out, I was suddenly aware that I hadn't heard about her in a long while! Some Googling revealed that she'd been suffering from severe health issues for years now, and this book was the result of more years of hardship than I could fathom. I preordered it immediately, and read it the moment it arrived.
Wow. So different, so quiet, and so, so good.
I've read plenty of reviews that disparage the book (usually because they felt the plot was thin or easily deduced, or because the narration was too simple or unrelatable), but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was surprised when reveals came, I was drawn into the narration and worldbuilding, and I found the narrator endearing, if a bit alien in perspective. It even holds up to rereads!
All told, I found it delightful, and hopefully you will/have too!
An entriguing story of a man in world of Greek statues and hundreds of rooms, yet there are a few modern conveniences. What is going on?
I didn't know what to expect coming into this and I firmly recommend trying to go in with as little knowledge as you possibly can. The unfolding that occurs throughout the narrative was the payoff, the end just another event along a wave of experience.
A library book that has inevitably made it to my own collection, amongst the shelf of favorites that are destined to be reread over and over again.
Content warning Plot point
Almost four and a half stars. I first read this several years ago, and remember being vaguely confused and perhaps a little disappointed by it. But on a second read, it really is very good. I particularly enjoy the tie to magical parts of her other books; in particular the consequences for acolytes of great magicians.
Quick to read, vividly written, more mystery than parable.
Content warning Spoilers - in second half
I cannot fully review this without some spoilers.
First of all, I would give this book a cw for trauma/psy abuse survivors. Its not evident at first, but part way through you will realize why the cw and might want to stop reading.
This book heavily relies on two devices. One being the fact it is written in first person narrative in the form of diary entries. It's story unfolds from this perspective. The second device, is a bit trickier. I will explain past the asterix.
To me, the book was difficult and a bit boring to start. Once I figured out what was going on, the story moved along much easier. I feel like a story shouldn't rely so heavily on gimmicks. I wonder if I would even get through the book a second time as there wouldn't be a mystery to solve. I pushed through to the end just to get it over with.
The book was described as a fantasy. I would recategorize it as a psychological scifi.
Spoilers
The second device I mentioned, is gaslighting. The Other and The Prophet each gaslight Piranesi much like in a cult. This is also where the abuse and possible trauma response occurs. It is my belief that Piranesi forgets their past as a response to their trauma. He also appears to have Stockholm Syndrome. So much trauma written in such a light hearted way was creepy to me. After a while the book started to read like a true crime book. I believe this is the main reason I did not like it. Once the device, the gaslighting, was figured out I was bored not interested in seeing the mc tormented by their situation and in such an easy going way. They were in a blissful daze, only sometimes struggling to remember the past of which they denied to be a part of. It was painful to read. I felt duped into reading a psychological thriller posing as a fantasy.
The villains felt a bit homophobicaly written too, especially The Prophet.
I think if the book description were more upfront about the genre, I might not have picked it up to read. That would have be fine with me. I think there is a lot of symbolism I am leaving out. The labyrinth being a metaphor for the human mind or something. And, the prophet being a symbol for religious leaders. I think there is a darker warning for this book. I read this as being more about people who have been brainwashed by cults or conspiracy theories. It really is an odd and simplistic book about a tough subject.
-- Each of my reviews in 2023 are dedicated to my friend Jenny, aka readingenvy. She was an avid reader (with a following). But I'll always remember reading the last few books of Harry Potter with her as it came out and her warmth. I miss seeing her book reviews.
I loved this one!
It's the story of "Piranesi", as written in his diary. Piranesi lives in a place he calls the house, which is filled with halls and rooms, no two of which are the same, and with statues all over the place. There are clouds in the upper level of the house, and water in the lower levels, water which sometimes floods the middle levels. As far as Piranesi knows, he has alwas lived in the house, and the only other person we meet is the Other, who meets with Piranesi once a week, but who's whereabouts the rest of the time are unknown.
The quickly suspects things are not quite as Piranesi describes them, and the rest of the plot consists of Piranesi finding his place in the world again.
I loved the prose and the setting of this one, and there were a number of callouts …
I loved this one!
It's the story of "Piranesi", as written in his diary. Piranesi lives in a place he calls the house, which is filled with halls and rooms, no two of which are the same, and with statues all over the place. There are clouds in the upper level of the house, and water in the lower levels, water which sometimes floods the middle levels. As far as Piranesi knows, he has alwas lived in the house, and the only other person we meet is the Other, who meets with Piranesi once a week, but who's whereabouts the rest of the time are unknown.
The quickly suspects things are not quite as Piranesi describes them, and the rest of the plot consists of Piranesi finding his place in the world again.
I loved the prose and the setting of this one, and there were a number of callouts to C. S. Lewis' works, which thematically fit the work really well.
Content warning Minor spoiler, which reveals a mid-book event which is very different in setting than the consistency of the opening chapters might suggest.
I really enjoyed this. I was captured by the reliable hook of an initially confounding fantastic or symbolic setting, gradually made comprehensible as information is revealed and the reader acclimatizes to the concepts in play. The infinite architectures of The House reminds me of the similarly spectacular House of Leaves, or the YouTube Backrooms phenomenon. It makes me want to revisit the symbolic locations of Banks "The Bridge". It reminds me of deeply evocative late nights, lost in endless videogame worlds.
About 2/3 of the way through, I caught a reference as a character is using childhood memories as part of a ritual to reopen a doorway to a lost world, from the rose garden of his childhood home. As potential doorways begin appearing, he notes "The color of the roses was supernaturally bright."
This is no doubt a deliberate reference to Aldus Huxley's "Doors of Perception" (bookwyrm.social/book/168195/s/the-doors-of-perception-and-heaven-and-hell-perennial-classics), a trip report on the opening of said doors during the psychedelic experience of mescaline, in which repeated reference is made to a supernaturally bright and vivid vase of flowers, "shining with their own inner light and all but quivering under the pressure of the significance with which they were charged".
It's hard to overstate how much this book feels written specifically for me - I love books with any sort of physically improbable gigantic building, fantasy books where people enter other worlds, academic thrillers, etc - and Piranesi nails the blend perfectly. A sheer delight with an extremely thoughtful denouement.
This is one of those "sense of wonder turned to 11" books for me. A great story that unfolds beautifully in the moment, and also makes you continually re-evaluate what you've read along the way.
The book's description mentions "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" and "Circe" as reference points. While those feel fair, I found myself thinking more about Patrick Rothfuss's "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" and M.R. Carey's Rampart Trilogy ("The Book of Koli", etc). There's a certain feeling I don't have the words to describe, but which feels shared among those books. "Reverence for the mundane" isn't quite it, but maybe close.
I had passed over "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" despite many recommendations, and now I feel compelled to revisit that!
