Piranesi
Ratings1,154
Average rating4.2
Piranesi is unlike any other book I've read. I'm not sure if I would exactly put this under the Fantasy genre; if anything, it's a lot more subtle and perhaps more in between Fantasy and Magical Realism. It has incredible world building, such a unique story, and for me it was the kind of book that I couldn't put down.
No in-depth review. This book is better experienced without knowing anything. Loved the prose, the characters, the setting, the House.
It was beautiful.
“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.”
4.5/5 stars
For some reason this book actually really disturbed me. Idk what to think. I don't feel right.
De schrijfster van Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell raakte uitgeput na het grote succes van dat boek en kreeg 15 jaar min of meer geen letter meer uit haar pen. Uiteindelijk werd de draad langzaam weer opgepakt met het herschrijven/schaven aan een eerder boek dat nog op de plank lag. Omdat het niet enorme hoeveel personages bevat en gezien de aard van het boek zou er niet veel (vermoeiend) onderzoek nodig zijn. Net als haar vorige boek speelt magie en magisch denken een belangrijke rol.
“Since the World began it is certain that there have existed fifteen people. Possibly there have been more, but I am a scientist and must proceed according to the evidence.”
Het is, zeker in het begin, een erg vervreemdend boek. De hoofdpersoon dwaalt rond in een reusachtig gebouw (“House”) met meerdere enorm hoge verdiepingen die zich naar alle kanten voor schijnbaar kilometers uitstrekken, gangen verbonden met zalen (“Halls”). Naast de vele beeldhouwwerken in de Halls en de vogels is er slechts The Other, die de hoofdpersoon af en toe van voorraden voorziet, en waarmee hij elke week een gesprekje heeft.
“Birds are not difficult to understand. Their behaviour tells me what they are thinking. Generally it runs along the lines of: Is this food? Is this? What about this? This might be food. I am almost certain that this is. Or occasionally: It is raining. I do not like it.”
Piranesi was een Italiaanse architect en kunstenaar, bekend geworden van zijn tekeningen van fictieve “gevangenissen”. Ook is het de naam waarmee de hoofdpersoon wordt geïdentificeerd.
“Piranesi. It is what he calls me. Which is strange because as far as I remember it is not my name.”
Alhoewel het gebouw in kwestie oneindig groot lijkt, is het allemaal zeer beklemmend. Piranesi lijkt het allemaal heel normaal te vinden, en houdt zich vast aan zijn rituelen – het verzorgen van de botten van de 13 anderen, het vangen van vis en oogsten van zeewier. Heel langzaam wordt, beetje voor beetje, een tipje van de sluier opgelicht over wat House en Halls precies zijn, en hoe Piranesi daar verzeilt is geraakt.
I really wanted to like this book, but the writing style just made it really hard for me to focus on more than a page or two. Gonna have it as a DNF for now and will probably try it again later on this year and see if it goes any better.
Unsure of what I just read – suffice to say the plot is engaging if meandering and the ending personally for me left a lot to be desired. However, I felt a great degree of compassion for the main character, and it helped me get through the book.
This was a mind bending book. At first I was like what in the heck is this place and then as it unravelled, it was a shocking discovery and ending.
What a beautiful book! I felt swept away from the first page, as Piranesi almost is when he miscalculates the incoming tide. Susanna Clarke also has a real sense of comedic timing - Piranesi is a funny, beautiful, haunting story.
I didn't mind the narrative arc but it's not why I found the book compelling. If I had my way, I would have spent hundreds of pages with Piranesi exploring the ins and outs of the halls. I wanted to spend more time in the upper halls, and push further west, and find the little unique bits and nooks that makes this feel like such a home away from home.
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.
REVIEW: I'm one of the few who dislikes this book.
Having heard excellent things about Piranesi, I was looking forward to reading it. This book is riveting and unputdownable. It's a story no one has ever seen before, and the twist is going to be mind-blowing. I found none of those to be true.
For one thing—and please forgive me for this — I don't find endless descriptions of halls, statues, vestibules, tides, fish, and birds exciting. This book is mainly about that! While slowly reading and rereading each description, I could keep track of every hall, statue, vestibule, tide, fish, and bird I encountered for the first thirty pages. As I read, I grew tired and stopped retaining information.
Because I was so confused, I couldn't relate to Piranesi. The other characters were not given names but nicknames or symbols, which I thought did not help at all. Since I didn't finish the book, I can't reveal much about the plot.
Overall, I found the book disappointing and not worth the hype.
7/10 - woahhhhhhhh. the first half was pretty slow and i kept putting it down but it all came together quite interestingly. would probably need a re-read to catch all of the things i missed!
when i initially read this over two years ago, i DNFd it probably because i was struggling to get into it but definitely because i was physically ill and couldn’t read. i’m for sure glad i picked this book back up because i absolutely enjoyed it and the plot twists were definitely ones i didn’t see coming!
Contains spoilers
Beautiful Writing, Immersive, Mysterious and very Entertaining
4 STARS - GREAT BOOK.
my peanut brain too small to understand and get immersed from the jump but after about 30% I was really quite invested in the mystery and the premise
Delightful and mysterious, the main character has an infectious joy about him that draws you into his magical world. A lovely piece of fiction.
This book is so special. It's the second book I read this year, and the second one was after I realized I love books that have houses as the main theme or even the character. Here's how I saw the house on this one, it's a place to retreat when everything in the world is overwhelming. The labyrinth and the halls where the familiar routines and faces that Piranesi was entirely comfortable with it's become his safe space. I love it, a world inside of your own.
I entered this house in a dream, leaving it waiting to return.
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.
This... wow. WOW.
Throughout my reading I came across numerous ways that the text could be interpreted, and I'm very curious to read some of those analyses. For me, there is only one way. Suppression, willing ignorance towards the cause of your pain. To forget is to heal, and to face it head on will only make things worse.
This is one of the most entrancing books I've ever read. It almost feels like it was written for me; the occult, the loneliness, the lingering sense of loss . . . all things I am transfixed by. I almost dropped Piranesi early on, and I am so so glad I didn't. When I became fully invested, I never wanted to leave this World. I'm still there, letting the waves sweep over me. Always I am saved.
I love me a good labyrinth. Reminiscent of Gene Wolfe and Shutter Island, where things are not as they seem, but much more accessible.
This was CRAZY!! So long since I read such an original and vividly described fantasy world!
Susanna Clarke's first book, “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” was absolutely amazing. A truly un-put-downable read.
When I learned that “Piranesi” was coming out, I was very excited. But, I guess not reading as much during the pandemic (because I had to work as much, if not more, than before) and life after got in the way.
Finally, when I'm not actually pressured to hit my reading goal this year because I've already surpassed it, I decided to finally turn my attention to “Piranesi.”
There are some beautiful meditative portions of this book. And center of the book was particularly good. But, it took me quite a while to get past the first third and the last third could've been chopped off without harming the story. Perhaps, if this had been a novella, that would have been a much tighter tale.