Piranesi

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.

Can I give it 6 stars?

Den bästa bok jag läste 2020.

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. 

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.

in love!!!

Dnf - could not get into the writing style

DNF at 27%

One of my all time faves. Such a great book.

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 one was recommended to me because of other books I have read. However, I couldn't get into it. While I finished it, I wasn't drawn to the characters, and while the world was new and interesting at first, it didn't offer enough to keep me drawn to the story. I was bored halfway through the book and the ending left me wanting something more.

I loved this book. It was so refreshingly different from almost everything else I've read recently.

Good things:

It was atmospheric without being overly-descriptive

The protagonist was innocent and good and unique

It was short - it felt like a tight story, with no padding

It was an easy read. I read it in 3 sittings, which is unusual for me!


Less good things:

It took a while to get going. I enjoyed the build up, but there wasn't much resembling a plot for the first 30%, I would say

On reflection, I think there are some plot holes. I had a few questions in my head when I finished, about why certain people had done certain things.


Overall, though, this was an easy 5 stars and my favourite book so far this year.

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.

Normally I don't write reviews but I feel I owe it to this book to at least say something because it inspired me to do so. Piranesi is beautiful, evocative and terrifying. It's so riveting and so short I didn't want it to end but I also felt a wave of relief wash over me when it did, it is quite literally the type of story you dream of, a slap of optimism in the face of hopelessness, a tragedy about how wonderful life is.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

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!

Beautiful Writing, Immersive, Mysterious and very Entertaining

A well paced surreal page turner. Lots to wonder about.

Wasn't for me. Boring read, don't see how it's rated so high, I might be missing something, though I don't know what.

Unlike anything I've read before, and very thought-provoking.

(Major spoilers:) I enjoyed the journal entry format, and slowly recognizing the separation between Piranesi/Matthew/whoever he became. I think typically I would simply wish for Matthew to be restored—certainly I don't want him to be gone forever—but not if it means losing Piranesi. I felt a strange panic the first time a Hall was mentioned without capitalization; that simple change felt like the loss of Piranesi's awe and reverence of the House.

It is also interesting for a character to be rescued after years of imprisonment, but the place of imprisonment to remain beautiful and worth visiting. I hope Piranesi and Raphael (and Ritter) can enjoy it safely for many years.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

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