Piranesi

2.5

I'm sort of at a loss for what to say about this book.

Essentially, this book is not about the plot. There isn't much of a plot beyond our protagonist, Piranesi, lives in a strange, pocket world of a giant, sprawling, perhaps endless mansion overrun with birds and the ocean. The only other person he has contact with is a besuited man he calls ‘the Other.'

Welcome to the first half of the book, where Piranesi details the statues, rooms, wildlife, tides and meetings with the Other. The first, say, 40% of the book is pure worldbuilding. The only issue is this world is rather empty and detached. So you're essentially just getting a feel for the mood, which is one of isolation and otherness. There's very little meat on the bones of the characters to break into, and while the house itself is a character, it's sterile outside of the few parts with wildlife.

When the story finally kicks in, it's entertaining enough, but only about half of the book contains any conflict whatsoever. It reminds me of ‘The Martian' except, where in ‘The Martian' he's trapped on Mars and trying to get out, Piranesi doesn't seem to care about being trapped in this world and doesn't want to get out. So there's no tension. What, I suppose, the author wanted to use to keep you reading was the sense of mystery around the house.

The problem? Astute readers will know what the house represents. That means there's even less tension.

As I said, though, when the actual plot starts, this is enjoyable and left me wondering what this book could've been if there was a plot that stretched the entire (short) book and not just late into the second act into the third. I'm all for experimenting with form, but there wasn't much of anything early on.

Plus, look... spoilers, I suppose. It was all just in his head the whole time is the absolute worst storytelling convention. C'mon! It was so clear from the offset that what was so strange about the house was that it probably didn't exist, only exacerbated by the whole story of The Prophet getting there by putting himself in a childlike state of mind, then Ketterley hypnotizing Matthew Rose Sorensen. Or the guy discovered in the secret room of the house that led to the prison time.

C'moooon. It was so apparent.