Cover Image: Piranesi

Piranesi

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I enjoyed this as I read it, but I don't think I'll think of it again. It felt - trifle-y. I was more interested in the world of the book than the actual story. The writing was pretty and evocative but I didn't feel like the book added up to more than the sum of its parts.

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This extraordinary followup to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is as spare and austere--and in its way, equally as good--as its famous predecessor. Where that novel brought a magic flourish to the Regency world of Jane Austen, yet without being mere pastiche, Piranesi seems to draw upon the surreal imaginary landscapes of Borges and Escher. Its tale of an amnesiac man, the title character, living in an infinite mansion subject to floods and inhabited by no living humans other than himself and a man he calls "the Other," reads like a mystery crossed with a ghost story. It's like some mirror-image version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House in which the central house, despite its resemblance to a vast mortuary filled with statuary commemorating lost mythologies and forgotten dead, is at heart a benign and life-renewing presence for those who succumb to its enchantment, yet which zealously guards its secrets from those who refuse to pay the price the enchantment demands. Piranesi, whose childlike naivete is the outward manifestation of that enchantment, is an unreliable narrator more reliable than he knows, a charming, amusing, and at times heart-breaking guide through a fantastic, beautiful, claustrophobic world.

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There is a house that is more than a house: it's a series of halls with staircases and vestibules and walls lined with statues from floor to ceiling. Tides flow through these halls, sometimes bringing fish and mussels for food, but other times they cause massive floods that could drown anyone who is unaware. This is where our protagonist lives - fishing, watching the birds that nest in the statues, and finding his way through the many rooms. He is called Piranesi, but he knows that isn't his real name, though he doesn't know what he used to be called. In fact, there are many things that Piranesi doesn't know and The Other, the only other person in the House, will only tell him what little is necessary for Piranesi to help him for his own quest.

Clarke unwinds this story slowly, almost as if she herself were leading us through a labyrinth from the day-to-day work and musings Piranesi lives to the more complicated truths and journeys which he must discover. Her writing is beautifully atmospheric as she does. Although some things become clear to the reader far more quickly than they do to Piranesi (who maintains a lovely innocence throughout somehow), the story doesn't really lose its feeling of taking place almost in a dream or fairy tale. It's not a long book, but it's surreal and satisfying.

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Like Jonathan Strange I found It a little hard to get into, but after a few pages, I couldn’t put it down. This book opens up from a focus on one mans obsession with a strange world to a moving story of discovery and mystery.
I would recommend this book to everyone regardless of taste. It doesn’t fit neatly into a category but eveything about it is wonderful.

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Why yes, I did absolutely love this.

I wish it was longer though.
I wanted to get lost in there.

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A fascinating tale of mystery, mazes and murder, Piranesi drew me in immediately. Our protagonist (maybe Piranesi?) is one of fifteen people in his world. And one of two who are living. He wanders his labyrinthine world full of birds, sculptures and water keeping track of the tides and the "Other" who he meets twice weekly. I don't want to give away much, but we soon discover that the "Other" is not who he pretends to be and may be putting Piranesi in mortal danger. Those who love Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury or Laini Taylor will want to pick this one up.

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I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. The author’s prose was beautiful,. You can visualize yourself as being right with the protagonist in the caves, particularly in the first part of the book.. The pace was quick. The only criticism I might. have is that the ending was a bit of a “letdown” from the rest of the book.

I would consider that this book i would be a good read for a variety of readers; book clubs, adults and young adults. I don’t read a lot of magical fantasy books, so even non=fantasy readers would enjoy this book.

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Piranesi is the sole caretaker of a very unusual realm. Most of the time, he sets about mapping and observing the world's features in his journals. Twice a week, he meets with and relays his findings to a visitor known as "The Other," a man who is eager to unearth a special knowledge supposedly hidden there. The discoveries they make are very illuminating.

This story is an incredibly evocative and creative interpretation of Giambattista Piranesi themes: architecture, labyrinths, imprisonment, contrasts, etc. It does require commitment by the reader but will leave a lasting impression.

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Guess this style of fantasy isn't my thing. As far as I could tell, there really wasn't much of a plot or character development but the author worked very hard on the setting. I'm sure it is probably profound in its treatment of memory and solitude but I missed the point(s).

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

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Like floating down a lazy river

Readers familiar with Susanna Clarke’s book, "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell," will not be surprised to learn that this is a very unusual story. It takes place almost entirely in a house with a seemingly unending number of levels and hallways. The story’s narrator spends his days cataloging the rooms in each hallway, which are filled with statuary. I will admit that I found the constant references to the hallways by geographical location a nuisance and I just skipped over them.

Water is a dominant force in this book so I would liken the reading experience to floating down a lazy river. The plot moves slowly and deliberately throughout most of the book but picks up momentum as it moves toward the conclusion. There were enough clues offered throughout the book to hint at the ending so the reveal felt satisfying—because by then you had a reasonable idea of what was happening—rather than an unfair trick.

I did enjoy this book. Reading it requires some patience but sometimes we just need to slow down and drift along.

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This was a really interesting read. It was a little confusing in the beginning, but I’m so grateful that I stuck through it— the pay off was totally worth it, and not at all what I was expecting.

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I received an ARC of Piranesi from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re interested in Piranesi, you are likely a fan of Susanna Clarke’s first (and, for sixteen years, only) novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which took the world by storm in 2004—it sold millions of copies, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was adapted as a television miniseries. I can see my own copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as I write this, a thick black tome that looks capable of crushing any critter unfortunate enough to have it dropped upon them, but I have yet to crack the cover; it was Clarke’s reputation alone that drew me to Piranesi, a much slimmer volume about which I knew next to nothing when I began reading.

Knowing next to nothing when you begin is the ideal way to experience Piranesi, so I’ll provide only the barest bones of the premise. Piranesi wanders the seemingly-infinite corridors of the House, a fantastical world which he is committed to exploring and documenting; the only other living person in the House is a man Piranesi refers to as the Other—soon, however, Piranesi comes to believe that a third person, a person with malicious motives, is inhabiting the space.

I often find mysteries anticlimactic and unsatisfying, but Piranesi is the real deal: I was instantly ensorcelled, eager to identify the third person and the implications their existence would have for Piranesi, the Other, and the House. Equally engaging is the mystery of the House itself. Where did it come from? Do its statue-lined corridors stretch on forever? Why aren’t there any other people? Clarke answers some questions and leaves others to the imagination, but I was entirely satisfied by the end of the book—the questions left unanswered give the story room to breathe, and the questions resolved feel adequately foreshadowed and logical in the context of the world.

This is at least partially due to Clarke’s prose and characterization of Piranesi, whose first-person perspective is written in a naïve, clinical, archaic style: you might expect it to be dense and frustrating, but it is instead charming and readable. Clarke commands the English language with absolute authority—I probably couldn’t name more than a handful of other authors who have such control over their prose (Shirley Jackson inhabits this rarefied air, as does Faulkner at his best). Every word is precisely placed, every sentence exquisitely crafted, every paragraph seamless. Piranesi is the work of a master magician, a writer who has her fingers deep in the guts of language, and she makes it do things you forgot it could do. It is nothing less than thrilling.

One of the things I love most about Piranesi is how its allegorical elements are secondary (not that I’m opposed to primarily allegorical stories; I actually like them quite a bit, provided they’re done well). The world is not an unused coloring book, and the characters are not receptacles for theme and metaphor—their wants and needs don’t feel dictated by the plot, and that makes the allegorical elements which are present that much more resonant. I won’t say what those elements are for fear of giving away too much. But I was ultimately surprised, and pleased, by how human and grounded Piranesi was: I found it deeply moving in ways I never would have expected.

Piranesi is a perfect book. I doubt anything better will be published in 2020.

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Piranesi’s home is not a normal home. It is hallways of labyrinths, statues, and oceans. He has a journal to keep track of the tide in some hallways and rejoices in the art of others. He is not alone either there is “The Other” who is looking for a way out or back to his home. Soon Piranesi learns that “The Other” is hiding things including Piranesi memories.

I had not read Susanna Clarke’s first book, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell but it was a favorite of my husband. I requested it as the description was intriguing. I have to say I loved it from the beginning. The way Piranesi viewed the world and the living things in it just kept drawing me in.

I am not sure how I feel about the ending. It could have gone so many ways and I still had questions that were not answered. I hope that maybe we will see the characters again.

I would recommend this highly to anyone who likes fantasy or mythology.

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Piranesi is the name that the Other calls the Narrator. They live in a structure composed of many halls, many of which are inundated by the sea. The halls are 'peopled' by statues that seem to stand for something: a woman carrying a beehive; a dog-fox teaching two squirrels and two satyrs; two children laughing, one of them carrying a flute. Piranesi is quite naive. I found it too hard to relate to him.

This book was too weird for me. I pretty much skimmed through it.

There are many readers who think this book outstanding, excellent, imaginative. Unfortunately, I am not in this group.

I thank BookBrowse for a free copy of this book. It is a GREAT book for the right audience.

3 stars

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Most readers picked up this book or are reading this review because they know Susanna Clarke as the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell- an instant classic in the fantasy world. So let me start this review by telling you two things: 1) this book is NOT like Jonathan Strange and 2) the less someone tries to tell you about Piranesi the more you'll enjoy it.

Piranesi is written in a style that I usually hate (first person, as it is happening, slightly indescribable prose) and at first I wasn't convinced I was going to enjoy it. But I kept going and was soon pulled into the world of the House.

Piranesi is a short book, an afternoon's read, especially compared to the tome that is Jonathan Strange. It's a fantasy world, so full of description that you feel like you are walking down the halls with the main character. At first you try to figure out if the world is a post-apocalyptic one, a parallel one, or some shadowy mix of worlds you haven't even thought of yet. The World is the House, and it is a combination of architecture and water. It is silent, full of statues, and yet through the brilliant writing it is also quite alive. The character called Piranesi (though he's pretty sure that isn't his real name) has a beautiful approach to the World, life, and everything in it, making him really a joy to read.

Strange and delightful, Piranesi is a mystery that refuses to conform to any rules but its own. It is the sort of book that haunts you if you put it down before finishing it, makes you continue to think after you've closed the last page, and insists you re-read it to catch some of the nuances you missed the first time. I predict it will be an instant classic in English literature college classes, and it is certainly a guarantee that readers will be debating hidden meanings and theories for decades to come.

A compelling book that must be experiences rather than described, but should be enjoyed if given the chance.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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What an absolutely bizarre, beautiful book. I’ll be thinking about it forever, and it's the kind of story that will only get better when you reread it. I read it in two sittings because I had to know what was going to happen. It’s as different from Strange & Norrell as you can get, but the world is vibrant and the mystery is engrossing.

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Thank you to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book was absolutely nothing like I expected it to be, in the best of ways. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, even though I couldn’t in the least explain a single thing that happened or even begin to describe the events to someone who hasn’t read it yet. It’s wild, it’s beautiful, it’s tragic, I loved it. Piranesi as a narrator was so very interesting, and I loved the journal format, as it allowed us to really figure out the story as he did. We didn’t know anything in advance, and that really helped getting the whole adventure across. I love not having a single clue what’s going on until everything suddenly makes terrible sense.

I will say, with that in mind, that the pacing at the beginning of the book was just a little bit slow for me. Once it started to pick up, it REALLY picked up, all the way through to the end. Also, it took me longer than I would’ve liked to get attached and interested to the characters, but again, once I started to have those feelings, I was hooked. Those are my only gripes, honestly. Over all, a lovely book that I can’t wait to attempt to figure out how to describe to my friends and listeners!

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Author Susanna Clarke is excellent at world-building in her novels. The problem I have with this particular novel is I felt the focus was on the setting to such a degree that the plot suffered.

While this one didn't work for me, I would still recommend it to fans of Ms. Clarke. For those new to the author, I recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

I am a library paraprofessional and received an advance reader copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

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A million thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review!

I am still not sure how I feel about this book. First of all, it is really hard to categorize. It started as a fantasy, then morphed into a mystery, and, finally, science fiction? I would have greatly enjoyed the rich descriptions if they had not been used in such a repetitive way. It almost felt like reading a textbook at times, albeit, a confusing textbook.

It took me a long time to start liking the main character, because he was so methodical and almost emotionless in his naivety. I continued reading simply because of my confusion and the assumption that there had to be a payoff at the end. Right? Then, about halfway through, some interesting secrets were revealed, and I was sucked in.

However, by the end, I still couldn't identify the book's purpose. <hide>Was it meant to make you ponder metaphysical and philosophical questions about the nature of humanity and how the mind can be affected by extreme loneliness/brainwashing? Maybe. </hide> I really wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't. If anyone would like to explain what they think this book is supposed to reveal to us, I would love to hear it.

#Piranesi #Netgalley

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3.5 stars


"Piranesi. It is what he calls me. Which is strange because as far as I remember it is not my name." ~ "Piranesi"


I loved "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" and "The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories" so I was excited to get my hands on this ARC edition of Susanna Clarke's latest book! "Piranesi" is nothing like what I expected, but Clarke's novels never are. I have never read anything else like it. "Piranesi" is a mind-bending, speculative fantasy story about a man desperately searching for the truth of his identity. I hung on to each page, searching hungrily for answers. The suspense was incredible; I felt absorbed into the story from page one!


Piranesi is an excellent narrator. I was rooting for him from page one. He's so respectful of his home and his compassion for all living things is beautiful. Piranesi is one of those rare main characters that possess flaws, but these flaws are forgotten with the extreme empathy the reader experiences for him. As far as critiques go, the main reason this book isn't four stars or higher is because of the novel's length. It's a quick read, but there is so much worldbuilding going on that I desperately wanted another hundred pages to entertain me. The alternate reality is so detailed that sometimes I became confused - so more explanation would've been helpful. Also, maybe I missed something, but is there a satyr in the novel or is that just an unrelated cover choice?


Overall I enjoyed my awe-inspiring adventure into Piranesi's world. I noticed a huge change in Clarke's writing style - while she usually wraps her stories in an air of mystery, her endings traditionally bring a sense of clarity to the plot. However, instead of writing a lengthy novel like she usually does, Clarke went for a short novel that left much speculation for the reader. The fantasy/magic explanation is vague. The novel's alternate reality is presented in an "it is what it is, just go with it" style. The House never explains itself; it just exists. Every reader will interpret this alternate reality differently.

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