Clarke combines elements of fantasy and mystery in a wholly original and thoroughly intriguing tale. Through the limited point of view of the journal entries of the narrator, mockingly named Piranesi by the "Other," the reader is drawn into a labyrinthine world inhabited by statues and skeletons, and ruled by the tides. The reader senses there is a larger story in play that is slowly and satisfyingly revealed. Ambiguous and atmospheric, I'd recommend this book for readers seeking portals into other worlds, who don't mind being somewhat disoriented upon first entering.

I really love Susanna Clarke and her writing style. It’s just SO easy to get lost in the worlds she creates. This book is no exception and I am so excited to purchase this in September to add to our library collection. We have so many students that love mythology and especially retellings of well known fairy tales, so I think this one will find itself among some happy readers. For those who read with a more critical eye, there’s plenty to digest in this book, including trauma (how our brains respond to especially traumatic situations in order to survive), the formation of religious practices (to a certain extent), and humanity.

Truly one of the best books I've read in years. Imaginative, compelling, and stunning. A mystery wrapped in a surreal dreamland. I described this book as "like being stuck in a Beckett play and you can't stop till you've discovered why."

Piranesi lives in an endless mansion filled with statues with a man known as The Other. Together, they search for the truth. Piranesi suspects that this is not his real name and records what he finds in his journals. The small number of other people who have been in his world deceased. The mansion occasionally fills with the sea and the sounds that accompany it. One day, a man shows up that Piranesi calls 16. The Other wants him to hide and claims 16 has ulterior intentions. Clues of another world and possibly another unremembered life start to surface. A mystery full of twists and turns, Clarke unfolds a unique, well-developed story with intriguing characters. Piraensi’s world is vividly described and draws the reader into the story. Fans of mystery, adventure, fantasy, and literary fiction will enjoy reading this book.

Please note: This was a complementary review copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No financial compensation was received.

The majesty and wonder of the ancients are seemingly lost to time and progress, but could it possible that such knowledge was ever really lost? Might it somehow still exist, but elsewhere?

Such is the theory that Clarke takes on in her new novel. Readers are presented with the journal writings of our protagonist, who is writing from a place unknown, but seemingly elsewhere. This place is sublime and palatial, abounding with statuary, columns, stairs, labyrinthine passageways leading to wonders known and unknown. There are stars, oceans and birds, but little else. Remnants of a lost civilization? Perhaps, but civilizations, old and new generally offer evidence of people. Here, the numbers are shockingly few. For the most part, our protagonist is largely on his own—a stranger in a strange land, exploring and surviving.

Our protagonist’s entries have a free and trusting childlike innocence, an innocence that some readers might find slightly bewildering. Our narrator is gullible, and at times, his sense of trust leads him to seemingly fail in recognizing that some events or situations might not be quite right. Red flags of mystery abound; but are largely ignored. There are even a few situations that can only be described as comically sinister. Readers will find the first line of Mary Howitt’s poem applicable: “Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly.

This is not really a pleasant story to read. There’s an underlying cruelty that some readers might find disturbing. As well, some scenes and descriptions that are introduced don’t really offer much in the way of closure. Loss abounds, and the past and present seemingly cannot exist together. Knowledge is lost and regained, but understanding, acceptance and happiness is arguably fleeting.

This is not really a book that one can describe in terms of likes or dislikes. Rather, it’s a book that asks readers to observe, think, consider and to discuss.

It is a challenge to say anything about the novel Piranesi without giving the plot away. If you enjoy thinking outside of the box, wondering at the possibilities the world, this treatise on “what could be” is for you. While the numeric identification of the halls in the novel can be tedious, you really do get insight into mind frame of the narrator and protagonist, Piranesi, and the enduring power of the human spirit to see goodness in the world. Stick with it - this is a short read but a gem. Think “Memento” meets Ariadne in the labyrinth.

PIRANESI is one of those rare books that doesn't just transport you to a different reality, it alters the one you're in. Clarke is a peerless world-builder, and she's at her best in this book, which despite its length (at under 300 pages) is rich with detail. Her physical descriptions of the house are meticulous and comprehensive. Reading them, it was like I had a film reel running through my head the entire time: I stood beside Piranesi as he greeted the albatross, I could locate each statue with precision, and I could see how the tides came in through each room. Add to that the novel's deep emotional resonance and you have a masterpiece.

I don't say this lightly: PIRANESI blew me away. At several moments, as the narrative pieces came together, I went slack-jawed.

The best way to read this book is by knowing absolutely nothing about it. In fact, it would be best if you didn't know who Susanna Clarke was at all; those coming into this with JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL expectations will be confused. This is not that book; for me, at least, it's better.

Whatever your preconceptions, I encourage you to allow yourself to be confused for the first few chapters. The payoff is well worth it.

What a remarkable reading experience! I was clueless at what to expect from reading this marvelous book. I did know I was looking for a read that would take me away from the daily bombardment of news about a vicious and unrelenting virus spreading throughout the world. This book took me to a place I could escape this horrible reality for at least a while. I admit I was perplexed as to what I was actually reading about. I was so focused on rationalizing the characters Piranesi and Other that I was missing the wonderful story being told. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a break from the strife and distress of the alarming news we are being constantly being saturated with and as yet with no end in sight. I plan to reread this book at a more leisurely pace to dwell in the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides which thunder up staircases and everything else occurring in the House.

Imagine waking in the middle of a 3D labyrinth populated by only statues, neoclassical architecture, the sea and clouds. It would be confusing at first, certainly, just as the first chapters of Susanna Clarke's new speculative fiction novel are. But as you wander this world with the character Piranesi, you'll become oriented to this strangeness of marble and chalk, seaweed and fish leather. I use the word 'strange' on purpose. It is a word you might associate with Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, but be warned, the two books are very different. Piranesi requires patience, but as its mystery wrapped in fantasy wrapped in surreality reveals itself, you might, as I did, fall deeply into its thrall.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke was so different from anything else I've read, but it was captivating and brilliant and difficult to put down. I think the less you know about the book, the better because it was very mysterious. I was immediately drawn into the characters even though there were several untrustworthy ones and the narrator wasn't 100% reliable. But I thought that the writing was clever and revealed things at just the right time. It did not take me a long time to read the book and part of me wished it had been longer - I just enjoyed it so much!

A very strange book, but quite engrossing. I found the mystery pretty easy to unravel, but there's still great joy in watching the character figure it out. The style of the POV is fresh and intriguing. It's also highly visual, and as someone with a very visual imagination, I enjoyed that. (It would adapt well to film, I think.)

I remain mystified by the way Clarke writes women (or, mostly, doesn't).

I was attracted to this because I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I requested it based on my faith in Clarke’s talent. Tonally, it’s quite different from her first novel, but her imagination really shines, and she still surprised a laugh out of me more than once. I hope lots of people give it a chance to delight them.

It would be hard to surpass <em>Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell</em>, my favorite book of all time, but I did very much enjoy this long-awaited second novel from Susanna Clarke.

This epistolary novel goes beyond the lengthy references to imaginary books in Johnathan Strange, in that instead the whole thing is an imaginary book—the journal of a man sometimes called Piranesi.

The central truth of the novel is almost immediately evident to the reader, though not to its narrator until nearly the end. Usually, figuring out mysteries long before characters do frustrates me; I feel like I'm spending the majority of a book just waiting for them to catch up. But in this case it's not only purposeful and a large part of the characterization of the narrator, it's actually very pleasurable—like an episode of Columbo, where you know exactly who did what and how, and the joy is in learning how Columbo will figure it out.

This is a wildly creative book that is also hauntingly beautiful. It is wonderful to find a book that brings so much magic to the page. I read nothing about the book before I started and instantly fell under its spell. I love the main character and his almost spiritual connection to "the house". The way the truth was revealed was also extremely artfully done. I had trouble putting it down to go to bed and go to work!

I loved this book. The characters are well written and stay with you long after you finish the book. The author's descriptions of the halls is amazing and I found that I wanted to explore more with Piranesi. The themes of loneliness and isolation are so relevant to our times today. It is the perfect read.

Amazing, puzzling, a bit angsty at first. What is that thing about a puzzle wrapped in an enigma (or maybe the other way around)? Whatever it is, this book is it. Piranesi made me think of Candide, an optimistic innocent exploring the World (his caps, not mine).
The puzzle began to resolve and I felt relief and joy for this character, my friend. Slightly confusing at first; hence the angst. but stick with it and you will be greatly rewarded.
I want to read it again. Right now.

This book is definitively not Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in terms of setting or scope. Where it is like JSMN is in the narrative rule-breaking, the disregard for making an approachable book instead of creating a thing unto itself. It is not convoluted, but involuted. Like Piranesi, Clarke knows the way through the labyrinth, but the reader cannot navigate it on their own.

She conjures very solid characters despite the brevity of our time with them and the limits of the narrator's knowledge. The narrator may in some ways be formless and wan, but the others are sharply delineated by dialogue and description, and with such exact and memorable names.

There's a curiously lacking life-force, perhaps in part due to the hollowed-out setting filled with statues. I love a labyrinth and I love the reference to Plato's Forms, and the story depends on the solitary isolation of the narrator, but it left me longing for more connection. The story itself picked up after 60 pages, and I kept going back to double-check earlier references that made more sense the more I knew, but second-glance satisfaction isn't nearly so rewarding as being in the story's grips from the start.

Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a surreal marvel of a story. Piranesi lives in a world enclosed by walls, a vast labyrinthine structure confining an ocean, that he names the House. The House contains huge rooms filled with statues and winding halls that connect them. The tides of the ocean sweep through the halls, bringing Piranesi fish and sometimes floods. The only other beings in this world are birds, which occasionally nest in the rooms, skeletons, and a man whom Piranesi names the Other. As the story unwinds, Piranesi becomes aware that the Other comes from a different world, and that there are more of his kind who have visited the House before and may come again. The Other warns Piranesi against these visitors, but as more information becomes available to him, Piranesi wonders if the Other is indeed the wise companion he has always trusted. Then the woman Raphael appears. Who is his friend, and who is his enemy?
Told from the point of view of Piranesi by means of his journal entries, Clarke’s novel is full of fabulous imagery and startling revelations. The entries document Piranesi’s shifting perceptions as he wanders through the maze of the House and of his own divided mind.
Clarke’s poetic language and a compelling plot make the reader’s journey through the story mesmerizing. I finished the book in two days because it was so hard to stop reading! I highly recommend the book for those who enjoy literary fantasy and mystery.

Magic and mystery entwine into a labyrinth of literary wonder in Susanna Clarke's new novel, Piranesi. Clarke's first novel since Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Who is Piranesi? Where is the mysterious endlessly chambered house filled with gigantic statues, clouds and oceans that makes up the entirety of Piranesi's world? What does it mean that the only other living person that Piranesi interacts with, the Other, seems to be from our world; a world alien to Piranesi? Clarke keeps you entranced and intrigued as the charming Piranesi finds the clues that link the impossible house with our mundane world. Clarke still has the magic and this book is a feat of literary legerdemain that must be read to be believed.