Creative

Original

Unique

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke — 2020

New York Times Bestseller! From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. 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. For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

Reviews

Tali ⋆.˚🦋༘⋆@cuntscapade

Mar 21, 2025

DNF at 25%
Short Reason: Confusing as fuck and boring as hell.

So, the main character was pretty dumb, and the story made no sense. These days, it feels like people can write any random nonsense and call it "deep" or "metaphorical." Honestly, I've read better Shawn Mendes fanfics on Wattpad that were written by some 14-year-old who barely speaks English.

I don't hate the book, but I don't like or love it. It's just so bleh and boring -- forgettable. 75% of the book was utter nonsense of just filler "chapters" of random facts about things I don't give a shit about. I was still trying to figure out if the protagonist had literal amnesia or if they were just so bored in solitude that they were documenting everything. Here's a literal list of things Piranesi mentions...

A list of things the Other has given me
ENTRY FOR THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE SIXTH MONTH IN THE YEAR THE
ALBATROSS CAME TO THE SOUTH-WESTERN HALLS
I have made a list of all the things that the Other has given me, so that I will
remember to be grateful and thank the House for sending me such an
excellent friend!
In the Year I named the Constellations, the Other gave me:
• a sleeping bag
• a pillow
• 2 blankets
• 2 fishing nets made of a synthetic polymer
• 4 large sheets of heavy-gauge plastic
• a torch. I have never used this and cannot now remember where I put
it.
• 6 boxes of matches
• 2 bottles of multivitamins

Boo!!!! 🥥🥥🥥 Boring !! I'm throwing coconuts cause tomatoes won't be doing much damage.

Evan@theslowkenyan

Mar 10, 2025

"Piranesi" is a short, charming read about a beautiful nightmare.

I think Susanna Clarke has a real talent for dialogue and displaying a character's inner-workings through their word choice and demeanor. Arguably this is detrimental regarding one character in the book and where they end up, but on the whole I really enjoyed that sense of style, she wears it well.

The Halls are filled with lots of beauty yet are undeniably desolate and unfriendly. There's no sand (and even water), yet I think of the House to basically be an ivory desert. The waters are alive and pulsating, culminating in a crescendo that attacks several rooms and almost kills our lead in the very beginning. Even still, he only speaks to the House's generosity and kindness. Our prisoner writes captive poetry.

I was a bit dissatisfied with how things ended. I think it was drawn out and arguably too happy (though this could definitely by my brain addled by Cormac McCarthy books). Considering the rest of the story, I was surprised that Clarke went with something so tender. I didn't outright hate it, but I wouldn't have minded if it had gone down differently, either. This was only the end, too; I was very happy up until the climax subsided.

Overall, I really liked "Piranesi" and definitely recommend this book.

el.@mashamellow

Feb 27, 2025

hell yeah

cx@liuche

Feb 24, 2025

Wow this is the worst book I've ever read. It's completely filler and nothing is lost by starting at the 40% mark of the book. I finished it in about an hour since a) the first 40% is complete repetition of the first 2-3 pages, b) after that point you only need to read the dialog and the italics, bc there is nothing new.

It seems like a much more boring, long take on Patrick Rothfuss's The Slow Regard of Silent Things, but the author tries to put a simple plot on it and It Is Awful. Highly recommend all thr rave reviews read Patrick Rothfuss's version to see how it should be done.

I literally don't see any reason for this book to exist, maybe it felt as monotonous and unreal as the pandemic it came out in?

My favorite part is reading other 1-star reviews of this book.

Omar @sparsesuccess

Feb 3, 2025

This book is beyond exceptional.

I find myself in some way unspeakably sad. Mellow, deep inside, haunted by something. Perhaps it is the sadness of the life that Matthew Rose Sorenson lived, perhaps it is, as Clarke writes, the ebb and flow of the tides in my mind, the great halls that are swept with water.

It is very rare for me to have this kind of relationship with a book. I began reading this book because I was told it somehow resembled the TV show, Severance, in its approach to a labyrinthine world and a slowly evolving mystery. And on that end, it does deliver. I expected that this book would thrill and entice me, interest me in unfolding its secrets - and therefore it was my reasoning that I would read the mystery, come to its conclusion, figure out for myself how I would rate it (somewhere from 3.5 to 4, I suspected), and be done.

Now I find that i want to get the technical review out of the way as quickly as possible so I can contend with the themes of this story. So let us do that, then.

The plot is meticulously well constructed. It unfolds quickly and efficiently, with no beats missed. Everything happens accoding to its designated order. The disillusionment of our protagonist too occurs with perfect balance. When writing this kind of story that places a protagonist in a world of mininal detail, an author embarks on a difficult quest to ensure that the reader is disoriented enough to be confused, but not too disoriented so as to lose interest. Tamsyn Muir comes to mind here - and Clarke runs rings around her for weeks on end.

Clarke is a surgeon with her writing. Carefully she labels and names things, and writes details in ways that evoke particular feelings. Her approach to everything is quite minimal, and it does a terrifying job of imparting the liminality of the House. To describe everything in finest detail would have been a simple task, but Clarke decides instead that by revolving her descriptions around key colors and details, specific naming conventions and their capitalisation, and various other elements, she imbues an emptiness detectable only holistically, and a holiness that permeates the imagined world of the House.

She is equivalently exacting with her construction of voice. I would have dearly loved to study this book for that purpose. Never before, and I say this without exaggeration, have I read a piece from an author so thoroughly assured of her mastery over her narrative voice. She exhibits three different voices for us, but they are all three that belong to the same man - Matthew Rose Sorenson, Piranesi, the labyrinthine man - and they are all distinctly different yet clearly and certainly springing forth from the same source.

Her capitalisations and quirks of phrase and shortened sentencing when providing us with Piranesi's voice give us the sense of a creature - then a man - then a homed survivor, imbued with reverence, attention to the world, yet somehow clearly evoking to the reader the voice of someone who cannot possibly be complete.

The brief window of dialogue into Matthew's voice through his documentation of the events of December 12 was masterful. Even though he doesn't carry the hallowed nature of Piranesi's voice, the subtle quirks of his writing are still embedded, his general nature differs and yet you can see how one man can be the other.

And of course, the voice of the man who emerges is unique all its own. Something of him is lost, felt in the way he now refers to the statues with non-specificity, clearly no longer a child of the house.

We brush away all this discussion to cut through to the core - the themes at play, the central focus with which Clarke busied herself. It is clear to me now that Clarke would not write a story such as this to simply effectively construct a kind of labyrinthine mystery, and execute it perfectly. This story is not even particularly concerned with the details that speckle its surface - what may seem to the reader as core details, such as characters and places and events that lead to Matthew's predicament, are instead simply backgrounding props, intended to furnish the story in the way that a perfectionist interior designer would take care of all the elements of a room even if the only piece that really matters is on the mantle.

The mantel-piece Clarke cherishes is the story of a man who for a brief period lives a life profoundly unlike our own. Its about the difference between our world, of all its elements, and the world of the house, standing as a testament to the communion between man and the world surrounding him. Many elements of the story are contested in morality, and oft does Clarke wilfully paint for us our villains, but never is the existence of the Knowledge and the Power contested, or truly disproven, or painted harshly or charitably. Is it, indeed, there? In some ways it was, for Piranesi, the Child of the House, who decided what came and went according to the way the birds flitted from statue to statue.

Once he leaves its clear that he has become the kind of person that belongs not to our world. Raphael, also, embodies that. Talking to the birds, slightly estranged of our world, muddling through, connected to the peace and quiet of the house. In some ways the very mythical way of the world of the House allows us a lens with which to look at the estranged of society, men and women who by quirks of personality or mental structure are forever doomed to interact with this world and know nothing of the House.

Underneath all that is a subtext of reverence for a life lived in emptiness of man and connection to the world. It is echoed in the book's parting lines, as the overlap between Matthew and Piranesi coalesces a new, profound understanding of our world as his House. Maybe we could all do to live with a little more reverence - though I am confident that Clarke had no such desire to simply impart a moral. I feel, instead, that she was simply enamored with the themes - with those who do not truly belong to our world, with the nature of the relation between man and world, with the labyrinth and how it would warp the mind, and with the labyrinthine man and his transition into the labyrinth, and back out again.

We briefly revel in Clarke's thoughts, flitting, before we are shown the door.

This review contains a spoiler

Alli@maybeitsalli

Jan 31, 2025

This is just one of those books. I don't want to say or imply too much about the story because I think it is best to go in blind, and let it unravel as you read - embrace the confusion in the beginning.

The central theme of this novel struck me to my core. I love when an author takes a part of the human experience and creates an entirely new world around it. Piranesi's experiences in this book, although not the same as my own, are deeply relatable. It is books like these where fiction (and specifically fantasy) really shines in its ability to help us understand ourself and others.

violet nguyen@crayoni

Jan 19, 2025

incredibly beautiful and poignant. the atmosphere and imagery were amazing and piranesi was a great character. i loved annotating all the information and even tho it was for school it was still nice to do. i was very invested in the mystery and was constantly confuse on where the story was heading (in a good way). diving into piranesi’s past and learning abt him WITH the character was such a unique experience, it was all so strangely cozy and comfortable with a looming eeriness of smth sinister that exists near. it was ALL SO GOOD I LOVED IT

+12

Christoph Rauscher@christowski

Nov 23, 2024

This was my book of the year(s)! So captivating, beautiful, sad, joyful, thought-provoking. I never wanted it to end. The German translation by Astrid Finke is also very good.

yaya@dpsociety

Oct 27, 2024

PIRANESI U WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED BY ME

simran singh@paperbookreader

Oct 7, 2024

This book introduces many cool concepts, but not many of them are not given enough time. The book either needs to be longer or shorted.

Aidan@aidan4253

Oct 7, 2024

Quick and compelling read. The first half of the book drags on though and at times feel inconsequential. I would have also liked to see things tie together a little bit better.

All in all, I'm glad that I read the book and it was a fun take on the labyrinth concept.

Laurel S.@palefire

Sep 11, 2024

Quick read! Very fun, enjoyed it

baku@swallowthemoons

Aug 26, 2024

i feel like only a specific type of person would actually LOVE this book and thankfully that's me lmao, first 25% is definitely frustrating and confusing but it gets better from there

Jackie Lu@jzrlu

Aug 8, 2024

easy, beautiful read with an endearing mc

Drew Nerbas@drew_cn

Jul 24, 2024

Piranesi is a story that holds so much complexity and incredible story telling in a very concise and short book. I absolutely loved it, and despite not being fully sure on some of the themes, it has grasped my attention enough so that I am excited to look more into the hidden meanings in the story.

rory@evergreen

Jul 22, 2024

what a charming narrator and horrifying series of revelations. i can't think about it for too long or i might be sick. glad i read it in one go.

kite@blessings

Jul 6, 2024

it's great, but i agree with one of the reviews; best to read this in one sitting because it's difficult to visualize the worldbuilding. nonetheless, i find it quite fun to read!

Ryan Mateyk@the_rybrary

Jul 4, 2024

Beautiful, magical, an endearing narrator - no notes!

Florence@mysweetpeaches

Jun 13, 2024

I need to reread this book. I started it when I wasn’t in the mood and had no idea what it was about. I feel like I didn’t give it the attention it deserves. However, the House sounds nice and I long to visit it myself

sneha@sneha25

Jun 3, 2024

i wish i read this book in one sitting because i think it really requires that. great plot but you can kinda get lost if you don't keep up with it. love the sense of mystery and thrill the book brought. its a pretty solid one.

✱@dokja

May 11, 2024

i wish i could lengthen my stay in this book as piranesi in the vestibule or whatever it is the name of the place.

elizabeth@ekmclaren

May 11, 2024

A brilliant, strange little story. A favorite narrator. It's always hard to say anything about books I love the most.

Hanna Rybchynska@hannarbc

May 3, 2024

This story was so amazing. It is sad and happy at the same time! Totally deserves all the hype !

bitter delight@bitterdelight

Apr 12, 2024

the perfect book

Highlights

Evan@theslowkenyan

In my mind are all the tides, their seasons, their ebbs and their flows. In my mind are all the halls, the endless procession of them, the intricate pathways.

Page 245

Eternity

Basil@beesil

I did not believe it was Myself that cried out. It was, I thought, Matthew Rose Sorensen who reposed in a state of unconsciousness somewhere inside Myself.

He had suffered. He had been alone with his enemy. It had been more than he could bear. Perhaps the Other had taunted him… Then the House in its Mercy had caused him to fall asleep— which was by far the best thing for him — and it had placed him inside me…

I worried in case he woke up completely and his anguish began all over again.

I placed my hand on my chest. “Hush now!” I said, “Do not be afraid. You are safe. Go back to sleep. I will take care of us both.”

Page 190

This highlight contains a spoiler

Naman@r3

This highlight contains a spoiler

baku@swallowthemoons

And You. Who are You? Who is it that I am writing for? Are You a traveller who has cheated Tides and crossed Broken Floors and Derelict Stairs to reach these Halls? Or are You perhaps someone who inhabits my own Halls long after I am dead?

Page 12

andrea valentina @virginiawoolf

It is my belief that the World wishes an inhabitant for Itself to be a witness to its Beauty and the recipient of its Mercies

andrea valentina @virginiawoolf

Perhaps even people you like and admire immensely can make you see the World in ways you would rather not.

I AM LOVING THIS BOOK SO MUCH

✱@dokja

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

✱@dokja

‘Don’t disappear,’ I tell her sternly. ‘Do not disappear.’

✱@dokja

I placed my hand on my chest. Hush now! I said, Do not be afraid. You are safe. Go back to sleep. I will take care of us both.

✱@dokja

Yet, despite this emotional blankness, from time to time a sob or cry would escape my lips – a little sound of desolation.

✱@dokja

“I don’t like you very much,” / “I can live with that,”

✱@dokja

My own actions were, I was sure, guided solely by Reason. But I was only deceiving Myself.

✱@dokja

In the meantime it is important to recognise that reading the Journal is in itself a triggering activity, giving rise to many painful emotions and nightmarish thoughts.

realest

✱@dokja

In the meantime it is important to recognise that reading the Journal is in itself a triggering activity, giving rise to many painful emotions and nightmarish thoughts.

✱@dokja

Hush! he told me. Be comforted!

✱@dokja

However my hair is a different matter. Over the years, as it has grown longer, I have interlaced it with pretty things that I have found or made: seashells, coral beads, pearls, tiny pebbles and interesting fishbones. / All of them rattle when I walk or run. / When 16 returns to his own Halls, I shall put them back – I feel oddly naked without them.

cutieful

✱@dokja

When night fell, I listened to the Songs that the Moon and Stars were singing and I sang with them. / The World feels Complete and Whole, and I, its Child, fit into it seamlessly.

✱@dokja

I felt and smelt the Air those wings brought with them, the sharp, salty, wild tang of Faraway Tides and Winds that had roamed vast distances, through Halls I would never see.

✱@dokja

“I dreamt of him once; he was standing in a snowy forest and speaking to a female child.”

Steffi Colberg@steffiwhatever

‚A vision of cosmic grandeur, I suppose. A symbol of the mingled glory and horror of existence. No One gets out alive.'

Page 177

Steffi Colberg@steffiwhatever

After a minute or two of walking uselessly to and fro, I spoke to Myself sternly, telling Myself that it was no good bewailing the Past; what was needed now was to plan for the Future.

Page 155

Tija@itstija

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

Page 245

Steffi Colberg@steffiwhatever

I felt a surge of anger and for a moment I thought I would not tell him what I knew. But then I thought that it was unkind to punish him for something he cannot help. It is not his fault that he does not see things the way I do.

Page 48