Name: Piranesi
Rating: 4.302083333333333 (48 reviews)
ISBN: 9781526646668

Susanna Clarke

Piranesi

May your Paths be safe, your Floors unbroken and may the House fill your eyes with Beauty.

Larissa Campos

This realisation – the realisation of the Insignificance of the Knowledge – came to me in the form of a Revelation. What I mean by this is that I knew it to be true before I understood why or what steps had led me there.

Perhaps that is what it is like being with other people. Perhaps even people you like and admire immensely can make you see the World in ways you would rather not.

It is my belief that the World (or, if you will, the House, since the two are for all practical purposes identical) wishes an Inhabitant for Itself to be a witness to its Beauty and the recipient of its Mercies. If I leave, then the House will have no Inhabitant and how will I bear the thought of it Empty?

Im not sure I understand what I read. I do know I couldn’t put the book down. 

Manny

Ashley Denktas

This book was a strong 4 star, soft 5 star for me. But I have been thinking about it non-stop since finishing it. Its literally made me want to sit down and write an essay about the possible meanings for everything in the book like I was in my high school AP lit class again (shout out Mrs. Harbour - you do not know how much of a profound impact your class had on me as a human being). I will say that I fully don't know what Clarke was trying to articulate in this book. I do think it was very clever. Without going into a full blown essay in this review I think my top takes and likes from this book were: 1. The theme of enjoying something for the sake of enjoyment/ loving how it simply is. Why is this house so big and why are these statues that showcase so many different parts of the human experience? You will never know- and that’s fine. Piranesi himself says that it’s fine- just enjoy it how it is - you don’t need to have some deeper meaning to enjoy it. He also “allegedly” had said to stop the pursuit of knowledge multiple times (I doubt or at least if he did he did so in another manner- like I don’t wanna be here and do your bidding before he forgot). He is a child of the house and is content in enjoying the beauty (and the roses if you will)- even enjoying the walk when he’s finally free. 2. I really liked the statues being interpreted as like lingering of the the past and knowledge. You will never ever know it first hand since it’s in the past but it leaves its mark. You can try to learn from it (and can) but part of it will always forgotten or truly not understood since it’s not a first hand account/ time passing makes it hard to remember. Humans also are so obsessed with progress that things in the past do get cast aside for “advancements” when you can appreciate how it was done in the past without saying it was bad or primitive. I think Ketterley was also the personification of that and a foil. (Ketterley was in the pursuit of knowledge - so maybe foil here isn't the right word - but I do think he had a different reverence and more malicious intent than Piranesi). 3. It was interesting at the end, Piranesi thought of himself as a third person- because imo he is still the person he was in the house just now a wider perspective since he no longer lives in “a cave” (imo I couldn’t stop thinking about the cave analogy - his shadows are the statues). He seems to believe identity is tied to where you are, whereas I believe it grows and transcends. He is a different person when he leaves the house, and he also is not the same person he was before he forgot who he was. But to believe he is a third person… I’m not sure I fully agree. Identity is tied to place, but I don’t think you lose that fully when you leave or are displaced. Like the forgotten knowledge it still lives with him. But then again he has a new perspective that makes it hard to have the views he had before. But to say his former self is dead I think is wrong since he still understands that perspective. (HOWEVER, take this with a grain of salt because I know that many people would argue otherwise/ I don't have a life experience that makes me feel this way - I just feel that you can't erase what you experienced in said place if you are no longer there - it is apart of you unless you literally forget everything as Piranesi did in his first life.) 4. The introduction of Raphael was really interesting. I looked up that Raphael was the angel of the travelers and mercy. Seeing it in that view was really interesting- also that she also kept wanting to go back- and perhaps also forget for a time the struggles of life. The view he paints of her being like the two different statues was one of my favorite parts of the book, showcasing how knowledge can change over time and how it impacts a person. 5. I think there also had to be some symbolic meaning for the 12 dead (12 apostles?) but we go up to 16 people so I forget if the starting number was 12/13? but I mean Ketterley is he is in that count betrayed him from the very beginning. 6. It’s also jarring how even in the before - Piranesi’s character was so… innocent? Maybe is the best word- but he trusts everyone no matter which identity he is in. When Ketterley asks if he came alone I think any sane person would have immediately ran- but he doesn’t? Maybe there’s some thing about him being a man therefore maybe not feeling as in danger- but I think again and sane person would have an alarm bells blaring. It was interesting to me that Piranesi always defaults to trust. Maybe humans always do that- and in their purest form they do (him living in the house) but they pay a price to live in that state? 7. I love at the end how he appreciates life as it is around him - and sees connections in people to the statues. We are patterns of the past. He also sees these lanterns as the day is approaching evening lighting up the world ever so brightly in the snow. It made me realize he sees the world in a different form (snow now solid and perhaps more real) than the water filled house. Yet he appreciates it even if he is less naive and sees there are bad things that can happen in the world. I might be going too far into English teacher mode but this book has really made me think and I really appreciate that.

Neha Lama Tamang

4.25/5 It was surely weird but in the most mesmerizing way. It truly was a strange good story.

M. Sosotris

This book floored me. Thoughtful, gorgeous, and incredibly thought-provoking. I loved the complex puzzle-box mystery and the emotional core of the story. A real work of art and of of my favourite reads of the year!

Estava sentindo falta de acabar um livro em dois dias, o dormir e acordar pensando na história—nesse caso, em outro mundo. Não sou a maior fã de fantasia, na maioria das vezes não me apetece como esse o fez, me senti dentro da história e sinto que será parte de mim para sempre. Sinto que durante esses dois dias pude viver no outro mundo, em silêncio no meio das ondas, corredores e estátuas. Gostaria de ter vivido por lá por mais tempo, a única parte que me incomoda é o quão curta foi a experiência 

Dyslexia-Friendly Edition using sans serif font printed with blue ink on cream paper. Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction A SUNDAY TIMES & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, 'one of our greatest living authors' NEW YORK MAGAZINE __________________________________ Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone. Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous. The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite. __________________________________ 'What a world Susanna Clarke conjures into being ... Piranesi is an exquisite puzzle-box' DAVID MITCHELL 'It subverts expectations throughout ... Utterly otherworldly' GUARDIAN 'Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling' MADELINE MILLER 'Brilliantly singular' SUNDAY TIMES 'A gorgeous, spellbinding mystery ... This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered' ERIN MORGENSTERN 'Head-spinning ... Fully imagined and richly evoked' TELEGRAPH

Dyslexia Friendly Edition

Aida Mateescu

I don’t like how this book makes me feel while I’m reading it, but that’s exactly why I’m drawn to it. It makes me feel as if I’m trapped inside a strange, unfamiliar realm, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what’s happening, and it drives me insane.

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

Surprisingly, this is such a fun and easy read for me and I really fancy the writing style of this book. By the set of we are reading Piranesi's notes, it really show all of him and diving into his wonder, innocence, and his peculiar story in The House, the labyrinth.

And Oh, how I just love Piranesi, him and how kindhearted and soft he is. I can't stop but smiling reading at him go.

It such a delightful read and at the same time as the story shifted and uncovered it give me such a mind-bending experience, at certain point I got so engrossed I did not know what or who to believe and feels that I too might be driven mad as well. Could say this book really did a great job in combining dazzling fantasy and mystery element in it.

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

Surprisingly, this is such a fun and easy read for me and I really fancy the writing style of this book. By the set of we are reading Piranesi's notes, it really show all of him and diving into his wonder, innocence, and his peculiar story in The House, the labyrinth.

And Oh, how I just love Piranesi, him and how kindhearted and soft he is. I can't stop but smiling reading at him go.

It such a delightful read and at the same time as the story shifted and uncovered it give me such a mind-bending experience, at certain point I got so engrossed I did not know what or who to believe and feels that I too might be driven mad as well. Could say this book really did a great job in combining dazzling fantasy and mystery element in it.

I think I’d rate this higher after a reread or some more time to reflect. I will say this book inspired me to create an “atmospheric nostalgia” playlist and I did thoroughly enjoy the setting but not necessarily the plot.

Jas 🐸

Intriguing! I really enjoyed this as my first book of the year. 

Rebecca Fox-Kealy

I really liked Piranesi. I loved the idea of this house and the statues. It reminded me of Plato’s story and I thought that made it really smart. Especially how the longer he stayed in the House he would lose his memory and think that that’s the world and how the statues were the image of the real things. Also I found it interesting that there was some mystery in it and it made it really intriguing and easy to read for me. I would totally recommend it, it gave me a great vibe💜

🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕

i will never stop thinking about this. this might be THE book of the year for me. 

marie

Beautifully written. And the story spectacularly holds up, through surprises and all - brilliant, original and entrancing.

Beatrix

Beautifully written. And the story spectacularly holds up, through surprises and all - brilliant, original and entrancing.

- mum’s comments: It is so generous - no vengeance, spite, despair - despite it all, he has such a kind disposition, such space and capacity for reflection, gifting the benefit of the doubt, and his own very methodological processing.

Piranesi

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