Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke

eBook, 300 pages

Italian language

Published Dec. 16, 2021 by Fazi.

ISBN:: 979-12-5967-002-1

(25 reviews)

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 …

From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

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 of surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

This description comes from the publisher.

14 editions

Mormegil@bookwyrm.social reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Fun scientific paganisim?

3 stars

Content warning Discussion of plot and reveal of mystery. Don't spoil it for yourself!

I enjoyed this. It's a short read. Felt like a good mystery novel? What I mean by paganism is by the way Piranesi himself resorts to the sort of ancient state that the antagonists of the novel desire. But I feel that this 'ancient state,' of nature/environment worship is idolized (ironically). Yet even in the midst of his Pagan consciousness, Piranesi analyzes things in the scientific tradition by cataloguing the labyrinth and his journals (hence scientific paganism).

If you have learned anything about ancient history, I think it is hard to come to the conclusion that Pagan worship and rituals are the coolest thing about ancient people (child sacrifice and self mutilation guys!). This isn't really a review of the novel or the writing (which are good), but the subtext. I was not as immersed as I wanted to be. Though the House itself stuck in my mind, I wanted more from the ending. Also I might have just missed this, but is leaving the Labyrinth really as easy as walking through the door in the First Vestibule? In that case, couldn't Piranesi have left before the book even started? Anyway. I did enjoy it, but it didn't change my life. The presentation was creative.

ghose 📚 reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Lectura inmersiva 🥁

4 stars

sentinme atrapado pola Casa (o Mundo) de Piranesi, polo xeito en que describe todos os seus currunchos, as proporcións dos espazos, as alegorías que representan os elementos decorativos, os meteoros, a súa relación coa Casa, como se sinte agradecido e bendecido, como comparte (ao seu xeito) esas bendicións.

Que en dous días lese a novela xa fala do xeito en que me metín nela.

A historia... non vou contar nada para non quitarlle a emoción do descoñecido e de onde procede todo ese fluxo de pensamento compartido en primeira persoa.

Quizás algo positivo pero que no momento me fixo dubidar: durante unhas cuantas páxinas tiven a impresión de estar lendo unha novela de Dan Brown, diosmeperdone, pero non, non tirou por esa parte, se non por salientar a beleza e a bondade.

aura@books.theunseen.city reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Un intrigant labyrinthe

4 stars

Lu en cinq jours. Difficile exercice que de le résumer, et il n'est pas certain que cela serve à grand chose. Piranesi vit et explore La Maison Éternelle, peuplées de Statues gigantesques et d'Oiseaux. Le livre est captivant sur son début, où il en dit peu sur le pourquoi et montre cette Maison.

J'ai reçu cette lecture à un moment où j'avais besoin d'évasion, de plonger un peu en moi. La Maison Éternelle a constitué tout à la fois un échappatoire, un lieu de méditation et de refuge. Une réalité à expérimenter plutôt qu'une énigme à déchiffrer.

Cris ☄️ reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi

5 stars

Todavía estoy procesando lo que he leído, y creo que va a permanecer dando vueltas por mi cabeza durante mucho tiempo.

Es increíble todo lo que albergan las pocas páginas de esta novela. Leer Piranesi es muy parecido a caminar por un sueño. Cuando te quieres dar cuenta, sus descripciones de la Casa y sus extraños personajes te han absorbido y todo lo que quieres es desentrañar sus secretos y desvelar qué hay detrás de esta narrativa tan intrigante.

Recomiendo encarecidamente su lectura.

Unruly Stacks reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Well Worth Waiting For

5 stars

I've been excited by Susanna Clarke's writing since I first picked up Jonathan Strange, and when I first heard this book was coming out, I was suddenly aware that I hadn't heard about her in a long while! Some Googling revealed that she'd been suffering from severe health issues for years now, and this book was the result of more years of hardship than I could fathom. I preordered it immediately, and read it the moment it arrived.

Wow. So different, so quiet, and so, so good.

I've read plenty of reviews that disparage the book (usually because they felt the plot was thin or easily deduced, or because the narration was too simple or unrelatable), but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was surprised when reveals came, I was drawn into the narration and worldbuilding, and I found the narrator endearing, if a bit alien in perspective. …

Wow. So different, so quiet, and so, so good.

All told, I found it delightful, and hopefully you will/have too!

Another Hopeful Fool reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Rapt from first page to last

5 stars

Unique and richly allegorical. You'll fall in love with the titular character.

screamsbeneath reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Unfolding into the (Un)known

5 stars

I didn't know what to expect coming into this and I firmly recommend trying to go in with as little knowledge as you possibly can. The unfolding that occurs throughout the narrative was the payoff, the end just another event along a wave of experience.

A library book that has inevitably made it to my own collection, amongst the shelf of favorites that are destined to be reread over and over again.

Wolfgang Wopperer reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

A strange story in a strange house

4 stars

Quick to read, vividly written, more mystery than parable.

mark reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Perfectly Crafted... Fantasy Novel? Oneiric Mystery?

5 stars

It's hard to overstate how much this book feels written specifically for me - I love books with any sort of physically improbable gigantic building, fantasy books where people enter other worlds, academic thrillers, etc - and Piranesi nails the blend perfectly. A sheer delight with an extremely thoughtful denouement.

Shauna reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

5 stars

This is one of those books that's unlike any other. It's surreal and dreamy and the sheer "what the heck's going on?" factor compelled me to read it all in one day.

A novel like this - light on plot, with an extremely limited cast of characters, told in an epistolary style - really sinks or swims on the narrative voice. Luckily the titular Piranesi is fun to read, and comes across as practical and clever, curious and sweet. His ignorance is charming rather than frustrating, and of course his naivete is all part of the mystery.

Highly recommended to anyone who loves an atmospheric and/or experimental story.

Karvala@lectura.social reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Review of 'Piranesi' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Al principio no sabía muy bien dónde me había metido y estaba un poco perdida, pero enseguida me ha enganchado. En cuanto estás apunto de aburrirte, pasan cosas y te enganchas más. La segunda mitad no podía dejarlo.

m₂ reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I liked this

4 stars

I really liked this story! Glad it got put on my radar from Jacob Geller's video on infinity.

lep@bookwyrm.social reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi

No rating

Nice little book. Had to read it in one sitting.

James reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Reality plus a little magic

4 stars

I really enjoyed the book, the smaller world that the protagonist lives in is very simple and is intriguing, but not somewhere I feel I need to return to. The larger universe though is interesting, with its reality plus a little magic vibe. I enjoyed the unravelling mystery and it compelled me to read it much faster than I've read books of similar size. The first few chapters describing the House reminded me of the descriptions of The Sleeper Service in Iain M Banks' book Excession. To the point where I thought the book was going to go in a sci-fi direction.

bookafnd reviewed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

slow to start, but it does get very good

5 stars

I found this book a bit slow for the first 50–60 pages, which are spent mostly describing the World without much of any sort of Plot happening. It only really begins to pick up around Part 3, when the mystery inherent to the setting starts to unravel, all through the eyes of a narrator not so much unreliable as naïve and lacking in knowledge, which makes him unable to understand things which are clear to the reader. It's the sort of book where it's worth reading (or at least skimming) the first few parts again to see what you missed the first read through.