Book Review: ‘Piranesi’ is a Surreal and Strange Labyrinth on Solitude and Finding Oneself
This is a book best read without a lot of context beforehand (in my opinion). Ironic, since I’m writing this review for those curious about this book. I’m actually still struggling with how to even describe Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It’s a short book, and one that’s been on my TBR for quite a few years. I absolutely loved her other book, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so I was hoping for another five star read. A LOT of Creators I follow across Booktok and Bookstagram raved about this book, and while I did enjoy it, it fell shy of five stars for me. I do think I would like this book on a reread even more. It’s one of those reads where you really don’t have any idea what’s happening until the end. There are also bits that are extremely repetitive, and it’s on purpose, but still annoyed me. I could totally see this being made into a movie though. It’s all vibes and no plot. If you don’t mind that, and you want to immerse yourself into the introspections of a man who doesn’t really know who he is, you might also really love this book.
Things to Know:
Speculative Fiction
Breaking of the fourth wall
Multiple planes of existence
Journal entries as storytelling
Unreliable narrator
***SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW***
We meet Piranesi, who lives in a ‘house’ with infinite halls and rooms filled with marble statues. It gave off Greek vibes for sure. His only companions are the birds, and occasionally, “The Other”, a nameless man who he meets with weekly. And btw, the house floods pretty often, so it’s super dangerous.
Piranesi is extremely resourceful (think Tom Hanks in Cast Away). He’s found a way to survive, but you pick up pretty soon that he doesn’t really remember how he got there or why. There are also remains of others that he takes care of reverently, but they were all gone before he arrived.
“The Other” comes with a “shiny machine” and is immediately unlikable. He’s grumpy and rude. He’s clearly after something, and is manipulating Piranesi, but you don’t really understand why or what it all means until the end.
I really enjoyed Piranesi as a narrator. He’s a bit unreliable, but the story unfolding through his journal entries and observations as he pieces together hints and memories was really clever. Again, I think I’d like this book even more on a reread.
I would absolutely recommend the audiobook, especially because of the nature of the journal entries and the main character speaking at us. If you’re an audiobook reader, and you can find the audiobook on Audible or Libro.fm (ProTips: Audible is 99 cents/mo for three months (3 books for $2.97) right now AND you can get two free audiobooks on Libro.fm with the code SWITCH right now).
Favorite Quotes:
“The waters covered me and for a moment I was surrounded by the strange silence that comes when the Sea sweeps over you and drowns its own sounds.”
—
“This strikes me as deeply pedestrian.”
—
“Birds are not difficult to understand. Their behavior tells me what they are thinking. Generally it runs along the lines of: Is this food? Is this? What about this? This might be food. I am almost certain that this is. Or occasionally: It is raining. I do not like it.”
—
“They were all enamoured with the idea of progress and believed that whatever was new must be superior to what was old. As if merit was a function of chronology!”
—
*P.S. If you end up getting a copy of any books through an Affiliate link above, you’ll be helping me keep this site and newsletter going for you and fellow book lovers. Thanks in advance for supporting your fellow bibliophiles! BTW, I will always disclose affiliate links when they’re present. :) Happy reading!