![]() I think readers are going to either really like it or really not - the literary readers may not like the magic, and the fantasy readers may get frustrated with its character-driven pace - but for me, I appreciated the best of both. This book is just so creative and unlike anything else I’ve read. I loved the House and his descriptions of it. Who is the Other, and where does he go between meetings? How does Piranesi know, like, how to do math if he grew up alone in the House? Puzzling through this mystery felt gradual and inevitable as the book went on, but it was still fun to watch the pieces come together in Piranesi’s mind. The story is told in the form of his journal entires over the course of six months or so.Īlmost from the beginning, we as readers know something is up, even though Piranesi is content. He spends his time exploring, cataloging the halls, and gathering food to live on (mostly fish). This man’s only friend, the Other, calls him Piranesi, even though he doesn’t think that’s his name. The main character of the book is a man who lives in the House, aka a vast network of hundreds and hundreds grand halls filled with statues, with sky in the floors above and tides in the floors below. And so it won’t come as any surprise that I really liked Piranesi. I wasn’t aware that a book could even do that … and yet here we are. ![]() If there was ever going to be a book for me, it’s one that gets shortlisted for the Women’s Prize and nominated for the Hugo Award. Or through my Bookshop page: Book Review Bookįor more of my favorite books for adults, check out my section For Catholic Parents.“Perhaps even people you like and admire immensely can make you see the World in ways you would rather not.” You can buy Piranesi through my Amazon affiliate link: Piranesi Third, enjoy the mystery of it and don’t get turned off by the intentional strangeness of the first few chapters! Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. The novel is largely about one’s connection with the world around them, about slowing down and appreciating the world, whatever that world may be. Second, it helps to have read The Magician’s Nephew recently. Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. (No spoilers) Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a deep, wonderful, page-turner of a fantasy novel that evokes feelings of loneliness, liminality, and tension at the same time. First, this book is all told in diary form by an unreliable narrator (echoes of Wilkie Collins). I really don’t want to give away any spoilers, but here’s a few tips on how to read it. It’s that rare book with great depths to ponder, but you read it in 24 hours. It deals with important topics like misuse of power, but in the most powerful way: through the story. Piranesi plays with contrasts: ancient versus modern consciousness, freedom versus bondage, contemplation versus action. I was telling a friend, “It’s like a mystery… noooo, more of a suspense…. That’s a pretty eclectic list, I know, but this is a book that keeps you guessing. If you love fantasy, or mystery, or art, or fairy tales, or books about social issues, you’ll probably enjoy this book. Well, if you have a high schooler they might like it too, but mostly I’m thinking of moms here. To be clear, this book is for you, mom, not your kids. Probably I mostly like it because the author is clearly playing with a Magician’s Nephew theme and you all may have noticed that I’ve never outgrown my childhood love of Narnia. ![]() It’s well-written, superbly plotted, and has just the right amount of nods to the classics without coming across as trying too hard. Piranesi is that rare contemporary book I can wholeheartedly recommend to all my friends with no reservations. I’ve ragged on a few New York Times Bestseller’s recently, so I wanted to share one I did love.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |