Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi's house is no ordinary its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. Piranesi is not afraid; 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. 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.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery

335 pages, Paperback

Published March 2, 2022

About the author

Susanna Clarke was born in Nottingham in 1959. A nomadic childhood was spent in towns in Northern England and Scotland. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and has worked in various areas of non-fiction publishing, including Gordon Fraser and Quarto. In 1990, she left London and went to Turin to teach English to stressed-out executives of the Fiat motor company. The following year she taught English in Bilbao.

She returned to England in 1992 and spent the rest of that year in County Durham, in a house that looked out over the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

From 1993 to 2003, Susanna Clarke was an editor at Simon and Schuster's Cambridge office, where she worked on their cookery list. She has published seven short stories and novellas in US anthologies. One, "The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse," first appeared in a limited-edition, illustrated chapbook from Green Man Press. Another, "Mr Simonelli or The Fairy Widower," was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award in 2001.

She lives in Cambridge with her partner, the novelist and reviewer Colin Greenland.

Reviews

[Reuben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal story telling. Unlike anything I've ever read!! So worth a read, whatever genre you enjoy this is a delight.

[Samantha Crowley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can understand why this book is so loved but sadly it’s not for me! I found it confusing and too haphazard to follow

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'm in the minority for this one. I keep reading reviews (it's amazing, the best book people have read) to see what I didn't pick up on! I think this just maybe wasn't for me. I was curious and tried to figure out what was happening, then at some point it was revealed but kind of in a lacklustre way?? unless I accidentally missed a handful of pages by misplacing my bookmark. I really don't know 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm curious to see what Laika come up with in presenting this story though, this is for sure up their alley, and it might be the visual I need to get on board.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plain writing with funky stylistic capitalisation that I never really figured out but made me feel jaunty! In my head this felt like a mish-mash of The Secret History and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time but I'm sure nobody would agree with me. Loved the journals aspect (surprising as I normally hate diaries and journals). Short and sweet - 4.5 stars rounded up because I realised I never rate anything 5 stars and felt bad.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I had no clue what was going on—everything was over my head. But then once I grasped The Big Idea and realized What Was Happening, the book became a page-turner until the end, but then the end was just okay. So did I like this book? I think so. But also not really? I kind of can’t tell…

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book worthy of much conversation.

[Abby Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5

[taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

[5.0]

[Emily J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book, I found the start slow and the rest predictable.

[Lisa Ruffenach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great story and such an interesting setting. Part Sci-fi, part fantasy, part mystery. I really enjoyed this book. I would have given it 4 stars if there hadn't been some smattering of the F bombs.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book as part of my library's subscription bag program, in which a library associate chooses books for the patron, based on a survey that is filled out (and subsequent feedback on the selections). This book is truly amazing! Piranesi, as he is called, is a young man who seems to be stuck in a labyrinth. He seems to be perfectly at home, there, though.

The story is presented in the form of diary entries, most of which are on a numbered day of a numbered month "in the year the albatross came to the south-western halls." It is really unclear for most of the story what is really happening, yet it is entirely entertaining! For most of the story, there is only one other person in this labyrinth, the one Piranesi (although he is relatively certain that is not his real name) calls simply "The Other." The Other seems to be utilizing Piranesi to accumulate information about the labyrinth.

I absolutely love the way this is written. It is so deeply engaging that I read more than half of the book in one sitting, this afternoon. I simply could not put the book down! It has aspects of a mythological tale, but there is also a mystery going on, as we wonder who Piranesi really is, where he really is, what is going on, who The Other is . . . and so on. There are a couple of really good plot twists along the way, and a part of this is tragically sad, as well.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of fantasy (for I truly believe it belongs in that category) and mystery, for it certainly is a mystery, too. Absolutely marvelous story!!!

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect, I loved it. The less you know going in the better.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one really got to me. I'm not sure how to describe the deep feeling of unease that comes with reading this book. I knew almost from the beginning some semblance of the "truth" of the book, but truth and Truth are two different things in this book. It is one of the rare books I'd like to reread to make sure I get all of the details the author so carefully planted within, but I probably won't because the effort it would take to deal with the discomfort of the book all over again would likely be too much. I find this book much more terrifying than House of Leaves, though I feel like it is in a similar vein of upending worlds and realities. This succeeds, however, where the other fails because it is a more concrete and finished story.

[Amelia Van Berkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has honestly just changed my life. It was one of the best books I have read with just the right amount of EVERYTHING. I could not put this book down for a single second.
The world that the author built was so intriguing and I found myself wanting to now more and more about it relating to Piranesi in a fundamental way.
Semi-spoilers:
The really enjoyed how he accepted himself as neither his old self nor Piranesi. Something I found interesting was how he didn’t seem that surprised or socially weird when he met the prophet or 16. Maybe he still had that knowledge from his past life. Or when he went to the old world how he wasn’t like stunned by the amount of people because of big focus was how he couldn’t fathom a large amount of people.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to start by adding that I thought this book was about the original Piranesi, and was rather surprised when I realised it was. However, by then, I was invested and found this to be great in its discourse about Piranesi's connection to the House and the World - something we are missing in today's society.
I didn't engage with the "magic" throughout the book ans wished it was written rather as sci-fi, as I feel the tone would have shifted the book to something that could have been remotely believable. However, beggars can't be choosers, can they? The author got their ideas across.

[Potter Akku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh! What was this? It was not bad but it wasn’t the best too. I liked the childlike wonder and innocence of Piranesi but oh my god was I annoyed with hall number and day number and month of something or something else!
Why!! And yes it was predictable in the start the main plot I mean. I like how they didn’t leave any loose ends and finished all the answers of questions created in the first half. I am glad the book was small or I would have DNF it for the third time, I had to power through to finish. The first half is toooo much, second is ok.

[Miss RCD Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are quotes at the beginning of the book from The Magicians Nephew and The Secret Garden, which are a suitable orientation to world built in Piranesi. It's very charming, and wholesome. A warm hug of a book. It's very short but managed to build a fully credible landscape and compelling story (I wish more authors would do this). Part of me thinks there is a massive metaphor going on but I choose to ignore it so as to fully enjoy the story.

[Marjolein Beekmans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mijn eerste fantasy boek. En het was geweldig. Ontroerend, betekenisvol, beeldend, spannend, grappig, mooi, liefdevol en zelfs inspirerend. Ik zal nog vaak terugdenken aan deze wereld. De eerste pagina's waren even wennen, maar de laatste zin van de eerste passage was zo mooi dat ik graag de moeite nam om verder te lezen. "De Schoonheid van het Huis is onmetelijk; zijn Goedheid oneindig."

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book messed me UP but in the BEST way. Loved it

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Read the last little bit with goosebumps all over my arms.
Definitely a re-read.

[*°meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourites 🖤

[Elizabeth Fancher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was nothing like what I thought it was going to be, but it was so good! I would definitely recommend!

[Serena Alibhai · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. I love a Matryoshka doll. I love layers and I love metaphors. I love life and I appreciate when characters have respect for it.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just utterly charmed by this.

[Joshua Samsoondar · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 interesting, original

[Justin Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for sure, definitely 100% different from anything I read. My advice, just let it flow, don't get hung up on remembering everything and it will all make sense about 1/3rd the way in. Enjoy!!