Moments after finishing Piranesi, my immediate thoughts about it were that it feels like the calm after a storm you didn't realise you were caught up in. I've never read Susanna Clarke's books before, though Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell has been on my "To Read" list since everyone was so excited about the television adaptation. But if that book is anything like the experience of reading Piranesi then I look forward to reading it sometime in the future.
Our narrator is the titular Piranesi, a curious figure carefully documenting the events of his days wandering the labyrinth he calls his home, the structure and details of every room, and his Tuesday and Friday meetings with the only other living being in the halls simply referred to by Piranesi as "The Other". In most books, this kind of title to a character would seem ominous from the start but that feeling is quickly quashed by the trust our narrator puts in this person.
Part One of the book is a little bit stiff, I did almost stop reading it to leave it for a later time. But when I start reading a book, I like to continue until the point where I start to get more interested so that I have an incentive to pick it up again and continue. By the time I finished Part One and started Part Two, I did get to that point. Most of the book is written in the style of someone who's writing a journal of observations for research, research of what is unclear to start with and that feels like the reason to continue. The beginning chapters seems like the story of two scholars who live in this neverending vast house filled with halls that feels like a library but also is not. At first, it feels entirely disconnected from the real world, you get the sense that maybe these halls that Piranesi and The Other inhabit are in a fantasy realm where they are the caretakers of some lost and abandoned place where a hero of the story may stumble into for some sacred knowledge that will aid them in their quest or a refuge.
Small and large details are eventually revealed but Clarke makes sure to mention them in a way we may ignore at first as it would seem like Piranesi's constant ramblings and simple observations of his life and the halls. The details and movements are very neatly and tidily placed and by the end of the book, woven together in such a way that the movement between each part and plot point is natural and steady, much like the waves that pass along the bottom of the House. Though you may not realise it at first as the reader, we begin to understand where this House is and how it may connect to other worlds through the things that Piranesi discovers but does not understand which provides a sense of foreboding which doesn't seem as worrying as it should because of how our narrator absorbs the information as nonsense.
There is a sense of quiet that permeates the book's pages. Oftentimes, when I read a book that has little to no dialogue and/or very lone isolated characters, I don't hear any sounds in my head as I imagine everything. It's a very particular kind of quietness that reverberates throughout the book and Clarke manages that effect here in this book. The effect of it is that even when there is danger approaching or happening, that quiet sense of calm and peace still carries through those scenes as you read it. That's what I often find a little bit dangerous about books that have that quietened feel about it - I get lulled into this false sense of security for the characters that even if something terrible is happening, it doesn't feel like they're in danger. In my head, they are quite safe.
There's often debate about whether books should all have happy endings or not - I'm of the opinion that it depends on the tale. As I got to the last fifth of the book, it felt very much like this book would not have the perfect, happy ending. The story deserved and did deliver a bittersweet ending, the puzzle has been solved but the most important figures in this tale do not seem content with their ending but move on with their lives regardless.
Once I finished reading the book, I did feel compelled to search if there was any significance to the name "Piranesi" and I did indeed come across Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Personally, I'd recommend looking him up after you finish the book and read about his "Imaginary Prisons".
Reasons to Recommend:
- Recommended reading for Dark Academia readers
- Interested in a thriller disguised as a fantasy and ends up being both
- Imperfect and bittersweet endings
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