Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

Sep 2020 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

The award-winning, New York Times bestselling fantasy sensation that Madeline Miller called, “a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling,” Piranesi is an intoxicating, hypnotic novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls lined with thousands upon thousands of statues. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; and waves thunder up staircases, while 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 Piranesi has always known.

“Spellbinding, strange, and unforgettably original” (Esquire), Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty.

Ratings and reviews

A quick and easy read but for all its reviews it has pretty well-worn fantasy concepts. (A little "Nightmare Before Christmas" meets your typical NY times #1 best selling fantasy novel for whichever year) The allure of the book is it's told from the perspective of amnesia to the reality we know and you want to see what the main character decides to do and if they figure out their predicament, it's sweet seeing a personality sans much influence from anything other than wonder and nature as well. I'd say it's a short romantic read (sans any "romance") great for a plane ride, a day trip in a car, or just if you want to relax with a short story that will have you interested to see how it ends!

At first I wasn't sure that I liked this book. A lot of the descriptions seemed meaningless and redundant, and the opening C.S. Lewis quote combined with the setting made it pretty obvious that this book was going to be based in some way on Plato's Allegory of the Cave. But it also came highly recommended, so I read on. While I still feel like it would have been better if it hadn't given so many redundant descriptions and lists, at some point a part of me fell in love with the Child of the House

Very long and boring set up. i also thought i purchased an audio book and did not understand the difference between an ebook and audio book. the read aloud option was not great.

About the author

Susanna Clarke is the New York Times bestselling, award winning author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (winner of the Hugo Award), Ladies of Grace Adieu, Piranesi (winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction), and The Wood at Midwinter.