‘Piranesi’ by Susanna Clarke is such an unusual book. To begin with, I really didn't know what was happening and found it almost disorientating, and I had to read the first part twice with a bit of back and forth. I was quite happy to do this as it was just so intriguing and I was eager to know what happened next. Fantasy wouldn't be my normal genre but when I just gave myself up to the story and lost myself in the world created I couldn't put this down.

“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.”

Piranesi

Piranesi lives in a watery underworld, subject to tidal flooding. It consists of an unknown amount of vestibules and halls on three levels with thousands of marble statues lined along the walls. The story is told via his journal entries and their odd dating system, which makes the time and world hard to place. He survives on fish and seaweed, and seems to be curious rather than full of despair. His age and sex hardly seem relevant.

The only person with him in this strange place is the ‘other’ who he meets once a week, and a couple of skeletons who he tends to. But the book is mostly about him being alone, and how he survives in this labyrinth, which he has imbued with his own meaning. Piranesi has no memories from his earlier life and he’s happy in this world, until a few strange occurrences cause him to start asking questions.

Fantasy

‘Piranesi’ caused me to ask a lot questions too. What makes up a person? Is it just their accumulated memories and experiences? And when a person spends too much time in solitude and lives in a fantasy world, how can the real world ever compare, and are we better off in that imagined world sometimes?

I really don’t want to say anything about the plot, so as not to spoil the enjoyment as the book unfolds. It’s just so perfectly paced but when I initially finished I felt it could have been longer. But looking back, it was just selfishness on my part in wanting to spend more time in that world.

Susanna Clarke

I haven’t read ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell’, Susanna Clarke’s previous well received book, but I will certainly be going back to check it out. I won’t pretend to have understood all of the metaphors and imagery in the book - I was a bit too caught up in the plot. Loved the structure of this, beautifully written and imagined. Definitely one for a re-read.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Published by Bloomsbury 15/9/2020

245 pages

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