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A review by jaswoahreads
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
4.0
‘May your Paths be safe, your Floors unbroken and may the House fill your eyes with Beauty.’
I’d had this book on my wishlist for a very long time and the joint events of Susanna Clarke winning the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 for Piranesi, and finding this gorgeous purple-paged signed edition in my local Waterstones, finally encouraged me to pick it up. And fellas, I finished this in two days.
The novel features a man - Piranesi, though he is unsure if this is truly his name - who lives in a labyrinth filled with statues. The house is infinite, its purpose unknown, and Piranesi lives there with one he calls The Other. He knows of nothing before the House, not how he came to be or why he is there, but this is his world and he is content with filling himself with the beauty of the House. He treats his home with reverence and sees himself as a child of it. The house is his protector, though he knows little of it.
Clarke’s prose dazzles and dances like light on water. The childlike wonder of Piranesi is flawlessly executed and never feels irritating or over-done. This is truly one of those novels that you can allow yourself to be swept up in.
In terms of prose and story-telling, Clarke really hit the mark. However as a mystery this novel does unfortunately fall flat. The twists and turns of the plot were obvious from the beginning. I wish that Clarke had doubled down on the fantasy elements as it really would shine as a contemporary fantasy.
I’d had this book on my wishlist for a very long time and the joint events of Susanna Clarke winning the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 for Piranesi, and finding this gorgeous purple-paged signed edition in my local Waterstones, finally encouraged me to pick it up. And fellas, I finished this in two days.
The novel features a man - Piranesi, though he is unsure if this is truly his name - who lives in a labyrinth filled with statues. The house is infinite, its purpose unknown, and Piranesi lives there with one he calls The Other. He knows of nothing before the House, not how he came to be or why he is there, but this is his world and he is content with filling himself with the beauty of the House. He treats his home with reverence and sees himself as a child of it. The house is his protector, though he knows little of it.
Clarke’s prose dazzles and dances like light on water. The childlike wonder of Piranesi is flawlessly executed and never feels irritating or over-done. This is truly one of those novels that you can allow yourself to be swept up in.
In terms of prose and story-telling, Clarke really hit the mark. However as a mystery this novel does unfortunately fall flat. The twists and turns of the plot were obvious from the beginning. I wish that Clarke had doubled down on the fantasy elements as it really would shine as a contemporary fantasy.