I don’t know how I feel about Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. On one hand, I’m glad I’ve read it. On the other hand, I probably wouldn’t have read it, if I had known more about it. And on the third hand, I can’t really see how it could be improved, so I have very mixed feelings about it. I’ll be working through my feelings below (so medium spoilers)
Piranesi is the story of Piranesi, who lives in a mysterious labyrinth, which is the world, and he is alone in this labyrinth except for one other man, who he calls The Other. It’s The Other, who has given Piranesi his name, and Piranesi is aware that it’s not his real name, but he is not terribly invested in finding out what his real name might be. However, he is interested in finding the truth, and it turns out to be more terrible than he imagined.
Piranesi is an awesome book, because it’s something completely different than anything I can remember reading. The world of the labyrinth is equally fascinating and unsettling, and the descriptions of it paints a vivid picture in your head. Piranesi as a person is also deeply fascinating, what he has made himself into, when he had nothing, and the fact that even when he knows the truth of who he is, he will never be that person again. The way the labyrinth has changed him on such a fundamental level is, to be honest, kind of disturbing. The fact that he likes it there and goes back, it’s just baffling to me, but then again, I need people to be happy. I couldn’t deal with that kind of isolation. Finally, there are some very interesting “observations” about religion and cults in the book, which makes me want to read the book again.
However, Piranesi is a struggle to read, because nothing happens for the first 100 pages, and the writing style is kind of dense and meandering. It just seems to drag on and on. I found the beginning (first half) of the book boring and alienating. And the same goes for the narrator, Piranesi, I have rarely had such a hard time connecting to a protagonist in a novel. Usually when a character is completely outside my understanding, I’m at least interested finding out about their backstory or just the plot itself. I was completely uninterested in Piranesi for over half of the book, and the only reason I kept reading was that it was a short book, so I could power through it, and see if it got better. And even if I didn’t find it interesting, I wanted Piranesi to know what was going on, because I was kind of frustrated at this point. Finally, I wanted to read a book that challenged me, and Piranesi did that too. But in my opinion, a book should manage to be interesting earlier, you should not have to read half the book before something happens.
Yet, it’s impossible to separate the parts I didn’t like from what I liked, because it really sets up the atmosphere and alienating feeling of the book, which kind of the whole point. After finishing the book, I did seriously consider, if I should ask Hunter to just read the interesting part of the book, so I could have someone to discuss it with, but without wading through the first part of the book, I believe it would lose most of its impact.
I will not be reading anything else by Susanna Clarke. I only got through Piranesi because it was short, but I was very close to quitting entirely when things finally started happening. I’ve had Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on my “to be read”-list for a while, but I’m removing it, because after Piranesi I just don’t think she is for me.
Content warnings: Kidnapping, confinement, gaslighting, death, emotional abuse, mental illness, toxic friendship/relationship, abandonment, gun violence, murder.
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