Book Review: Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is one of the best novels I have read in a long, long time. It is a singularly unique work of fantasy, not of the sword & sorcery/Tolkien variety, but rather the imaginative, lyrical, dreamlike conjuring of a new world utterly different than our own.
The world-building is elegant and fascinating. The protagonist is curious, resilient, and above all, kind — someone you can’t help but root for, feel for, fall in love with. Every page turn brings new discoveries and insights, and by the end of the novel I was on the verge of tears, both of sadness and hope. In short, I haven’t been this engrossed in a narrative, completely losing myself in its microcosm, in quite a while.
A Description of the World
Entry for the seventh day of the fifth month in the year the albatross came to the south-western halls.
I am determined to explore as much of the World as I can in my lifetime. To this end I have traveled as far as the Nine-Hundred-and-Sixtieth Hall to the West, the Eight-Hundred-and-Ninetieth Hall to the North and the Seven-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eight Hall to the South. I have climbed up to the Upper Halls where Clouds move in slow procession and Statues appear suddenly out of the Mists. I have explored the Drowned Halls where the Dark Waters are carpeted with white water lilies.
I don’t want to say much about the actual plot or characters, because there is an overarching mystery to the book that is at the heart of what makes it an amazing read. If you’re curious to read it, I would highly recommend avoiding all reviews or summaries. Don’t even read the back cover blurb; go into it completely naive and let the world sweep you away. Clarke’s prose is so visual, and she’s so adept at doling out clues and insights, that you feel like you’re living in the world, figuring it out as the protagonist does.
Highly, highly recommended.
246 pages, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, Sep 2020
