Genre Fiction
![Susanna Clarke - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001JP2KUS.jpg)
Piranesi
New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction
World Fantasy Awards Finalist
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, 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.
For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.
Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction
World Fantasy Awards Finalist
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, 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.
For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.
Editorial Reviews
"[Piranesi] flooded me, as the tides flood the halls, with a scouring grief, leaving gleaming gifts in its wake… rich, wondrous, full of aching joy and sweet sorrow. "- The New York Times Book Review
"A novel that feels like a surreal meditation on life in quarantine." ―The New Yorker
"Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling, at once a gripping mystery, an adventure through a brilliant new fantasy world, and a deep meditation on the human condition: feeling lost, and being found. I already want to be back in its haunting and beautiful halls!" ―Madeline Miller, New York Times Bestselling Author of CIRCE
"Unforgettable - surely one of the most original works of fiction this season. It drops you into a mind-bending fantasy world, a vast labyrinth with infinite rooms and seas that sweep into halls and up staircases with the tides. … It's a hypnotic tale that you can devour in a day (and probably will; it's that hard to put down)." ―AARP
"Piranesi is a high-quality page-turner-even the most leisurely reader will probably finish it off in a day-but its chief pleasure is immersion in its strange and uncannily attractive setting. . . Establishing that sense of totality-and the feeling of peacefulness that accompanies it-is Ms. Clarke's standout feat." ―Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"Could Piranesi match [the hype]? I'm delighted to say it has, with Clarke's singular wit and imagination still intact in a far more compressed yet still captivating tale you'll want to delve into again right after you read its sublime last sentence." ―The Boston Globe
"Piranesi is a gorgeous, spellbinding mystery that gently unravels page by page. Precisely the sort of book that I love wordlessly handing to someone so they can have the pleasure of uncovering its secrets for themselves. This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered." ―Erin Morgenstern, NYT bestselling author of THE STARLESS SEA and THE NIGHT CIRCUS
"A short and beautiful novel that reads like a poem, not in its use of language (which is very accessible) but rather in its cumulative effect of expressing an emotion and state of being that is inexpressible. It's a strange and lovely read." ―
"A novel that feels like a surreal meditation on life in quarantine." ―The New Yorker
"Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling, at once a gripping mystery, an adventure through a brilliant new fantasy world, and a deep meditation on the human condition: feeling lost, and being found. I already want to be back in its haunting and beautiful halls!" ―Madeline Miller, New York Times Bestselling Author of CIRCE
"Unforgettable - surely one of the most original works of fiction this season. It drops you into a mind-bending fantasy world, a vast labyrinth with infinite rooms and seas that sweep into halls and up staircases with the tides. … It's a hypnotic tale that you can devour in a day (and probably will; it's that hard to put down)." ―AARP
"Piranesi is a high-quality page-turner-even the most leisurely reader will probably finish it off in a day-but its chief pleasure is immersion in its strange and uncannily attractive setting. . . Establishing that sense of totality-and the feeling of peacefulness that accompanies it-is Ms. Clarke's standout feat." ―Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"Could Piranesi match [the hype]? I'm delighted to say it has, with Clarke's singular wit and imagination still intact in a far more compressed yet still captivating tale you'll want to delve into again right after you read its sublime last sentence." ―The Boston Globe
"Piranesi is a gorgeous, spellbinding mystery that gently unravels page by page. Precisely the sort of book that I love wordlessly handing to someone so they can have the pleasure of uncovering its secrets for themselves. This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered." ―Erin Morgenstern, NYT bestselling author of THE STARLESS SEA and THE NIGHT CIRCUS
"A short and beautiful novel that reads like a poem, not in its use of language (which is very accessible) but rather in its cumulative effect of expressing an emotion and state of being that is inexpressible. It's a strange and lovely read." ―
Readers Top Reviews
John SmithMeemsGo
75 pages of utter boredom before anything started to happen. The constant reference to the seventh hall of this and the 9th vestibule of that, was like reading a 12 year old's story. I still cannot believe this tripe ever got published and am deeply suspicious of the entire industry when one reads the official recommendations. When the slow reveal started I was at first incredulous and then progressively outraged at the amateurish plot and ideas and as a consequence threw it away. For those over 45, it was like a cheap copy of an eposode from The Tomorrow People, Dr Who or some other low quality nonsense from the seventies. Instead I picked up a book called 'Circe' by Madeline Miller and found prose written at an entirely different level. This book is laughable and I am astonished someone even continued with the effort of writing it day to day. The worst book I have ever encountered by a tremendous distance.
Allen DrachirBizz
Note, there are spoilers in this review, so be forewarned. Some reviews I’ve read have included words like “rich,” “wonderous,” and “unforgettable.” in response to such descriptions all I can do is shrug my shoulders. First, to me, “Piranesi” commits the primal sin for a work of fiction—it is often somewhat boring. The “calendar” entries that begin chapters throughout much of the book (“Entry for the First Day of the Fifth Month in the Year the Albatross Came to the South-Western Walls….”) became tiresome to me quite quickly; and it is never a sign of a novel’s success when the reader skims over some of the text. Other reviewers have described the character Piranesi as “innocent.” This doesn’t seem entirely “on mark,” to me. “Naïve,” perhaps. Also: “Incurious,” “obtuse,” “primitive,” and perhaps “autistic.” I understand (as revealed by portions of the novel) that Piranesi is supposed to be amnesic and perhaps what a psychologist/psychiatrist might term a “dissociative” personality. Still, there’s a kind of incuriosity and stupidity in Piranesi that is hard to account for. For example, he never seems to wonder what his origins are, and where he came from: Was he born? If so, to whom? What came before “the House”? Piranesi knows from the statuary in the House that women exist. But how does he know what women are? Piranesi observes that “the Other” carries a shiny device (a cellphone) with him. What is this device? What does it do? Where did it come from? It doesn’t seem to ever occur to Piranesi to pose such questions (despite the fact that he fancies himself to be a kind of empirical scientist). Piranesi randomly capitalizes various words in his meticulously written journals. What does Clarke mean to suggest by this? Does Piranesi, like some “primitive” pre-industrial people, give special mystical and “totemic” significance to certain inanimate objects and processes? In some ways, “Piranesi” is a kind of “portal” fantasy. But the mumbo-jumbo that is used to explain the existence of the other world/universe represented by “the House” and the portal to this world is quite unsatisfying. Many fantasy novels present “magic systems” and fantastic occurrences. However, they often do a much better job of explaining them and creating a coherent account of them. Despite Piranesi’s “innocence,” at core this novel presents a quite sordid and tawdry tale about humankind. I guess you could propose that this is part of this novel’s goal---to point out that there is the pure, solipsistic, and untainted world of “the House,” and then there is the corrupt, evil, and ugly real world that we inhabit. Perhaps this is a useful contrast, but alas, it doesn’t make “Piranesi” a pleasant or elevating novel to read. Some reviewers commented on the precise “clockwork” structure of the novel. I have...
