His relationship to the menacing Other is also unveiled throughout the course of the book. The book that follows these opening revelations is a slow unravelling of the mystery of Piranesi and his strange world. He tells us they start with the label of December 2011 – June 2012 (Journal 1), June 2012-November 2012 (Journal 2) and the third which was, “originally labelled November 2012 but… has been crossed out at some point and relabelled Thirteenth Day in the Twelfth Month in the Year of Weeping and Wailing, to the Fourth Day of the Seventh Month in the Year I Discovered the Coral Halls.”Īt this point your spidey-senses are definitely tingling, no? A Slow Unravelling of the Mystery ![]() This insertion of the Other at the beginning of the book is the first clue (along with the skeletal remains) that something is very wrong in this world. The other thing that sends an alarm bell ringing right at the beginning of the book is Piranesi’s description of his journals. The Other sends Piranesi out to search the House for this Knowledge and report back his findings during their meetings. The Other believes this Knowledge is hidden somewhere in the World, and the Knowledge will bring them enormous powers. Piranesi tells us that both he and the Other are engaged in a search for something the Other calls the Great and Hidden Knowledge. The Other is a man, whom Piranesi meets twice a week. Piranesi regularly visits these remains and cares for the bones, bringing flowers and other offerings. He does not know who they are, but he has given them names, such as the Biscuit Box Man, the People of the Alcove, and the Folded-up Child. The rest are skeletal remains he has discovered in his journeys through the House. Piranesi tells us there are fifteen people in the World, and that only he, and another person he calls the Other, are alive. In the opening pages, he gives us a description of the World - its Hallways, Vestibules, and Statues and the Tides, Clouds and Rain, all of which he regularly encounters in his journeys throughout the House. The story is told from Piranesi’s point of view, from a series of journal entries. Tides regularly flood the lower floors of the house, or House, as Piranesi refers to it. Piranesi is the name of the main character of the book, and all we know about him at the beginning is that he lives in a strange world made up of a large (unendingly large, it seems) house filled with strange and beautiful statues. It certainly has a different flavour and feel than JS&MN, but it is no less entertaining. Piranesi has won several awards, including the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction So, once my book was out the door, I rewarded myself with Piranesi. Which made me really excited to tackle Piranesi. I left it to the end of the year so I could book-end my year with both novels. Norrell is now firmly ensconced near the top of my list of most-loved books of all time. Seeing as the attempt at her first book had left exactly that impression on me, I was determined to try it again to give myself a chance to appreciate her writing style before tackling Piranesi.įast forward. One reason I read JS&MN was to gear myself up for reading Piranesi, Susanna Clarke’s new novel, which I had heard was fantastic, but a bit strange and hard to get into. You can read my review of that book here, but let’s just summarize and say that I LOVED IT WITH AN UNDYING LOVE to give you the jist. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke, a book I had tried to read and failed to get through the first time I tried over 15 years ago. The instant New York Times bestselling novel from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic book set in a dreamlike alternative reality.Back in the beginning of 2022, I finally read Jonathan Strange & Mr. ![]() 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. 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. “ 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 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.įor 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.
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