Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

13 reviews

skywhales's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i like when books make me feel smart by making me feel just a littttllleee bit stupid but not so much that i feel totally lost. honestly i think the hype this got kind of intimidated me more going in than i ended up needing to be? like it felt like i'd overreacted in the end. honestly some of the reviews have me wondering if we read the same book. especially the people saying this is about how life is inherently Bad?? this seems to be quite blatantly saying the opposite

i know some people didn't like the book because of how long it takes for Plot to start happening but i was a kid who read those long plotless manuals about the magic system or bestiary for some kind of specific fantasy world. this was never a problem for me. i liked the journal entries i liked just wandering around the halls i liked the hint of the mystery we got!

all of the characters apart from piranesi felt pretty flat (maybe with the exception of

Spoiler

arne-sayles?

) but maybe that was on purpose. i can't really be too upset about it because after all the book is About piranesi. if we had to only flesh out one character it's good that it was him.

Spoiler

i liked raphael right up until we learned she was a cop :( will never ever be able to truly enjoy a cop character who is portrayed as a Righteous Force For Good and nothing is put into truly examining that idea. though i don't know what i expected from a book of this size and a specific story to tell.

definitely a book i will read again and probably take notes on because a couple of times i was like ohh if i was the kind of person who took notes on books i would make a note of this. couldn't write in this as it was a library book and i don't like writing inside of books anyway because i smudge everywhere but i need to start just. making documents again.

honestly if i leave you with one thing it is that this book is really not at all intimidating as long as you are the kind of person who likes reading about some pointless minutiae (and i am so it worked for me). and despite the awfulness of some of its characters i absolutely believe that this is a book about hopefulness and the beauty of humanity. and i continue to be a Sucker For That Shit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Torture, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Slavery, and Ableism

booksmoviesandstories's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Dementia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, Mental illness, and Animal death

the_greywarren's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5
This book was very mystical and mysterious and made me feel a lil bit dumb a lot bit, but it was a very quick and fun read once I got into it.
Without saying too much, it follows a young man called Piranesi living in a sort of Greek labyrinth full of statues. I can't really describe the plot without spoiling the entire book, so I recommend just going in blind.
I thought the story was very good and well thought out once it got going, the conclusion was satisfying and the characters were fun to follow. I do think it was a bit slow but it's slowness was not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit hard to get into.
I did also really like the mystery, I wasn't really expecting it so it was a fun surprise. The writing was also beautifully done, and made me very excited to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. Unfortunately I can't really give it more than a 3.5 as it didn't really hit me as hard as I wanted it to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Excrement, Animal death, and Death

stephaniepihlkrarup's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Piranesi is the new literary love of my life. It is profound and wonderful. It reads like a classic — one which your soul has read many times before - one you might expect to find hidden away, with an inscription on the first page, gifting to an ancestor of yours, by an ancestor of theirs. 
This book is nothing like what I expected but everything I had hoped.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Excrement, Death, Child death, Blood, Slavery, Dementia, Animal death, and Abandonment

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow. I don't even know what to say about this novel that won't spoil the experience for anyone thinking of reading it, but I really enjoyed this. The descriptions of the world are fascinating, the main character is charming and his ways of thinking are described in a way that makes them make sense, and the plot took plenty of turns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Dementia, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Mental illness

Minor: Violence, Ableism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Animal death, Homophobia, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

juliloops's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Cursing and Murder

Minor: Death and Animal death

li_reading's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Excrement and Gaslighting

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Violence, Vomit, and Gun violence

mariekejee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 What a fantastic read. I could nitpick the parts I didn't like, but they're far and few between and I really don't want to. I enjoyed the book immensely, and would suggest not reading too much about the story if you're in any way interested in reading it: just pick the book up, you won't regret it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Torture

librarianmage's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A fascinating gem of an idea hampered by its ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship