Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

15 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Piranesi lives in what he calls "the House" collecting data and making notes. There is no one living with him, just the Other, who visits twice a week and asks questions. One of these questions is strange and Piranesi starts looking back over his data and everything starts slowly coming to light. 

The story was definitely slow, atmospheric and mysterious. We only find things out as Piranesi does and are just as confused as he is most of the time. I honestly didnt put it together until near the end and was so pleased with it. 

Another "just vibes" book but any attempt at describing vibes would spoil the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, and Gun violence

Minor: Excrement

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

I loved that this book felt like a refreshing escape from the normal structure and narrative that many fiction books follow.

Spoiler

I was surprised by most of the book, and deeply appreciated that the magic of this universe was both fantastical and simple, both logical and inexplicable. I found myself confused about the storyline/losing focus frequently throughout the book, which normally would bother me, but it felt like I was experiencing the same thing as the narrator LOL, which I enjoyed. I found the narrator’s genuinely kind soul very touching and deeply enjoyed the process of discovering what had happened. I didn’t realize it was a mystery novel until halfway through which is awesome. The well-established isolated world meant that, with the appearance of each new person or information, it was genuinely shocking. Very interesting and refreshing read.

Also, I pictured The Other as Brett Goldstein.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Kidnapping, Gun violence, Dementia, Confinement, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Death, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Trafficking, and Blood

Although this book covers many dark topics,

Spoiler

beyond the main topics of confinement and kidnapping and gaslighting,

there are very few graphic descriptions of physical violence or torture. Like for example,

Spoiler

there is a gun and attempted shooting, but nobody actually gets shot, and there are no graphic details about it, etc.

anivino's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

i read a lot of reviews on piranesi prior to reading it, and they were the reason i delayed reading it for such a long time. i wasn't particularly thrilled about the minotaurus myth retelling. as time went by, i started forgetting all the reviews, and when it came across my suggestions for reading, i just went for it. and it was absolutely worth it. i enjoyed the immersive world that the author created, and enjoyed spending time with piranesi in the house. i usually don't like themes of mental health in literature as it may be triggering, but it was ok for this book, and i really liked how the author incorporated it in the story and dealt with the inner conflict of the main character. now, i'm waiting to for enough time to pass to return to this world once again.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

eauderat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic friendship

oswaldprivileges's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

The best book I've read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

sonlight21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.75

If you like academia, wether that be light or dark or whatever, you would enjoy this book. I have never gotten into that genre/trope before but it was interesting. I loved the writing style it was beautifully lyrical and simple to understand. It didn’t feel like the author was trying to be overly intellectual or talk down to the reader. 
However this book fell a little flat for me. I think that many people would adore this book and many people may not like it. Personally it was just kinda there for me. I could see the plot twist coming from the fist chapter, and I don’t know if that’s because I analyze peoples writing too much or watch too many mystery shows but when the “plot twist” came I was like FINALLY. I also went into the book completely blind. I didn’t read the back cover or anything about it. 
If you enjoy the academia trope you should give this book a try! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

chrisljm's review against another edition

mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Despite the short length of the book, it is a slow start full of world building. However once you get past that it is so incredibly captivating, and I come to realize how amazing the world building is. Although Piranesi isn’t the only character, he is pretty much the only character you see majority of the time, but even so he’s engaging and the storytelling is fantastic, immersive, and so unique. I loved how soft the fantasy elements were and the way the novel was structured. Basically everything that I found slightly confusing at first were all things that I came to appreciate and really enjoy. 

I think Susanna Clarke deserved the awards she got for this book, and I understand why I heard so much praise for it, but I can also see how this book wouldn’t be for every type of reader. Luckily, I enjoyed it immensely and I found that this is the type of story that lingers and leaves a lot to think on afterwards. One of them being that personally, I would love to see The House because to Me it sounded beautiful despite its solitude. I also think it would be interesting to see how other readers viewed The House, in a personality test type of way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

aelis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

madmantha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Vomit, Deadnaming, Torture, Trafficking, and Gun violence

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

billyjepma's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

You know that feeling you get when reading a book, the sense that usually creeps on you and whispers that you’re experiencing something you’re going to remember? Yeah, that’s what it felt like reading this.

This is a book that pulls from a lot of brilliant sources and ideas and rearranges them in new, unique, and endlessly fascinating ways. It’s a puzzle box of rewarding twists and turns that manages to be frightening in the ideas it offers but gently mysterious in its delivery of them. It’s the kind of story I loved the experience of reading, which usually correlates with books that end up becoming lasting favorites.

I will absolutely be forcing everyone I know to read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Minor: Child death, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail