Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Piranesi

This became my favorite book the moment I read it. It's a masterpiece and will certainly be taught in classrooms in the future.

It's eloquent. It's insightful. It's philosophical. It's full of allusions and depth. It starts slow, but I was hooked once I started to really savor the imagery and prose.

Piranesi is a really refreshing protagonist. His innocence is delightful but belies a deeper meaning. The mystery and danger is gripping.

I was left with questions and thoughts about memory, colonialism, racism (particularly the noble savage trope), science, the nature of identity and consciousness, and so much more.

The most haunting thing about Piranesi is that there is nothing else I've read that even comes close to it, neither in subject matter or quality.

Content Warnings

webtheweeb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book is one of the strangest and coolest things I’ve ever read. It’s Flowers for Algernon meets Planet of the Apes meets The Secret History meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s maddening and profound and inscrutable and relatable and human and so, so not. It is a feat.

I’m kind of astonished by this book. It starts off so, so huge and completely incomprehensible - like the character “writing” it, you need to make massive leaps and grasp onto the smallest glimpses of sanity to maintain your footing - but Clarke leaves a trail of hints that not all is as it seems so intriguing that I couldn’t bear to put it down. I HAD to know what was really going on here. And by the end of the book, in a way that I think so few other pieces of media have done, the frame is SMALLER than at the start, more manageable and explained and easier for my little mind to comprehend. BUT THEN??? THAT LAST PAGE???? Just completely explodes that and undoes it in the best, best way. The middle place is still connected to our world, leaking statues of people as they are??? As they will be??? Where is the place beyond, and what does it mean? We don’t need to know, but the shape of this book is immense and ingenious.

My only reservation is with the main character - does Clarke as a white woman have a right to tell his story? I also wonder about her intertwining of Laurence’s sexuality and his violence, which was not provided any kind of representational foil or anything to offset that association.

Overall, this book, like Octavia Butler’s, did something to my brain I don’t think I’ll easily forget. In my experience, it is totally original and so, so interesting. I feel like I’d need to read it a thousand times over to begin to understand most of what’s in there, and I’d do so gladly. 5/5

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caroisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I was craving something as unique as this. I normally don't gravitate toward the magical realism genre, but this book was a combination of mystery, suspense and fantasy that made for such a rewarding read.

We are taken through events via the protagonist's journal entries, and only know as much as he knows about the enormous house he's in, with occasionally dangerous waves of sea water and rainfall. There are moments where you can start to guess what is actually going on, and it all leads to a suspenseful unraveling.

I think there is a deeper narrative about appreciating our earth and what it gives us, appreciating our life and those around us, those we have lost, even those we've never met.

Susanna's writing is so rich, yet easy to follow, just so artful. There are even moments where a tone / writing style change is necessary and it helps you appreciate the mastery of her writing.

You'll love this if you are into magical realism, a bit of mystery, mystical practice, and unusual stories.

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cryosphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

I read somewhere that someone described this as "great as long as you don't mind being confused until the end," which sums it up but it was a fantastical ride. The house itself is it's own character so I loved figuring out the mystery of the house along with Piranesi. He has a great fondness and love for the house and you can really feel it through the prose. I think having finished it, I might enjoy more on a re-read knowing what I know now. It was a bit slow at first but really amps up quickly since it is a short read. But I feel like Clarke accomplished a lovely beginning, middle, and end and it felt complete. Will definitely re-read it in the future.

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laurenipsum's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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biobeetle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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abookwormspov's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious

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? It's complicated

5.0

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kayanoelle's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

This was quite a ride.
Definitely unlike anything I’ve ever read before, very unique.
I loved how strategic our protagonist was and that all of his decisions made sense considering what he knew of the world, that was kind of satisfying ngl.
I didn’t know what this was about for the first 100 pages or so and even after that point, I was still confused. The story unfolded very slowly but not at all in a way that I would have expected.
It’s not action packed or anything but I quite enjoyed it for what it is, a novel of human consciousness, morals and how we perceive the world according to the knowledge we have.
What I especially loved was how at the end

when Piranesi/Matthew returned to earth and he wrote his journal entries on what the police asked him and how his family made excuses for his “story”,

it reflected perfectly on the fact that us humans can’t comprehend things that don’t follow our reason or our concept of the world. We’re always gonna try and explain it away with a story that fits our narrative and logic and I cannot possibly imagine how that restricts our knowledge and our understanding of the universe. I just thought that was very interesting.

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