Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Piranesi

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

78 reviews

daniellekat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

A perfect blend for readers who love character books and readers who love plot books.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that I couldn’t put down. The beginning was confusing and slow, but the writing was worth pushing through. I’m glad I didn’t know much about this going in because I think that really helped me enjoy it and reflect on it. I wasn’t sure about the ending as soon as I had finished, but going back to read it again made me bump up my original rating.

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adolin_adonalsium's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The mystery was intense and it had me hooked start to finish. I loved Piranesi as a character, as tragic as he was. It brushed right up against the myth of the Labyrinth, but it wasn't so overt that it felt redundant.

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thewitchwhoisabook's review

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

Some of the best writing out there, Piranesi delights as much for its prose as its plot.

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mariebrunelm's review

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Piranesi lives in the House. He is a Child of the House, and the House cares for him. Piranesi lives alone in the countless Halls of the House. Or does he?

This is a very, very charming book that is really hard to describe. It starts almost like a fairy tale, in this immense house filled with larger-than-life statues, in which Piranesi keeps a meticulous journal. But then you understand things are not as they seem and Piranesi might not be very aware of what's going on. Things that appear strange to him are in fact familiar to us, which creates a distorsion. I loved Piranesi's innocence and his sense of wonder and immense love for everything around him, making him the most likeable unreliable narrator. On the one hand I wanted to find out what everything was about, and on the other I wanted Piranesi to stay very, very safe, in a world where truth wasn't necessarily safe. I did not want this book to end and I took my time with it, which hadn't happened for some time. I feel like this book has so many reading levels and I barely scratched its surface, but I never felt like the author was looking down on me. Rather she teased me with lots of clever references to works of art and books which I didn't all get but which future re-readings will shed light on. This book is a delight to read, and I see myself re-reading it multiple times in the future.

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