A review by jaan
Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.5
I really, really loved this book. It is paced EXCELLENTLY, which has been a gripe of mine for quite a few recent reads. Clarke's imagery and descriptions are stunning, and she does a really good job acclimatizing you to the endless Halls and the way Piranesi has numbered them. I felt a lot of influence from Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Library of Babel." My friend pointed out strong visual memory imprints similar to CS Lewis' The Magician's Nephew (I personally got way too excited about the reference to Mr. Tumnus) and William Blake's writing from The Marriage of Heaven of Hell, and specifically his ideas on the doors of perception. This book also deals with memory a lot, and while I wouldn't quite call it dementia, memory loss is a motif through the end of the book.
Emmanuel Levinas was a Jewish philosopher who wrote on the Other and our responsibility (which can be anything from hospitality to aggression) towards other people. He writes that infinity is the unbounded quality of the face of the other. We witness death only in the death of the other. In coming face to face, the "I" is addressed by the other, and it is chosen to respond, rising to the other, saying, "here I am."
Piranesi, the character, is an extremely loveable person. Since this novel is epistolary, the first few entries take us through who he is, who the other people in the House are (mostly dead, whom he cares for), and his numbering system for the Halls. Once these logistical questions are acknowledged, he goes right into, "Do Trees exist?"
"Imagine water flowing underground. It flows through the same cracks year after year and it wears away at the stone. Millennia later you have a cave system. But what you don’t have is the water that originally created it. That’s long gone. Seeped away into the earth."
Spoiler
Emmanuel Levinas was a Jewish philosopher who wrote on the Other and our responsibility (which can be anything from hospitality to aggression) towards other people. He writes that infinity is the unbounded quality of the face of the other. We witness death only in the death of the other. In coming face to face, the "I" is addressed by the other, and it is chosen to respond, rising to the other, saying, "here I am."
Spoiler
Piranesi also deals, quite literally, with The Other, continuing to answer this responsibility even after his name is revealed.Piranesi, the character, is an extremely loveable person. Since this novel is epistolary, the first few entries take us through who he is, who the other people in the House are (mostly dead, whom he cares for), and his numbering system for the Halls. Once these logistical questions are acknowledged, he goes right into, "Do Trees exist?"
"Imagine water flowing underground. It flows through the same cracks year after year and it wears away at the stone. Millennia later you have a cave system. But what you don’t have is the water that originally created it. That’s long gone. Seeped away into the earth."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Kidnapping
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Excrement and Vomit