|
Loading... Piranesiby Susanna Clarke
  
Books Read in 2020 (21) Best Fantasy Novels (379) » 20 more Female Author (324) A's favorite novels (83) 250 Page Project (70) FAB 2021 (12) SFFKit 2022 (6) READ IN 2021 (222) Finished in 2021 (17) No current Talk conversations about this book. Piranesi recounts the story of the titular Piranesi, a researcher in a world filled entirely with endless marble halls containing myriad statues and little else. While Piranesi is genuinely curious about the world and all it contains, since he knows no other world, he often draws incorrect conclusions about things that don't quite fit. Things like used candy wrappers, human remains, and a companion who seems to come and go at will send up immediate red flags for the reader, but Piranesi tries to reason how such things fit into this world without suspecting that they may be from another. The book follows Piranesi as he inadvertantly discovers truths about himself while seeking truths about the world. The book definitely has a unique subject matter, and I found it enjoyable on the whole. (  ) Phrim | Jun 22, 2022 |  My classical education is not nearly good enough to catch all (or probably even most) of the references. Luckily Clarke, for all her erudition, can also write a hell of a story. (  ) IVLeafClover | Jun 21, 2022 | Excellent. Perfect pitch for setting and tone. ( ) tsgood | Jun 18, 2022 | Given the fact that fantasy fiction is among my least favorite genres, I was stunned by how much I enjoyed Clarke’s imaginative and touching work. I was engaged in this bizarre tale from start to finish. The author’s execution is beautiful. The characters are compelling. The story is thought-provoking. (  ) brianinbuffalo | Jun 18, 2022 | I don't know why it took me forever to read this, it was such an amazing book. I highly enjoyed this, I thought that this was going to be a completely different style of writing. But I enjoyed what this book had to offer me. I recommend this to everyone. (  ) mythical_library | Jun 15, 2022 |
 Here it is worth reflecting on the subject of Clarke's overt homage. The historical Piranesi, an 18th-century engraver, is celebrated for his intricate and oppressive visions of imaginary prisons and his veduta ideate, precise renderings of classical edifices set amid fantastic vistas. Goethe, it is said, was so taken with these that he found the real Rome greatly disappointing. Clarke fuses these themes, seducing us with imaginative grandeur only to sweep that vision away, revealing the monstrosities to which we can not only succumb but wholly surrender ourselves. The result is a remarkable feat, not just of craft but of reinvention. Far from seeming burdened by her legacy, the Clarke we encounter here might be an unusually gifted newcomer unacquainted with her namesake's work. If there is a strand of continuity in this elegant and singular novel, it is in its central pre-occupation with the nature of fantasy itself. It remains a potent force, but one that can leave us - like Goethe among the ruins - forever disappointed by what is real. How fantastic to have a bestselling novel with an index right at its heart.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds. No library descriptions found. 
|
Popular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92 — Literature English {except North American} English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.19)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English
1