Piranesi by Susanna Clarke was an absolutely rollercoaster ride of a book. I didn’t know what to expect when I began but was hooked instantly and as the mystery of the House, of Piranesi, and of the book itself began to unravel, so did my emotions. It is an absolutely beautiful story told from the point of view of a beautifully broken man.
From the description alone, Piranesi isn’t something I would have thought to pick up. The only reason it even came onto my radar is because of how much I loved Clarke’s previous novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I thought this would follow in that same vein. It absolutely did not. This is a much more philosophical type read that focuses on answering fundamental metaphysical questions to uncover the universal truths of our world. Now, that sounds heavy. That sounds like it’d be boring. It was not at all. It was so endearing, which is what also makes it so heartbreaking. We meet Piranesi who lives in the house. He is honest and good and represents the ideal or natural man. Chiwetel Ejiofor who narrates this book portrays this absolutely so fantastically, I’m fairly certain his portrayal of Piranesi is what made it so easy for me to love him. Piranesi lives in The House which is a maze of rooms and hallways. It appears to be built on a shore as it floods regularly and most of Piranesi’s time, when not exploring the The House, is spent fishing and working with kelp.
We follow Piranesi through his routines, and through this work but with our naturally skeptic eyes, we meet The Other. The Other is the only other living person that Piranesi has ever met. They meet weekly to discuss Piranesi’s happenings and for him to help The Other with his attempts at learning The Absolute Knowledge. Piranesi believes this is a noble endeavor. Of course learning the secret to everything and gaining infinite power is good when you’re a good person and intent on helping. And of course The Other is good, why wouldn’t he be? He says he is good, so shouldn’t he be? This is the turning point where the calmness of Piranesi’s life and routine start to develop a pit of dread for the reader. I started to worry about what was happening. What is being kept. What is happening. Is it me? Am I so jaded that I can’t accept The Other is good just as easily as I can accept that Piranesi is good? That’s what Clarke does extremely well. She gives us the natural man – good and pure – and then introduces us to another character that we come to vastly different conclusions about solely due to our experiences as people that have lived in the world with others.
I want to delve into the ending of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, but I am afraid if I say more it will spoil the book. It should suffice to say that this was a moving experience and far more engrossing and thought provoking than any other straight philosophy book or class has ever been. I think, if you’re looking for a straightforward fantasy novel, this might not be for you. If you’re open to more metaphysical fantasy, you might really enjoy this! I absolutely did!
