Piranesi

I wanted to love Piranesi, but it just wasn’t for me. I found the pacing to be very slow, and the narrative often jumped from detailed descriptions of the House to interactions with other characters in a way that made it difficult for me to stay oriented and engaged. I went into this expecting an atmospheric novel that would be immersive, thought-provoking, and emotionally compelling. While the world itself is undeniably imaginative and unique, I never felt fully pulled into it. Instead, I found myself struggling to connect with the story and waiting for it to pick up.

Good easy read, very creative ideas, excellent ending

Piranesi lives in the House, which seems infinitely large, made up of labyrinths and filled with statues that Piranesi has catalogued and memorized. It's also surrounded by water, and Piranesi has also learned the rhythm of the tides and when to avoid certain areas so as not to be swept away. As far as he knows, only two people exist in the world -- himself and the Other, the well-dressed gentleman who meets with him regularly. There are the bones of the dead that lie within the House, so Piranesi realizes there were more people at one point, but he can't seem to remember this. But he lovingly looks after the bones and holds them in high regard. He keeps a journal, and we slowly learn through his journal entries what is really going on...

Piranesi lives in a fantastical world - a labyrinthine building full of statues and inundated by recurring tides, inhabited only by him and one other person ("the other"). Once you get through the endless descriptions of rooms and artwork, the book proceeds quite quickly. The detective story that unfurls is heavily foreshadowed and the science fiction aspects of how Piranesi ended up where he is are somewhat hastily glossed over. However, I was drawn in to the book and to Piranesi's unique world view, and invested in his outcome.

Given that I've listened to the JS&MN audiobook like 6 times, all the way through, and watched the series another 3 or 4 at least, I am very annoyed at myself for not reading this earlier. It is genuinely a great book - very good mystery, though I'll be curious to see if it holds up on re-read. I was a little put off by the opening 20 or 30 pages - I just didn't find the descriptions of the House to be all that engaging. Weird, obviously, but it did get slightly repetitive. I think that may have been what put me off really starting the book - that and the fact that most descriptions of it really made it sound boring and vague, but I realize now they were trying to avoid spoilers.

I normally don't believe in the concept of spoilers - if something is good, your enjoyment should be enhanced by knowing what happens. I also just don't have the desire to do a ton of re-reading (though I did a fair share this year for books I read in high school and undergrad), so I want to get the most out of my reading and, for me, that means knowing what to look for from page 1, so I can appreciate a well wrought work of art more fully the first time around.

However, I would say that this is actually one of the few things I am glad I didn't know the end of going into it (alongside ASOIAF and Sixth Sense, Usual Suspects - ones where the ending really hits).

I also very much appreciated the elegiac and imagistic approach she took in the final fragments of the final chapter. It made it feel more meaningful - about the imagination, about people's dreams, happier versions of themselves, and the contrast with the real world we have to deal with.

I also really liked the contrast in attitudes between The Other, The Prophet, and 16. I felt the statue descriptions/depictions were really apt.

Any way, That's as specific as I am going to get. Highly Recommend.