Piranesi

The instant New York Times bestselling novel from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic book 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.

These book club questions are from the publisher, Bloomsbury.

Book club questions for Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What were your initial impressions of Piranesi? Did he seem lonely? Sane? Content?

Ketterley is motivated by what he calls the ‘Great and Secret Knowledge’. What do you think he is hoping to achieve by carrying out his investigations?

Susanna Clarke builds the world of the House in great detail, aided by Piranesi’s detailed journal descriptions of each hall, each statue, and his observations of the tides. How helpful was it for you as a reader to be given such a detailed guide to the setting? Were you able to picture the scenes as Piranesi described them?

‘The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.’ Now that you have finished the novel, how do you feel about the House? Is it a particularly good or bad place? In what way does the novel comment on the relationship between humans and their environments?

In the first part of the book, Piranesi explains his understanding of the world based on a serious examination of all of the evidence he has at his disposal. He calls himself a scientist, and he has carefully observed his surroundings to reach his conclusions, even though these turn out to be incorrect. Does this make him less of a scientist? How does this change your understanding of evidence and truth in storytelling?

‘I owe so much to the Other’s generosity. Without him I would not sleep snug and warm in my sleeping bag in winter.’ What were your initial impressions of the Other, and of the relationship between him and Piranesi? How did these impressions change as the story progressed?

After Piranesi is visited by the police, his understanding of the world and his place within it change dramatically. Do you have greater sympathy for Piranesi before or after the police’s rescue attempt?

A reviewer for the Observer commented that ‘the end of the novel doesn’t exactly provide justice, and closure is only provisional’. Do you agree? What did you make of the ending?

‘If I leave, then the House will have no Inhabitant and how will I bear the thought of it empty? Yet the simple fact is that if I remain in these Halls I will be alone.’ What would you have done if you were in Piranesi’s position?

Piranesi is a novel with some elements of fantasy. In spite of this, do you feel that it resonates with our experience of the world today? In what way?

Piranesi Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Piranesi discussion questions