Piranesi

This was a quick read. I didn't really know what to expect as I only have a mild familiarity with the author (I've tried Strange & Norrel but not finished it).

Ended up quite enjoying this, it's got a compelling combination of unease and fantasy that I loved. I don't really know what I took from it - I think you'd need to read it at the right time and mood otherwise this might be a bit of a miss.

I really enjoyed the point of view character having to piece themselves back together, and the melancholy sadness of people who don't quite fit being able to perceive something more.

I'd recommend it if you've read one too many tomes recently and want a palate cleansing escape.

Apparently there's going to be a movie adaptation which I'll be interested to see.

What a strange little book. It's very peaceful for a book with so much mystery. It creates a unique atmosphere by contrasting the mystery narrative with the narrators admiration of everything that isn't mysterious.

This was a lovely, interesting, engaging book. It was rammed with Narnia references that you simply wouldn't have noticed if you happened not to be familiar with Narnia, but which were huge fun if you were. Piranesi himself was likeable, and I rooted for him from the start, even as he started to understand that he hadn't always been a person he could like.

But so many world-building questions were left completely unanswered!

I loved the world in which this story is set. An infinite labyrinth of statues and sea, occupied by characters that I wanted deeply to know more about.

You follow the story through the journal of the point of view character. The best parts of the story are, to me, when the writer's and the reader's understanding of events diverge. It felt like a Hitchcock movie, where I, with full access to the main character's thoughts, started coming to different interpretations of information they've received - and what I knew compelled me to keep reading in hopes that the main character would catch up. I also appreciated the themes of the story: kindness, interaction with place, memory, ambition.

A beautiful reflection on the human condition. And an absolute masterclass in world building. Unlike other fantasy novels, the world is not very deep, but the way it is revealed and layered through the eyes of the protagonist is unlike anything I've read before.

Lu en cinq jours. Difficile exercice que de le résumer, et il n'est pas certain que cela serve à grand chose. Piranesi vit et explore La Maison Éternelle, peuplées de Statues gigantesques et d'Oiseaux. Le livre est captivant sur son début, où il en dit peu sur le pourquoi et montre cette Maison.

J'ai reçu cette lecture à un moment où j'avais besoin d'évasion, de plonger un peu en moi. La Maison Éternelle a constitué tout à la fois un échappatoire, un lieu de méditation et de refuge. Une réalité à expérimenter plutôt qu'une énigme à déchiffrer.

I like this a lot. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. it was like a really good, really satisfying meal.

Unique and richly allegorical. You'll fall in love with the titular character.

Unexpected, mysteryous and very engaging. A fresh fantasy with a touch of philosophy.

This is one of those books that's unlike any other. It's surreal and dreamy and the sheer "what the heck's going on?" factor compelled me to read it all in one day.

A novel like this - light on plot, with an extremely limited cast of characters, told in an epistolary style - really sinks or swims on the narrative voice. Luckily the titular Piranesi is fun to read, and comes across as practical and clever, curious and sweet. His ignorance is charming rather than frustrating, and of course his naivete is all part of the mystery.

Highly recommended to anyone who loves an atmospheric and/or experimental story.

I really liked this story! Glad it got put on my radar from Jacob Geller's video on infinity.

I really enjoyed the book, the smaller world that the protagonist lives in is very simple and is intriguing, but not somewhere I feel I need to return to. The larger universe though is interesting, with its reality plus a little magic vibe. I enjoyed the unravelling mystery and it compelled me to read it much faster than I've read books of similar size. The first few chapters describing the House reminded me of the descriptions of The Sleeper Service in Iain M Banks' book Excession. To the point where I thought the book was going to go in a sci-fi direction.