Piranesi is one of the best books I have read of late. I picked it up for two reasons – 1) it’s written by Susanna Clarke, who also wrote another of my favorite books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I read a couple of decades ago (this book is nothing like it though), and 2) I heard that it was one of the strangest books ever written, and since I love unusual books, I decided to give it a go.
Nothing prepared me for what actually happened…
It was much like the transformative, enlightening, and emotional journey I took when reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. You’ll find the main characters are somewhat similar (innocent and mostly unreliable). Similarly, Piranesi contains a much deeper message than just a weird story about a weird place. On the surface, yeah, it’s about Piranesi’s strange world and trying to figure it out, but underneath, it’s a really strong social commentary about our world and living in it.
Basically, what I expected was a trippy read, and I came out with a poignant piece of literature.
So just like in Flowers for Algernon, I read this little book almost in one go – it’s only 246 pages. At the end, by 90% of the book, I burst into tears unexpectedly, and I couldn’t stop crying. It was truly unexpected, since nothing horrid was happening. It was the deep message that truly did me in, that truly allowed me to empathize with the main character.
That’s why I loved the experience so much – not because I wasn’t sure what was going on until 50% of the book and because it was a big puzzle waiting to be solved, but because I really connected with the story’s message, and I managed to purge everything inside me thanks to it.
So if you liked Flowers for Algernon, I suspect you’ll love this book too. And if you like strange stories in strange places as well as precious and oblivious main characters, this book will not disappoint.
In the end, the less you know before you pick it up, the better.
-Reviewed by Violeta Nedkova
