I just finished reading Piranesi by Susanna Clark and that book took me on an emotional rollercoaster. I went from being bored to saddened to annoyed. What did I just read?
Initially, when I started reading, the mundane descriptions of the sculptures were tedious. “Entry for the twenty-ninth day of the fifth month in the year the albatross came to the south western halls.” Bruh, what? I felt my eyes start to glaze while readings these and the descriptions of the birds, the descriptions of the statues and all of that. I would listen to the audiobook at night and on several occasions, I would awake and have no idea what was happening in the book. This is quite unusual for me, unless I find a book to be boring or I am very sleepy.
I was pleasantly surprised that Chiwetel Ejiofor lent his voice to the audiobook, but unfortunately, that didn’t save it for me.
Now entering, the spoiler zone.
Once I started to read about the previous journal entries and the missing pages, I’m like uh oh, trouble in paradise. Trouble in paradise, indeed. We eventually find out that Piranesi has been brought to this world under false pretenses and is essentially imprisoned there due to the effects of this world on his memory. Now, I’m sad. This book has turned from mundane to truly sad. Piranesi now realizes that The Other is his enemy and that he was essentially tricked into being a lab rat for someone else’s benefit. When he is found by the detective, Raphael, he is so detached from his real home and himself. He doesn’t identify as Michael anymore, nor can he really say he is Piranesi. This, to an extent, reminds me of the movie Room. Now, I should read that book and see how it compares to this one.
Also, I could sense the tension between Piranesi and The Other. At times, I found it amusing, but ultimately, again, I was sad. The worst part of all this is that The Other, Dr. Ketterley, will never have to explain himself or have some sort of judgement for his crimes. Ok, he gets killed by the waves and lost at sea, cool, but ultimately dissatisfying.
Maybe another reading would shed further insight, but I am in no mood to do that right now. Maybe I’ll give it a few years and see what new insight I can get from a rereading.
Right now, I’m slightly disgusted.
If anyone can shed some light into this book for me in the comments, I would very much appreciate it, because overall, this book wasn’t it for me. *throws up hands
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