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Book: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Oct. 4th, 2024 11:34 pmDNF.
Piranesi was not for me. Made it 1/3 of the way through (80/245 pages) and Did Not Care. At any point. I found Piranesi tedious and excruciatingly boring. I wanted to like it. I've heard so many things! Alas, not my cup of tea, and if it does get interesting at some point, it took too long to get there. My general rule is you get 3 chapters. I gave the essentially chapter-less Piranesi more than a fair shake.
It's an allegory of the mind is the best I can come up with. I'll go read a recap later. The specifically opaque and meandering plot, at times, reminded me of The Sound and the Fury. Other times, I was reminded of Beloved. I LOVE Beloved. As a narrative committed to the very limited (re: intentionally restrictive) interiority of its main character, I was reminded of Sold and The Drowning Girl. Books that I love. Piranesi could not get me there. After falling asleep on it for the umpteenth time, I woke very cranky and out of sorts with this book. So we are done. Broken up. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Piranesi. Not everything is for everybody. And we are never, ever, ever getting back together.
C'est la vie.
Also, it wasn't as terrible as Hemlock Island. So there's that.
Edited to add: I loved This is How You Lose A Time War which is arguably just as structurally complex as Piranesi. It is perhaps all of the mindless cataloguing that broke this book for me.
Piranesi was not for me. Made it 1/3 of the way through (80/245 pages) and Did Not Care. At any point. I found Piranesi tedious and excruciatingly boring. I wanted to like it. I've heard so many things! Alas, not my cup of tea, and if it does get interesting at some point, it took too long to get there. My general rule is you get 3 chapters. I gave the essentially chapter-less Piranesi more than a fair shake.
It's an allegory of the mind is the best I can come up with. I'll go read a recap later. The specifically opaque and meandering plot, at times, reminded me of The Sound and the Fury. Other times, I was reminded of Beloved. I LOVE Beloved. As a narrative committed to the very limited (re: intentionally restrictive) interiority of its main character, I was reminded of Sold and The Drowning Girl. Books that I love. Piranesi could not get me there. After falling asleep on it for the umpteenth time, I woke very cranky and out of sorts with this book. So we are done. Broken up. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Piranesi. Not everything is for everybody. And we are never, ever, ever getting back together.
C'est la vie.
Also, it wasn't as terrible as Hemlock Island. So there's that.
Edited to add: I loved This is How You Lose A Time War which is arguably just as structurally complex as Piranesi. It is perhaps all of the mindless cataloguing that broke this book for me.
