Book: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This book was not for me.

I 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. 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 also love. Unfortunately, Piranesi with his cataloguing and naivete failed to engage me and at too close to the halfway mark, I gave it up. After falling asleep on it for the umpteenth time, I woke very cranky and out of sorts with this book. So we are done. C'est la vie.

Book: A Good House for Children - Kate Collins

A Good House for Children is rife with quiet, creeping dread that feels like the languid dream that happens when you're far too tired and you can't quite wake up from it. It rides the edge of a kind of gentle folk horror. Its not scary, but it is unsettling and nightmare flavored, and resonates so much with the exhausted, unappreciated rhythms and sacrifices of child-rearing.

It is a haunted house story, but also a story about grief, boundaries, love, and the sublimation of individual identity to the ideal of Motherhood.

A warning for the edges, A Good House for Children surprised me with its ending and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. I think it makes you work to make your own meaning in many ways and if you want your story wrapped up with a bow, this may not be the book for you.