La casa de Piranesi no es un edificio cualquiera: sus habitaciones son monumentales, con paredes llenas de miles de estatuas, y sus pasillos, interminables. Dentro del dédalo de corredores hay un océano aprisionado en el que las olas retumban y las mareas inundan los aposentos. Pero Piranesi no tiene miedo: comprende las embestidas del mar igual que el patrón del laberinto, mientras explora los límites de su mundo y avanza, con la ayuda de un hombre llamado El Otro, en una investigación científica para alcanzar El Gran Conocimiento Secreto.
Content warning
Discussion of plot and reveal of mystery. Don't spoil it for yourself!
I enjoyed this. It's a short read. Felt like a good mystery novel? What I mean by paganism is by the way Piranesi himself resorts to the sort of ancient state that the antagonists of the novel desire. But I feel that this 'ancient state,' of nature/environment worship is idolized (ironically). Yet even in the midst of his Pagan consciousness, Piranesi analyzes things in the scientific tradition by cataloguing the labyrinth and his journals (hence scientific paganism).
If you have learned anything about ancient history, I think it is hard to come to the conclusion that Pagan worship and rituals are the coolest thing about ancient people (child sacrifice and self mutilation guys!). This isn't really a review of the novel or the writing (which are good), but the subtext. I was not as immersed as I wanted to be. Though the House itself stuck in my mind, I wanted more from the ending. Also I might have just missed this, but is leaving the Labyrinth really as easy as walking through the door in the First Vestibule? In that case, couldn't Piranesi have left before the book even started? Anyway. I did enjoy it, but it didn't change my life. The presentation was creative.
sentinme atrapado pola Casa (o Mundo) de Piranesi, polo xeito en que describe todos os seus currunchos, as proporcións dos espazos, as alegorías que representan os elementos decorativos, os meteoros, a súa relación coa Casa, como se sinte agradecido e bendecido, como comparte (ao seu xeito) esas bendicións.
Que en dous días lese a novela xa fala do xeito en que me metín nela.
A historia... non vou contar nada para non quitarlle a emoción do descoñecido e de onde procede todo ese fluxo de pensamento compartido en primeira persoa.
Quizás algo positivo pero que no momento me fixo dubidar: durante unhas cuantas páxinas tiven a impresión de estar lendo unha novela de Dan Brown, diosmeperdone, pero non, non tirou por esa parte, se non por salientar a beleza e a bondade.
J'ai tout simplement adoré ! J'étais dans le palais de Piranèse, je voyais les statues, j'entendais la mer, quelle expérience à la fois sereine et perturbante ! J'ai été conquise du début à la fin. L'écriture, le ton, les rebondissement, j'ai tout adoré ! Du réalisme magique comme je l'aime et la fin ne m'a pas déçue. Je recommande ce livre à toutes les personnes friandes d'une expérience hors du commun et de hauteur sous le plafond.
En primer lugar, debo decir que leer a cualquiera de las ganadoras del Women's Prize for Fiction siempre es una excelente idea.
Piranesi es una novela breve, pero que alberga muchas historias en sí misma: desde la encantadora vida del protagonista en su Casa-Mundo hasta los secretos del Mundo más allá de ella. Quizá la historia pierde un poco de impacto con todas las pistas que la autora incluye en la misma, empezando por el título, pero se presta a tantas reflexiones que igual me merece 5 estrellas.
"La Hermosura de la Casa es inconmesurable; su Bondad, infinita."
Splendid tale, in a symbolic setting which is strikingly and evocatively minimal.
4 stars
Content warning
Minor spoiler, which reveals a mid-book event which is very different in setting than the consistency of the opening chapters might suggest.
I really enjoyed this. I was captured by the reliable hook of an initially confounding fantastic or symbolic setting, gradually made comprehensible as information is revealed and the reader acclimatizes to the concepts in play. The infinite architectures of The House reminds me of the similarly spectacular House of Leaves, or the YouTube Backrooms phenomenon. It makes me want to revisit the symbolic locations of Banks "The Bridge". It reminds me of deeply evocative late nights, lost in endless videogame worlds.
About 2/3 of the way through, I caught a reference as a character is using childhood memories as part of a ritual to reopen a doorway to a lost world, from the rose garden of his childhood home. As potential doorways begin appearing, he notes "The color of the roses was supernaturally bright."
This is no doubt a deliberate reference to Aldus Huxley's "Doors of Perception" (bookwyrm.social/book/168195/s/the-doors-of-perception-and-heaven-and-hell-perennial-classics), a trip report on the opening of said doors during the psychedelic experience of mescaline, in which repeated reference is made to a supernaturally bright and vivid vase of flowers, "shining with their own inner light and all but quivering under the pressure of the significance with which they were charged".
Perfectly Crafted... Fantasy Novel? Oneiric Mystery?
5 stars
It's hard to overstate how much this book feels written specifically for me - I love books with any sort of physically improbable gigantic building, fantasy books where people enter other worlds, academic thrillers, etc - and Piranesi nails the blend perfectly. A sheer delight with an extremely thoughtful denouement.
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.
Al principio no sabía muy bien dónde me había metido y estaba un poco perdida, pero enseguida me ha enganchado. En cuanto estás apunto de aburrirte, pasan cosas y te enganchas más. La segunda mitad no podía dejarlo.
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.
