Piranesi 2020
- form:novel, genre:fantasy, English literature, New York Times bestseller
**From the *New York Times* bestselling author of *Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.** Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. For readers of Neil Gaiman's *The Ocean at the End of the Lane* and fans of Madeline Miller's *Circe*, *Piranesi* introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth full of startling images of surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds. This description comes from the publisher.
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Character
Intimate, contemplative, earnest and grave.
- intimateepic
- contemplativerelentless
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- sparerichly built
Who loves it, who doesn't
10 profiled raters. Loved most by The Empaths.
Where do you stand?
Answer first; then see how everyone, and your circle, split.
“Is this Susanna Clarke's best work?”
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“Is the world more interesting than the story?”
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“Is Piranesi too earnest?”
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Ask the title
A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
- yuki.readsThe Empath★★★★★
A house that is the world, a narrator who is happier than he should be, and a plot that arrives like weather. I read it in a day and then read the first fifty pages again to see how she did it.
About the book
- Author
- Susanna Clarke
- First published
- 2020
- Pages
- 272
- Publisher
- BLOOMSBURY, Amsterdam, Bloomsbury Publishing
- Editions
- 23
- Language
- Italian, Spanish, English
- ISBN
- 9781526622440
Where to read
Libraries first: a card gets you most books for nothing. Each opens that service’s page for this title.
On Open Library, 96 have read it and 390 want to.
Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author known for her debut novel *Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell* (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began *Jonathan Strange* in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the *Strange* universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a best-seller. **Source**: [Susanna Clarke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Clarke) on Wikipedia.
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Curator Co. Other media included when they land close.
Never Let Me Go 200554% alikeBoth earnest, contemplative, grave.
Klara and the Sun 201952% alikeBoth earnest, contemplative, grave; this one is more contemporary.
The Secret History 199250% alikeBoth earnest, grave; this one is more spare.
The Remains of the Day 198949% alikeBoth contemplative, grave, intimate; this one is more spare.
The Left Hand of Darkness 196947% alikeBoth earnest, grave, meticulous; this one is more epic.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous 201942% alikeBoth earnest, grave, contemplative; this one is more spare.
Beloved 198741% alikeBoth earnest, grave, contemplative; this one is more overwhelming.
Go Ahead in the Rain 201939% alikeBoth earnest, grave, contemplative; this one is more epic.
The Wild Eternal 201773% alikeGame · Both earnest, contemplative.
Where the Wild Things Are 200968% alikeFilm · Both earnest, contemplative.
