Piranesi (re-read)

[js_thrill]

Piranesi is both an extremely similar book to Strange and Norrell and an extremely dissimilar book.

The commonalities are that both books concern ambitious people seeking forbidden or hidden knowledge and power, people who are careless with others in their quest for knowledge and power, and intriguing liminal spaces where such power spills over from its true source into our world.

The commonalities are that both books concern ambitious people seeking forbidden or hidden knowledge and power, people who are careless with others in their quest for knowledge and power, and intriguing liminal spaces where such power spills over from its true source into our world. 

The commonalities are that both books concern ambitious people seeking forbidden or hidden knowledge and power, people who are careless with others in their quest for knowledge and power, and intriguing liminal spaces where such power spills over from its true source into our world. 

It also features people who are more pure hearted who have an easier relationship to these places of magic/power/knowledge, but who were not seeking to explore them in the first place. Strange and Norrell is written like an academic tome with footnotes and digressions and the plot only incidentally strums along (the tv show is impressive for its ability to function as a narrative!). 

Piranesi is shorter and more traditionally narratively structured. It is a gripping tale and makes it easy to love the labyrinth and its beloved child. I love both books but I will find myself re-reading Piranesi more times over the years, I suspect. 

Piranesi is a 5 star read for me, and in particular it is the sort of read where I definitively want to find more books with its specific vibe. It’s doing a thing and I want more books that are doing what it is doing: playing with metaphysics and identity, world(s)-building in beautiful but haunting ways. The story resolves, but not all the questions are answered for us. I don’t mean we are wondering about plot details, but rather questions about MRS, Piranesi, and the narrator of the final passage, and how they relate to each other. 

Oh and why do the later entries start using the name Piranesi for him, when we know that’s not his name?
 

Anyway, I loved this book, even more on the second read. If you know others like it, please suggest in the comments!