The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Table of Contents
Preamble
I first heard about Piranesi years ago and it has been sitting in my to-be-read pile ever since. Not entirely sure who I first heard about it from, but I guess it was from cari can read, a lot of books that have been in my TBR for years come from her. More recently I heard lexi aka newlynova mention it in a video and I took it as a sign from the universe that I should finally read the book.
When I mentioned on social media that I had this book in my to-be-read pile for years, several folks also provided positive recommendations for it. Since I currently am trying to use the Toronto Public Library system more, I put in a hold for it instead of purchasing it from the Kobo ebook store like I do usually.
The hold arrived last week and I picked it up from the library on the 5th of July, 2025. I read the first 56 pages while chilling in the library but I couldn’t quite focus on it to progress further so I ended up reading the rest of the book the next day which means I am writing this review earlier in the week than I usually do.
Let’s get into it.
The Book
From the description of Piranesi on Storygraph I expected I was in for weird time with this book. I was promised a “dreamlike alternative reality” and the book definitely delivers on that promise. The book follows the adventures of the titular Piranesi as he explores the mysterious world of the House and its various Wonders.
First thing I noticed about this and I suspect anyone else who reads will also notice it is the use of proper nouns to emphasize the dreamlike alternative reality that Piranesi is in. So. Many. Proper. Nouns. Here’s a quote from the very beginning of the book as an example.
The Ninth Vestibule is remarkable for the three great Staircases it contains. Its Walls are lined with marble Statues, hundreds upon hundreds of them, Tier upon Tier, rising into the distant heights.
Page 3, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The book is written mostly from Piranesi’s point of view in a daily journal like format. As the story starts to progress and the mystery of the world starts to unravel, I could feel Piranesi’s mind slowly unraveling as well. It was a mildly uncomfortable feeling reading Piranesi doubt his own thoughts, feelings, actions and his perspective of the world.
At its heart, I think Piranesi is a meditation on the nature of memory, the stories we tell ourselves and the worlds we inhabit in our own heads. The magical realist world of the House that Piranesi inhabits had this contradictory duality to it – it both felt very real because Piranesi felt very strongly that it was real and was in fact the only reality he’s ever known and a sense of unreality as a reader since I knew this was obviously a fantastical fictional world.
The word that keeps coming to mind is – disassociation. Piranesi feels like I am reading a novel length disassociation session. It really is quite the unique experience. When I read fiction books, I find myself picturing the worlds in them in my head and the pictures here were clear and as Piranesi starts to unravel the mystery of the House, they increasingly became distorted like a old audio cassette tape that’s been damaged by the summer heat.
Conclusions
Piranesi is the weirdest book I have read this year. It is one hell of a ride from start to finish. I see why so many people have recommended this book over the years. It is a book that makes excellent use of the tool box of magical realism to paint a vivid picture of what happens when the realities and words we build up inside our heads start to fall apart.
It was a nice change of pace from my reading over the past few weeks and one that I think was sorely needed. So yes – go read Piranesi, especially if you are in the mood for something really fucking weird.
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