Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Mar. 13th, 2021 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI really enjoyed it.
+ Piranesi as we know him for most the book is such a lovely person! I adore his kindness and genuine joy in his World and learning new things. I loved his gentle reverence for the bones of the dead. I loved his joy at seeing the albatross the first time. I loved that once he returned to our world one of the things he immediately did was go to poor Jason Ritter and take him to visit the House and the empathy that showed (knowing that's exactly what Jason so desperately wanted and needed.) I loved that even after everything Ketterley did to him including trying to murder him at the end Piranesi still tried to save him, mourned his death and lovingly dealt with his body.
That final line is: "The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it's Kindness infinite." and the second part definitely feels like a description of Piranesi.
+ The whole concept of the House is lovely. Strange but beautiful. It's a place I would love to explore. I think it'd make a very striking looking movie.
+ Laurence Arne-Sayles seemed very confident in his understanding that the House didn't hold any of the ancient knowledge that he once thought it did but by the end I don't know that I agree. I think Piranesi, in losing Matthew and becoming the House's Beloved Child, did gain that knowledge. In researching Arne-Sayles there was that bit about how ancient humans communicated with the world around them, how each 'inanimate' thing was alive and interacted with humans as it's own being and were not simply an object. Just as Piranesi was with the House - the angels talking to him, the birds communicating to him. It's left open to how much is true and how much is in his head but I think it's the former.
+ I liked Raphael a lot. Her compassion for Piranesi and her being honest with him and refusing the entire idea of trying to force him to do anything. Her respect for him as a person. Her dogged determination that led her to find him the first place.
+ The paragraph where Raphael puts her hand on his shoulder and he instantly starts crying in "great creaking sobs" for a long while was a really emotional gut-punch. It was so sparsely written and yet it made me teary-eyed. I think it was not only the first moment of kindness ever in 'Piranesi's' life but perhaps even the first moment of human contact since he was first tricked into the House and it's so very sad. As is Piranesi asking rather desperately if she will come back when he finally stopped crying and the line about how it was "Matthew Rose Sorensen crying through my eyes". Raphael's kindness is also wonderfully showcased in this short scene. Just everything about this short section was so beautifully done.
+ The way Piranesi divides him up into different people - Himself/Piranesi, Matthew Rose Sorensen and then at the end some nameless amalgamation of both is something I find interesting and would love to read more about. Where does he go from here?
+ I really liked the implication that if/when Piranesi does return to the House he won't be alone this time. That James Ritter (who he promised to take back with him) and Raphael (who explores on her own) would very likely come with him, and that both share his love for the House. Nor will they be trapped there. It seems like a very kind fate for all three. I like to imagine them setting out to explore further into the far halls.
+ I loved how Piranesi always noting the clothes the Other wore tied into the reveal at the end that Matthew was someone who really liked fancy clothes and dressing nicely, and thus it was a little piece of Matthew informing who Piranesi was. Something about that is so bittersweet to me.
+ I had some difficulty in the first couple pages with the random capitalisation of words and the long unfamiliar names for the various Halls and Piranesi's interesting calendar but I very quickly got interested in the story and ended up finding the prose really lovely.
+ I was a little disappointed that the truth about the House and Arne-Sayles's theories wasn't revealed at the end and none of the people who know the truth have any interest in doing so. With cameras and video it would certainly be a lot easier to convince people. But then I thought about where that would lead and maybe it's for the best? Once people believe, they will begin to go to the House and it will inevitably lead to more deaths (people getting lost, people dying accidentally by the various dangers inherent in the House, people losing their memories) and also likely could lead to damage to the House itself.
+ I would absolutely read more books in this universe.
I'm super interested in all those other doorways that Arne-Sayles and the others saw before they chose to enter the House. Where do they go?
Also the truth behind the various Dead in the House. Who was the little girl? Who is the The Concealed Person and what lead them to their death? Is it Sylvia or is she in the Alcove or (my fav idea) is she out there exploring the House in some far distant Hall?
Then there's the House itself. It appears to be endless - is it really? Does all of it look alike with the statues or if you go far enough out do they start to change? Are there other doorways in? If you entered a different doorway would you end up in a vastly different part of the House? Where the heck do the birds come from? Do they travel between the 'real' world and the House? (Because there's certainly nothing in the House to feed the sparrows.)
+ Piranesi as we know him for most the book is such a lovely person! I adore his kindness and genuine joy in his World and learning new things. I loved his gentle reverence for the bones of the dead. I loved his joy at seeing the albatross the first time. I loved that once he returned to our world one of the things he immediately did was go to poor Jason Ritter and take him to visit the House and the empathy that showed (knowing that's exactly what Jason so desperately wanted and needed.) I loved that even after everything Ketterley did to him including trying to murder him at the end Piranesi still tried to save him, mourned his death and lovingly dealt with his body.
That final line is: "The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; it's Kindness infinite." and the second part definitely feels like a description of Piranesi.
+ The whole concept of the House is lovely. Strange but beautiful. It's a place I would love to explore. I think it'd make a very striking looking movie.
+ Laurence Arne-Sayles seemed very confident in his understanding that the House didn't hold any of the ancient knowledge that he once thought it did but by the end I don't know that I agree. I think Piranesi, in losing Matthew and becoming the House's Beloved Child, did gain that knowledge. In researching Arne-Sayles there was that bit about how ancient humans communicated with the world around them, how each 'inanimate' thing was alive and interacted with humans as it's own being and were not simply an object. Just as Piranesi was with the House - the angels talking to him, the birds communicating to him. It's left open to how much is true and how much is in his head but I think it's the former.
+ I liked Raphael a lot. Her compassion for Piranesi and her being honest with him and refusing the entire idea of trying to force him to do anything. Her respect for him as a person. Her dogged determination that led her to find him the first place.
+ The paragraph where Raphael puts her hand on his shoulder and he instantly starts crying in "great creaking sobs" for a long while was a really emotional gut-punch. It was so sparsely written and yet it made me teary-eyed. I think it was not only the first moment of kindness ever in 'Piranesi's' life but perhaps even the first moment of human contact since he was first tricked into the House and it's so very sad. As is Piranesi asking rather desperately if she will come back when he finally stopped crying and the line about how it was "Matthew Rose Sorensen crying through my eyes". Raphael's kindness is also wonderfully showcased in this short scene. Just everything about this short section was so beautifully done.
+ The way Piranesi divides him up into different people - Himself/Piranesi, Matthew Rose Sorensen and then at the end some nameless amalgamation of both is something I find interesting and would love to read more about. Where does he go from here?
+ I really liked the implication that if/when Piranesi does return to the House he won't be alone this time. That James Ritter (who he promised to take back with him) and Raphael (who explores on her own) would very likely come with him, and that both share his love for the House. Nor will they be trapped there. It seems like a very kind fate for all three. I like to imagine them setting out to explore further into the far halls.
+ I loved how Piranesi always noting the clothes the Other wore tied into the reveal at the end that Matthew was someone who really liked fancy clothes and dressing nicely, and thus it was a little piece of Matthew informing who Piranesi was. Something about that is so bittersweet to me.
+ I had some difficulty in the first couple pages with the random capitalisation of words and the long unfamiliar names for the various Halls and Piranesi's interesting calendar but I very quickly got interested in the story and ended up finding the prose really lovely.
+ I was a little disappointed that the truth about the House and Arne-Sayles's theories wasn't revealed at the end and none of the people who know the truth have any interest in doing so. With cameras and video it would certainly be a lot easier to convince people. But then I thought about where that would lead and maybe it's for the best? Once people believe, they will begin to go to the House and it will inevitably lead to more deaths (people getting lost, people dying accidentally by the various dangers inherent in the House, people losing their memories) and also likely could lead to damage to the House itself.
+ I would absolutely read more books in this universe.
I'm super interested in all those other doorways that Arne-Sayles and the others saw before they chose to enter the House. Where do they go?
Also the truth behind the various Dead in the House. Who was the little girl? Who is the The Concealed Person and what lead them to their death? Is it Sylvia or is she in the Alcove or (my fav idea) is she out there exploring the House in some far distant Hall?
Then there's the House itself. It appears to be endless - is it really? Does all of it look alike with the statues or if you go far enough out do they start to change? Are there other doorways in? If you entered a different doorway would you end up in a vastly different part of the House? Where the heck do the birds come from? Do they travel between the 'real' world and the House? (Because there's certainly nothing in the House to feed the sparrows.)
