This week, I completed Piranesi. I could have been a fan but this style of storytelling just wasn't my cup of tea. Accept my apologies if you're a fan of this book. Then again, perhaps I was biased, having moved to this right after finishing The Blacktongue Thief.
I know each book is different and its author has a vastly different, unique and creative liberty to present their world. And for that, I commend Susanna Clarke. She has done a remarkable job in that aspect. It is not that I didn't enjoy the book for it is admittedly a short read. And there were moments where the writing really shines, perhaps most for me, was the ending quarter of the book when the protagonist finally comes home after the police rescue him. The most vivid parts of the book lie towards the climax, both in imagery and then in contemplation. When the protagonist considers himself different from both the Piranesi persona the 'other' gave him and from Matthew Rose Sorensen - the man he was before he walked in the 'house'. That ending, where he navigates the world a changed man, is perhaps the book's strongest and shortest part.
However, the journal style, the overtly detailed descriptions of statues, halls and pathways and lengthy, often repetitive tropes were not something I really had fun going through, felt more like a chore to finish this one and books should never feel that way. It's all subjective after all.
The Midnight Library is next on my list.
If you have recommendations, please feel free to message me 😊✨
#books #reading #bookstodon #blacktonguethief #midnightlibrary
