Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I bought Piranesi a while ago for my boyfriend, who is a big fan of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell, but I confess I didn’t know much about it/wasn’t that intrigued by it until it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize last month. I’m trying to read as many as I can from the list, and as this one was already on my shelf, it felt like a good place to start.

I went into Piranesi knowing virtually nothing about the story, and to be honest, I think that’s the right way to go. I hadn’t even read the blurb! So I’m going to give you the briefest hint of the novel, only telling you what you’d read in the first couple of pages: Piranesi lives in a building with an infinite number of rooms, all lined with statues, and which is periodically flooded by the ocean. He only knows one other person, who he calls The Other.

That’s it! If you’re intrigued, you should definitely pick up the book to find out more.

This is a slightly disorientating, very atmospheric read. I enjoyed the first-person narration of the main character, and the sense of humour that Clarke instils in the narration. This is a short novel, and I read it over two sittings – it’s very immersive, so it’s easy to lose yourself in what’s going on. I spent a fair amount of the first half of the novel trying to figure out what was happening, flicking back to earlier parts of the story to re-read bits and see if I could work out what was going on.

The confusion of that first half was definitely the best bit of the novel for me – I enjoyed not knowing what was happening and trying to figure it out. However, I did think that everything was revealed a bit too quickly, and once you worked it out, some of the fun and mystery of the novel disappeared. It didn’t help that as readers, you understand more things than the main character does, so you work things out quicker than him.

I enjoyed this novel and think that Clarke is a very talented writer, but overall found it a little bit lacking – it’s interesting, but the second half of the novel fell a bit flat for me and I wanted more from it! Overall, I would say this novel has lots of potential but I’m not sure it was realised.

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Reaction: Women’s Prize for Fiction

It’s better late than never, eh? I have been meaning to write a reaction/discussion post on the Women’s Prize longlist since it was released last week, but I cannot even express to you how terrible the last two weeks have been, so I just haven’t got round to it. But I’m here now!

What did you all think of the list? Any books you’re surprise to see on here? Or feel like should’ve been, but aren’t?

From my point of view, there are lots of ones I expected to/hoped would be on the list, but still a few surprises too!

Books I’ve read

I’ve already read five books on this year’s list, which is a record for me! Since starting this blog and my bookstagram, though, I have definitely been more on top of the new releases than ever before, so that probably accounts it.

• Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers: I read and absolutely adored this book last year! It was one of my two favourite books of the year (tied with Hamnet). For some reason, I hadn’t even twigged that it was eligible for the Women’s Prize, so I was very pleasantly surprised and excited it made the list. Check out my review for more of my thoughts on this book. I would love for this to be shortlisted!
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: I read this book before starting this blog so I don’t have a review to link you to, but this was another five star read for me, and made my list of favourite books of the year. This has such an interesting premise and there’s so much to unpack/discuss, and on top of that, Brit Bennett’s writing is beautiful. I have a suspicion this will be shortlisted, and rightfully so!
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi: I finished this book a couple of weeks ago – you can see my review here. I thought this book was phenomenal, and I could well see it being my favourite book of the year. I’m so happy it made the list and, again, I think it really should be shortlisted.
• Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan: I read this book last year (again, pre-bookstagram) and I’d read a lot of hype going into it, and for me it fell a little flat. I’d still rate it four stars, I think, but I didn’t love it the way others do. However, her writing is superb and she definitely deserves a place on this list.
• Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller: I reviewed an ARC of this earlier in the year and only gave it two stars, finding it overwhelming bleak and a bit boring, to be honest. Though I didn’t enjoy it, I gave it two stars over one as I felt like there would be something in there for others, if not me – and it turned out I was right, as it must be well-loved by others to make the list! Fuller undoubtedly is an accomplished writer, but this book just wasn’t for me.

Books I want to read soon

As well as having read five of these books, I had another three of these on my shelf. I’d bought these recently, so I obviously already wanted to read these soon, but they have been bumped up my reading list now they made the longist!

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters: This is a novel about three women whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy. I’m so glad that Torrey Peters is the first transwoman to make the list, though we mustn’t think that the prize is perfect because of this – Akwaeke Emezi isn’t submitting their novels to the prize.
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: My boyfriend loves her other novel, so I got him this as a present when it was first released. I’ve not read it yet, but I definitely want to! I’ve heard that it’s better to basically not knowing anything going into this book, so that’s the way I’m going to keep it!
• Luster by Raven Leilani: I actually picked this up yesterday – and so far I’m enjoying it, but I’m not loving it. However, I’m excited to see where it goes from here! The writing is amazing, I just don’t feel too connected to the main character!

Out of the remaining novels, I think my next purchases will probably be How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones, as this was already on my tbr, and then Consent by Annabel Lyon – a book I wasn’t previously aware of but which I think sounds great. The rest are probably lower down my list and ones that I’m less interested in – but if you’ve read any of them, I’d be really interested to hear what you think about them!