Piranesi

De: Susanna Clarke

Narrado por: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Bloomsbury presents Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, read by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
WINNER OF THE KITSCHIES' 2021
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, FINANCIAL TIMES, i PAPER, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, TIME MAGAZINE, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, BBC CULTURE, NETGALLEY AND THE CHURCH TIMES

The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, ‘one of our greatest living authors’ New York Magazine

Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.

In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.

Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?

Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

*****

'What a world Susanna Clarke conjures into being … Piranesi is an exquisite puzzle-box' DAVID MITCHELL
‘It subverts expectations throughout … Utterly otherworldly’ Guardian
'Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling' MADELINE MILLER
‘Brilliantly singular’ Sunday Times
'A gorgeous, spellbinding mystery … This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered' ERIN MORGENSTERN
‘Head-spinning … Fully imagined and richly evoked’ Telegraph

©2020 Susanna Clarke (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Fascinating Social Study

The book is a wonderful mashup of Plato, CS Lewis, and Borges. I completely agree with the rave reviews. Clarke has written a masterpiece.

And the reaction to it is a fascinating social study. Half the audible readers think the book is genius. The other half think it’s boring, predictable, nonsensical. One reviewer characterizes the book as a string of random scenes.

It makes me wonder, Are we all reading the same book?

No of course we aren’t. We each bring to it our own experiences. As with all books. But something special must be happening here for the reviews to be so polarized. I’d like to take a stab at an explanation.

Piranesi enthralled me because it brought up so many of my feelings around losing my worldview in my twenties. I can imagine that people who have not had to go through this experience will not be as amazed by how Clarke has conveyed it. She paints it precisely. She made me relive it.

Also, if you are not familiar with Plato and Lewis and Borges, you might not realize the ideas Clarke is playing with. You might be thinking about the Plot when she is thinking about the Meaning. It’s not a small thing for this author to add something fresh and exciting to a 3,000 year old conversation.

Finally, I loved the book because I loved the main character. His optimism, skepticism, precision, and earnestness totally won me over. I would have followed him on any adventure. But maybe you like your main characters to be powerful, in control, hardboiled. Maybe you did not feel what I felt, a love for his childlike goodness and sense of wonder. He made me feel acutely just how much I have lost by becoming modern, adult, and sophisticated. And that is the magic of the book.

Simply amazing. In the original sense of the word.

This was a perfection in writing augmented only further (if that was possible) by the delivery.

Spectacular

I read this book twice in less than three days. It was that captivating -- and Ejiofor's reading was equal to the text. I'm sum, no matter how many times I read it again, I want this to be the last book I'll read before I die.

Entry for the 17th in the Seventh Month In The Year the Shipoo Came to the North-Eastern Hall

“Since the World began it is certain that there have existed fifteen people. Possibly there have been more; but I am a scientist and must proceed according to the evidence. Of the fifteen people whose existence is verifiable, only Myself and the Other are now living.”

-Part One, Page 7

I admit, I was a little lost when I started reading this book, but found myself completely absorbed shortly thereafter.

I listened to the Audible narration while I followed along with the hardback book my mother gifted to me this last Christmas. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s reading is masterful and brings Piranesi to life.

Piranesi lives in a house of endless rooms, endless corridors, and an infinite number of statues. There is a vast ocean contained in this house. He believes that only two people exist in this world; himself and a man called The Other. One day Piranesi discovers that another person has come into his house and brings with them an awful truth that will forever change The World he has always known.

Great but best in long sittings

While this is a fantastic story and sharply written, it’s one of those novels that probably works better as a book rather than an audiobook. It can be confusing at the beginning, especially if your only listing to shorter stretches, but I found that listing to it in few sittings, the story really sings. Would be great for a road trip or project—anything where you can get in 2+ hours in at a time.

Like peeling an onion to get to the rose

This book was hard for me to get into at first because of the style in which it was written with so many references to an obscure date system and detailed directions that the protagonist goes through to get around, but once I looked past that, I did get into the story. It did strange things to my perception. First, I felt sorry for the protagonist. Then, I felt he was obstinately obtuse to the clues he was given, then I had to reflect on whether his viewpoint was the sage one in the end. Overall, the book made me philosophize and that is a valuable gift.

This one will stay with you…

This is some of the best narration I’ve ever experienced… The lyrical performance kept me committed, and even eager, for the arguably obscure story. I wrestled to define it: Symbolic? Surrealist? Esoteric? Nonsense? And I gave up, surrendering to the beauty of the verse. In the end, does it really matter if the house is real? Or in his mind? Or a social metaphor? This one will stay with you…

Evocative of Jules Verne

Chock-full of symbolism and dramatic irony, this is a book that is both tactile and cerebrally detached. This is even more impressive when considering the surreal and original setting. The style and format reminded me of 20,000 leagues, only abstract in a good way.

Sad it Ended

I usually rush to the end of a story or try to get spoilers. This story was one I savored to the very end. Listening was a wondering and wonderful experience.

Unique story and excellent narration

I have never read a story quite like this and really enjoyed the gradual unfolding of the plot. Perfect narration