Piranesi is a fantastic novel. It’s sad, horrific at points and utterly gorgeous. I read this with a small group of people for an online book club and I’m so happy it’s what won that poll.
There is so much I could say about Piranesi. I’ve already talked about it a fair bit this month and I’m wary of spoiling it for those of you who might just want a push to reading it. This book is many things and can be placed into several categories.
Categorically A Lot (Of Awesome)
I remember before reading Piranesi trying to find out exactly how horrific the horror was and whether I would be capable of reading it. There are two horror novels I’ve read in recent years that I loved. One was Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer and the other was The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Piranesi does not really come close to either of these in its visceral or visual horror. I’ve also read some people compare it to Lovecraft. I think I did a little in the beginning too, because of some of its imagery and occult themes. Its main categories, however, are fantasy and literary fiction.
There are a lot of references and layers to Piranesi. None of them are required for understanding the plot (though they might add to your interest level). Clarke is also careful to interject them into the book a few times so that if you were already making the connections you could find out more. If you’ve read the book and would like to delve into those, here’s a full interview with Susanna Clarke.
Impressions & Review
The cover art to this book is utterly gorgeous. I never seem to get sick of looking at it. The writing is simple enough not to distract, but also changes in tone and style depending on who is speaking. The characters are interesting, strange, though I do think a couple of them are a little one dimensional. The things that happen are confusing, unnerving, sad and yet joyful.
By the end of the read I had sobbed a few times. I was not expecting that, but was grateful for it. It also goes heavy on some psychological themes which, if you need to be careful with, please do.
If you enjoy fantasy that centres around a couple of characters only, eerie imagery and a mysterious world, this book is for you. And if you like aspects of mythology and Greek architecture, as well as psychological themes, this book is also for you. I hope if you read it that you love it as much as I and the rest of my book club members did.
Rating: 5/5
If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of Piranesi, you can do so at Bookshop.org and Book Outlet
Okay Now Major Spoilers
I’d like to talk about something that happens in Piranesi that I found so important and compelling. It’s when we find out that he’s Matthew. The layers of learning about who he is, and how many of him there are or have been that starts to surface near the ending is truly on point.
Complex Trauma
I spent a bunch of time thinking about DID, trauma and dissociation in relation to this novel. This is not the first time I’ve written about DID (here’s a small piece on Moon Knight). As someone with a long history of mental health problems I’ve done my fair share of learning about how trauma shows up and affects people’s lives.
In Piranesi’s case it seems like Clarke knew what she was doing in trapping Matthew away. The House “causes” this forgetting of his identity in order to become the Child of the House. However, in trauma terms, this kind of splitting off of identities happens whenever we have an extreme emotional reaction to something (a trauma). It’s important to our development as people to be able to move between various learned states so that we can cope with the challenges of being alive. Also, you can’t just undo something traumatic by leaving the situation, you have to heal slowly.
You’re also changed regardless. He could have come back with his full memory and would have years of pain to heal from. To cope he would have to disregard Piranesi’s experiences there. As Matthew, he never would have accepted all of it.
Piranesi acknowledges that he’s not really even Piranesi anymore. He’s dealing with being three people, because these experiences have been so life altering, shattering, immense. He knows he can’t go back to the House, because it wasn’t his choice to be there in the first place. Yet, though he knows his experiences there were mixed and can sometimes feel Matthew’s pain, he can only remember and see its beauty. He still cherishes everything about the place. He can’t let go of that aspect because it is who he was for so long. This reminds me of what it can be like separating from someone who has caused both pain and joy. It’s easy to want to see only one of these, but they wouldn’t be true.
I wanted to end by reiterating how this book made me think and feel more things than most things do. I will probably read everything Susanna Clarke publishes from now on.
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