Really cannot finish listening to this - it is so boring. I've tried several times as I really enjoyed The Ladies of Grace Adieu, but it has nothing at all to grab my attention. I'm disappointed, as I listen to an average of 10 audiobooks per month (I can 'read' when running then!) and I don't usually abandon books.

Piranesi lives in the House and has always lived in the House. The House is his benevolent deity. But soon things begin to change and hint at a world outside of the House, its tides and endless succession of halls and statues. The novel looks at how we interpret our reality and how we explain the things we don't understand.

The audiobook of this very imaginative tale is read by Chiwetel Ejiofor and his reading is perfect. Such a wonderful voice and he engaged with the text really well. A hugely engaging audiobook.

I was delighted when I saw this book was available - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was an amazing book, I said at the time that it was quite possibly the best book I'd ever read. Now, with the benefit of time and a clearer view of the book, I think maybe that was overstating it a bit, but nevertheless it was an exceptional book. Spoiled by the TV series for me, though.

As Clarke had published very little since then, I anticipated another tour-de-force of fantastical alternative history. However, either my tastes have changed or the author put so much into the previous book that this doesn't quite match up. It's still an extremely good story, beautifully written, puzzling, entertaining, engaging, gothic and mysterious - but that final spark is just not quite there. It's not as long either.

So although it didn't meet my expectations, I would still thoroughly recommend this book - if you haven't read Jonathan Strange yet, read this first and save the best til last!

What an incredible story. Not something I would ever normally be attracted to but my account manager kept telling me it was fabulous and it really was. I am so pleased I read it as it was so well done, so beautifully written, I felt I was there, in this extraordinary world but at the same time I could see the darkness of this world and needed to uncover what was going on. Really terrific.

Unable to review book as I cannot listen to the recording as the Netgalley Audio Book system doesn't work on PCs.
Sorry

This is a strange book which, by the end, left me unsatisfied despite the many excellent reviews from other people. I should say that I listened to it as an audio-book and that may have made some of the more repetitious aspects harder work. I had the feeling that if I was reading the book I might have skipped a bit here and there.

The book is a mystery which is gradually resolved. Piranesi, if that is his name, lives in an extraordinary palace made up of chambers, halls and vestibules peopled by statues. It’s a labyrinth so it’s no surprise that some of the statues are of minotaurs. His life is innocent and untainted by the world or its memories while his needs, limited as they are, are met by the only other person he believes to exist, ‘The Other’. Piranesi documents this strange world in lengthy cross-referenced journals which gradually come to have significance of their own.

Piranesi is of course wrong, and naïve as well as innocent. Even when it is clear that ‘The Other’ is probably not his friend, Piranesi retains his sense of loyalty but when another presence arrives he begins to see things differently. It is the sense of mystery conveyed by this gradual unfolding of the story and the back story which gives the book its appeal.

However, there are weaknesses. The worst is that the plot is unravelled in a series of found scraps of writing so there is a lengthy diversion to tell the reader what is happening. Because of this the sense of surprise and the emergence of the truth is engineered and the ending is even slightly anticlimactic. Also, some of the loose ends in the book are brought together in predictable ways so that the sense of mystery at the start leads into some pedestrian outcomes.

Having said all that, Susanna Clarke writes very well and evokes this alternative universe of palaces as well as the innocence of the occupant to good effect. Funnily enough, I didn’t get a sense that this was like the drawings of Piranesi but rather more like a child would create given a long afternoon in the school holiday and access to Minecraft! The first half of the book, where there are hints of what lies at the heart of the mystery works better than the second and this made the book as a whole seem less substantial and meaningful. It promised more than it delivered!

It’s still an entertaining read and there are enough sufficiently interesting ideas in the story to keep any reading group engaged!

I would best describe this book as a psychological tale where a man confronts memories posed in his subconscious within a huge “house” full of statues and skeletons. The book has a lot of symbolism and completion to the fantasy elements of the consciousness. I listened to the audio book for this one, which was done very well and put together well. (I’d read the first chapter extract but I think the audio makes this come to life more).

I think this book appeals to a certain type of reader, and I just didn't fit that catagory. I got the audiobook version and I appreciated the narrator, but I'm still not sure if I enjoyed the book or just throught it was a bit strange!

It wasn't badly written or anything like that, it was just... .different.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury UK audtio for sending me a copy of the audiobook of this for honest review.

Piranesi is the latest book by Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell. I really didnt get into that book, I found it over written but I thought the author had promise. That' why I was so excited for this, as it has a much smaller page count.

Piranesi lives in a labrynth of rooms, he only sees one other person. He explores and categorises his experiences but everything is not as it seems.

I struggled to get into this at the start. I don't know if it was the soothing narration of Chiwetel Ejofar but I found myself drifting off a lot. I had to restart it a few times.

But my goodness, this story was fascinating. It wound together in a confusing fog that by the end made perfect sense to me.

I feel like I would gain more appreciation of this in a second reading. Highly recommend.

What an incredible book. I struggled to get into the audiobook at first and had to skip back quite a few times to understand what was happening - this is definitely an audiobook that needs your full attention at all times - but I soon fell into the story. The narrator is fantastic, and I'd definitely be happy to listen to this one again to pick up on all the little details that I missed the first time around.

Not going to lie, I did find this hard going - but ultimately rewarding and very pleased I stuck with it.

Initially hard to get into and understand what's going on, but equally a very poetic, ethereal story. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a masterful narrator, with a beautiful, peaceful and mellifluous voice whose tone complements the poetic nature of the book.

The story is set in a labyrinth with the narrator its inhabitant. He keeps track of his daily life in a journal and index, and the only other live person is The Other, who he interacts with on occasion. He creates his own version of time, and a lot of the journal is along the lines of "the first day of the eighth month in the year the albatross came to the south western halls" - it's poetic and beautiful. The book ticks on like this for a long time, and then suddenly there are moments of change.

I know I am in the minority but sorry I could not get on with this audiobook. First time I have given up on a book in a very long time but it was just too weird for me and I just could not see where it was going at all. I understand that this is part of the attraction of this book for many people but not for me. I was bored and didn’t care where he was going to get his next fish from, in which vestibule, in which hall. Not for me.

When Susanna Clarke's great big immersive novel “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell” came out way back in 2004, I was completely enraptured by this fantastical alternate history. Since then she's only published a book of short stories so I was thrilled to pick up her second novel “Piranesi”. Though it also heavily incorporates seemingly other-worldly elements, it's much more confined and solitary in its scope. This novel is certainly much shorter than her debut. Its narrator resides in a series of impressively grand maze-like halls filled with an infinite amount of beautiful sculptures. There's only one other person found here, but he seems mysteriously aloof and only meets with the narrator for regularly scheduled appointments. The narrator refers to him as “the Other” and “the Other” refers to the narrator as Piranesi (although he's aware that this is not his real name.) Here the tides flow in and out washing over the giant sculptures forcing the narrator and “the Other” to move carefully between the halls so as not to be trapped by the sea. Piranesi spends his days cataloguing in his notebooks the sculptures and mapping the rooms in between scavenging for something to eat amongst the fish and seafood from the sea. Is this place the remains of some fallen civilization or a mythical landscape? And the way Piranesi notes how there are the bones of several unknown people here makes it also feel like a sinister mausoleum. As far as Piranesi is concerned, he has always resided here and these halls are the entire world. It's a tantalizing setting whose darker meaning gradually becomes apparent over the course of the story. This novel completely swept me into its intriguing mysteries and the methodical mind of its protagonist who communes with the sculptures and birds found in the halls.

What's so moving about this novel is the way Piranesi's life and endeavours seems to subtly mimic our own – especially now that many of us have been largely confined to our homes for the past year of this pandemic. Similarly, the halls in this books are like the museums which have been closed for months with their wonders poised and ready for someone to discover them. Like Piranesi, I spend my days moving between the same rooms, diligently working and reading book after book. There's a peaceful and melancholy grace to Piranesi's life, but it also feels so fragile. And, though this circumscribed world feels stable, there's an awareness that chaos and destruction might come rolling in any day. So I felt a strong connection to this narrator whose pursuit for knowledge won't allow him to remain oblivious to the broader meaning of his environment or his reason for being there. Clarke also makes this a suspenseful read in providing hints and signs about what's really going on in this strange place. Though the truth is fully revealed at the end and it's a satisfyingly complex conclusion, what I mainly got from this book was its mood of scholarly dedication in a state of utmost solitude. It's the same kind of feeling I get from reading Donna Tartt's fiction. Part of me wanted to remain in the halls of this novel discovering sculpture after sculpture. Clarke's way of describing these wonders as Piranesi patiently catalogues and considers his environment strangely mirrors our own world in all its deteriorating beauty.

Susanna Clarke’s ‘Piranesi’ was wonderfully weird, and I cannot recommend it enough. It’s such a unique book that I have enjoyed tremendously. Relatively short, especially in comparison to Susanna Clarke’s previous book, it still took me longer to read it than expected – predominantly because it’s such a vivid and complex narrative that draws you inside this weirdly peaceful and yet somehow dangerous world, and you don’t necessarily want it to end. I certainly didn’t.

I’m really happy I ended up listening to the audiobook version of ‘Piranesi’. Even though I know I would have enjoyed this book regardless of its format, there was something captivating, almost bewitching, in the audio. Chiwetel Ejiofor certainly suited the role of Piranesi so perfectly, bringing the main character’s diary entries’ to live.

The first part of ‘Piranesi’ makes the reader get to know the weird and unique world Piranesi inhabits, but still leaving far too many questions unanswered, and at the same time allowing our imagination to run wildly. The world, or rather the House, Piranesi inhabits, somehow feels like a reminiscent of the past – with its huge columns and still places, but at the same time, this peace, almost stillness of the House, allows you to breathe, and allows the reader – through Piranesi’s narration – to appreciate simple things and find a joy every day, which is something I think we all need this year. And yet, there is a danger coming, something darker is lurking the corners, and we get a sense that Piranesi, as does the reader, doesn’t know everything – and what he knows, he might be wrong about. In a sense, the second part of Susanna Clarke’s book brings this air of mystery to a greater force, and the action speeds up. But while I have enjoyed this, it is the first part of the book I loved the most.

This was such an intricate and wildly original story! I loved the narrator and the intrigue of the setting. The writing was beautiful and mysterious. This might not be a book for everyone but anyone into weird and wonderful is sure to appreciate it.

The audiobook was beautifully read by Chiwetel Ejiofor and I get why so many people were swept up my the wandering magic of the story, but I felt weirdly disconnected from it. And a lot baffled for most of the novel too. Maybe I needed to read it physically instead.

Piranesi by Susanna Clark

Piranesi is the kind of book that going into it you think you know what to expect, but when you actually start reading it, it's completely different. I thought it would be a story with Roman influences, but it really was much more than that. It is by the far the most unique book that I have read all year.

I had also read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell in the year and found that Piranesi was just as descriptive and complex but far more attractive to read, given the differing lengths.

The book itself is narrated by Piranesi who lives in a labyrinth of halls and vestibules, which he calls The House. A never-ending world of places to discover and explore. He doesn't remember his life before living in The House. The book follows Piranesi's personal journal entries, as time goes on, the mystery of The House starts to become clearer to the reader, and the story becomes as I said earlier SO much more.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thought-provoking, mysterious reads with a hidden complexity that runs throughout the story.

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

Piranesi describes his 'world' through his journal entries living in a labyrinthine consisting of halls and vestibules which occasionally flood and later throughout the story there are clues for the reader as to how the story will unfold. At first I struggled to comprehend the tale but as time went on and I relaxed into it I realised what a worldbuilding masterpiece it really was and it turns your mind inside out. I loved Chiwetel Ejiofor as the narrator and found his tone very soothing and mythical. This was a very different style of book for me but I would definitely recommend it, many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for allowing me the chance to listen to and review this little beauty

Piranesi is a labyrinth novel that is very hard to explain and even harder to stop reading. I finished this book a number of days ago and still find myself thinking about it every few hours. I look forward to rereading Piranesi and discovering more about the story the second time around.

If you want to get lost in a book during these gloomy winter days then I highly recommend this. The audiobook, with Chiwetel Ejiofor's brilliant narration, added a beautifully layer of mystery and allows the reader to be fully immersed in the world.

3.5/5

My thanks to Bloomsbury U.K. Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Piranesi’ by Susanna Clarke. It was published in September 2020 and is narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor with a running time of 6 hours, 58 minutes.

‘Piranesi’ was one of the most anticipated novels of 2020 and like many I had been eagerly waiting years for Clarke’s next novel. Long before I read and listened to this novel, I was intrigued by its cover art of a faun playing a flute and the title’s link to the labyrinthine prisons depicted by the Neoclassical artist Giovanni Piranesi. It more than fulfilled my expectations.

“Piranesi has always lived in the House.” The House is the World as far as Piranesi is aware: a watery labyrinth with many halls and corridors that imprisons an ocean. Every hall and passageway contains statues that he is currently cataloguing.

Piranesi isn’t quite alone. There is The Other, who is a scientist like Piranesi. He is convinced that somewhere within the House is a Great and Secret Knowledge that will grant them enormous powers once discovered. They meet twice a week to discuss their ongoing work. Also resident in the House are thirteen other people though all of these are skeletons.

Then messages begin to appear, scratched in chalk. Clearly there is someone new in the House. The Other claims that they are dangerous and to speak to them could send Piranesi mad.....

This was such a perfect novel that I was completely transported into its world for the duration. It is a novel that I expect to return to again and again to appreciate its layers and to re-experience Clarke’s elegantly lyrical writing.

As with ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell’, the novel explores metaphysical themes and is especially concerned with what happened to magic and the wisdom of the ancients once science and reason became the dominant paradigm. As a student of the Mysteries, it is a subject close to my heart.

With respect to the audiobook, it was an incredible immersive experience. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a highly acclaimed actor and his rich voice was the perfect vehicle to capture the powerful images of Piranesi’s world and drawing the listener skilfully through its labyrinthine narrative. It was a sublime experience.

Very highly recommended.