Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

A novel so short but so intense, I had several goosebumps reading the story. Nothing graphic, scary or horror. But the more you think about it, the creepier it gets.

Piranesi lived by himself in a big house, which is also his “world” using tides and waves to track time, and naming rooms according to his discoveries. He had a company of the Other, a man who brings him supplies such as shoes and vitamins. They twice a week as Piranesi helps The Other to search for a secret knowledge. Piranesi keeps track of everything, documenting patterns to ensure their survival.

Everything seems to work in a particular, ritualistic order in the house, till one day Piranesi starts to question his own existence. Where is this place exactly? Why is he here in the first place?

To be honest, the first 40% I have no idea what I was reading and the feeling of lost leads to boredom. But once Piranesi started to have awareness, and discover clues that leads him to his answers, this book comes to life.

🚨Spoiler Alert🚨 He realized he was trapped in this world by, he might be a victim of a crazy inhumane experiment carried out by a scholar named Laurence Arne-Sayles and his associate, Valentine Andrew Ritter (The Other).

They didn’t just trapped him for no reason, they wanted to observe the development of a “pure” human under specific circumstances. His journey of finding out who he was face paced and quite heart wrenching.

The book left me with a lot unanswered questions: Is the house a real place? Or is it just an oasis Piranesi create in his mind to escape from his reality of being captive? Where does all the waves come from? How can there be waves in a house? If the waves is just a metaphor, then what does it represents?

The book doesn’t explain much, which gives the reader space for imagination. I think some part of this book stuck with me for quite some time, like how Piranesi was stucked in his world.