PIRANESI | Non-Spoiler Review

Рет қаралды 19,819

3 жыл бұрын

Пікірлер: 73

@ekszentrik Жыл бұрын

God I love such work where thee author one day pulls up their sleeves and goes "today I will write sense of wonder".

@thingusbingus8181 3 жыл бұрын

One thing i enjoyed is how at the beginning Piranesi is a trusting man who enjoys the search for knowledge and just loves to be in the house and with the Other, and slowly throughout the story he starts to become paranoid and lose himself, he becomes less enthusiastic less optimistic. The statues go from being pieces of art to feeling like they're always watching you.

@RingxWorld 2 жыл бұрын

Does this book give any House of Leaves vibes?

@joeomalley2835 2 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed your thoughts about this book. Great review. I read Piranesi about two months ago and am still thinking about the reading experience. It has a certain whimsical charm to it, and I think the likable narrator sort of creates this world of wonder for us the reader.. I like how you describe him as childlike but scholarly. That is a brilliant way to describe him. This book is very different and unique, in a good way. Thanks for the video.

@cardiscorner Жыл бұрын

Thank you for keeping it simple. You gave me a good first impression 🥰

@logicaldude3611 3 жыл бұрын

I'm a chapter in. My brother bought me this book because I'm the type of person who likes Cormac McCarthy, stories like that. There is no satisfying ending, the meaning is found within the story itself. I've gathered so far that this is a character who believes he's being very scientific and he catalogs all of his experiences, but from the outside it's obvious that his vision is so small and narrow-minded that it is supposed to make the reader understand their own assumptions about reality and how big the world really is. Just my take after one chapter. I like it. Shouldn't be any spoilers here, just my early take.

@lianevoelker9845 3 жыл бұрын

It took me way longer to discover this aspect of the book. I'm 59 pages in, realising that there might be no big plot or anything, that it's more like a philosophical short story in book form. Wasn't expecting that but I think now I can enjoy it more. I haven't read her other book, so I didn't know what to expect.

@lifefullofwords 3 жыл бұрын

I’m so excited to read this one! Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is one of my favorite books. I have a hold on it at the library but I just noticed Target is having a buy two get one free sale so....

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Oh yay! I think you’ll enjoy this if you love Jonathan Strange

@pjalexander_author Жыл бұрын

Love this book and consider it a masterpiece. It's definitely a journey-not-destination story like you said, and therefore I somewhat disagree about the unsatisfactory "answers". The book doesn't have a twist, despite so many negative reviews (not your review) complaining about it ("I saw the ending a mile away"). Rather than a twist, I feel like the story presents a slow reveal... to the *protagonist*. I thought it was apparent from the beginning that Piranesi was naïve and was being taken advantage of, so it's astounding to me that the haters on other sites whiffed on this apparent nuance. The book raises so many profound questions about identity and what defines us apart from our surroundings. I think it's a brilliant achievement. Glad you liked it (two years ago lol - I just reread it and I guess I never commented here 😅).

@ubergusterfan1 3 жыл бұрын

I've been wanting to read this. Ill have to give it a whirl!

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

It’s short and sweet 👌

@tjtj7161 2 жыл бұрын

Somewhere after halfway through it really picked up for me, but I did find the ending to be a bit too perfect for the character. I also wanted to know more about the prophet. Maybe if Raphael accidentally stayed too long and forgot how to return...

@fadingtwilight7682 3 жыл бұрын

I finished Piranesi about a week ago and loved it. I agree about the journey being more enticing than the end though, but still a great read. And I adored Piranesi as a character. I ordered Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel as soon as I finished it and cant wait to dive into that monstrosity lol

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy it! It’s quite a tome but imo it’s very much worth reading 👌

@hfollman98 2 жыл бұрын

There is something about having read this in 2020. I read this for a class in my undergrad when we were taking class over Zoom, and something about the description of the House felt reminiscent of the first quarantine, particularly this quote on page 59: "For a moment I had an inkling of what it might be like if instead of two people in the World there were thousands." Just that feeling of isolation, it was...ugh just perfect and resonant; it hit like a gut punch-especially with Piranesi's scale maxing out at "thousands" when we have literal "billions". It shows the vastness of the world on a scale that we cannot visualize or comprehend (before numbers become more abstractions than visualizations).

@erinm9445 7 ай бұрын

The book came out of Susanna Clarke's experience being bedbound with chronic fatigue syndrome for years and completely cut off from the world long before the pandemic. And it was then this coinicidence that it was published right around when the pandemic started, and a lot of people read it the way that you did! Her experience with illness ended up being a great metaphor for the isolation of the pandemic.

@hfollman98 7 ай бұрын

@@erinm9445 I had no idea! Thank you for sharing!

@Bibliofilth 3 жыл бұрын

I've been curious about this one since I really enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Sounds like it's good to go into this not expecting a five star blow your socks off read, but just an enjoyable read.

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

I think that’s accurate haha - definitely worth a read but nothing mind boggling

@LiteratureScienceAlliance 3 жыл бұрын

I honestly have no clue if this author will be for me but if I do try her out it will probably be with the shorter one first just to see if her prose style and my brain get along. Sometimes plodding with humor works really well and other times its too much work and I am not enjoying myself

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

I know what you mean - if you do pick up Jonathan Strange I think it’s best to go into it not expecting to finish it quickly to accept that it will take time to get through and to just let it...

@Nastya-uj9bg 3 жыл бұрын

loved up to 70 % and the ending killed the magic for me. i kinda wish she left the ending more ambiguous

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I’d agree or leave more room for interpretation

@hfollman98 2 жыл бұрын

I actually loved the ending! I thought it was well-executed and super ambiguous. So many KZfaq reviews of the book talk about the happy ending, but I thought it was very ambiguous and off-kilter. (Spoiler-y explanation below). (Spoilers for Piranesi's ending) I would argue the book is not tied up in a neat bow at the end. Is it happy or sad? Is our narrator Piranesi or Matthew? He is now in the "real world" and knows his name is Matthew, but he does not remember his loved ones, and his rhetoric is Piranesi's. Even though he made it out of the House, will he ever truly leave the House, or is he trapped forever? Is this a hopeless feeling or a hopeful one? Does he reconcile the House with the "real world" or is he stuck in the labyrinthine House? Which would he prefer? Which would we prefer? And which perspective is the "best" one?

@hunterghobadi1269 2 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary That is what ambiguous means.

@LienesLibrary 2 жыл бұрын

@@hunterghobadi1269 Yes, the word “ambiguous” can be defined as “open to interpretation” however language offers many synonymous words and expressions that still have subtle differences in meaning which is what makes one choose one over another. Here, I was trying to make a distinction between an ending that is entirely unclear or open-ended, vs an ending that could be interpreted a couple different ways, but thank you so much for bringing the definition of the word “ambiguous” to my attention

@hunterghobadi1269 2 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary No Probs, I'm always available for grammatical clarifications 24/7. Hope you're having a great day BTW.

@mpsensha 3 жыл бұрын

I think I liked J.Strange & Mr.Norell, but it's so long ago I don't remember. Maybe a reread is needed. But Piranesi is already on my watchlist.

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Jonathan Strange is quite a commitment to reread

@jstrange1 3 жыл бұрын

Enjoyed Piranesi. Read book and listened to audio. Fantastic narrator. I'm afraid I only only understood Piranesi at a superficial "this happened, then that happened" level. I did recognize a Narnia allusion but the rest (Piranesi, the Other, the statues, the house, tides, memory, the birds, etc.), if they "mean" anything, I don't get. They don't add up. The metaphors, allusions, similes, if they exist, baffle me. Heh. Moving on.

@locutusdborg126 3 жыл бұрын

Concur, and I'm an English Lit major. lol

@andreasxanthros5853 3 жыл бұрын

I feel that you missed a lot in your interpretation as the story is not really, as you say, simple. There are allusions to C.S. Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia, anthroposophy, and Plato's Parable of the Cave (found in his dialogue The Republic). I would even argue that Max Weber's notion of Disenchantment informed the entire story. For me it is a complex tale but still one that can certainly be enjoyed without knowledge of the aforementioned allusions.

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Myriad allusions and metatextual references - though interesting and worthy of discussion and analysis - do not alter the fact that, while the book may have complexities, the story being told remains quite simple.

@andreasxanthros5853 3 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary My apologies! I think I misunderstood your meaning.

@ryanolson2308 3 жыл бұрын

Does anybody know who is talking on page 79? Is it just Piranesi hearing random voices from the outside world?

@RonHutchCraft2 Жыл бұрын

Hey I found that book by Clarke: (Piraneesi) It's about 14.99 and a (Goodreads Choice) So I may get that book for sure! You have very good taste in books! I don't know what my major Malfunction is 😂 but everytime I see a book or something else I have to go to Amazon and try and find it.🙄🙄🙄

@nihad-m 3 жыл бұрын

Personally, I think Johnathan strange and Mr norrell is the one of the funniest fantasy novels out there. Also it has one of my favorite characters : The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. I've just started Piranesi ,and there is this Narnia reference that I love 😍

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

I think I missed the Narnia reference 🙈 but yes I love Jonathan Strange its such a unique and charming book

@nihad-m 3 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary she usually does references to other fantasy stories in her books. I heard she had one for starDust in her short story collection, but I missed it cz I haven't read starDust😅

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Nihad- M I’ve read Stardust but I’m terrible at picking up on references so I might miss it too 😂

@dreamer7770 3 жыл бұрын

From the premise of the story, I was convinced that Piranesi was going to be a 5 star read for me. But it ended up being 3 stars. It was a pleasant book, but not a great book. Certainly not a new favorite. After you reach the halfway mark, it feels like you can easily predict the story beats that lead to the end. Nothing surprising happens after page 130. And that was such a let down. The last line was also too easy. It felt like it was there for the feel-good recognition, not necessarily because it served the ending well. I didn't like that. (I may have also been excessively irritated by the numbers and directions of the Halls. But I'll admit that nitpick is on me.)

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

I liked it better thank you did I think but I admit to some degree of disappointment with it

@dreamer7770 3 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary I actually had a crackpot theory that Piranesi was a patient in a mental asylum and that the House was his coping mechanism. The Derelict Halls in the East are the parts of his mind that are broken, the Other was a therapist he meets twice a week and the sounds of the waves are the other patients banging the walls. It worked for a bit until it didn't. I still don't know if I would have liked that version better.

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

@@dreamer7770 I honestly think I would have actually

@joeomalley2835 2 жыл бұрын

It was 4 stars for me but your point about the way it ended was one of my criticisms that kept it 5 star.

@SilverSeaOT7 2 жыл бұрын

I agree with the 3 Stars. All along I was highlighting certain things because I thought they would help me figure out this mystery. (Not needed.) It seemed like after you got 1/2-3/4ths in everything sped up far too quickly. I feel like this could have had more twists and turns.

@lynndemarest1902 Жыл бұрын

Please try The Soul Gene.

@lynndemarest1902 Жыл бұрын

You'll like the destination. :)

@whisperphoenix19 3 жыл бұрын

liked this reveiw. And I loved the book. even more than Jonathan Strange...

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

It’s definitely shorter anyway 😅

@CatrionaReads 3 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed it but at the end I was like "okay... and?"

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Haha yeah same 🤷‍♀️

@thatonemusicnb 3 жыл бұрын

I was actually really okay with the ending

@mhatt9773 3 жыл бұрын

Five minutes? Lemme clear ... Shit, I already used that joke. I'm starting 'Jonathan Strange' after I finish what I'm currently reading. Seems like exactly the sort of thing I'd dig, so I don't know why I've waited this long.

@LienesLibrary 3 жыл бұрын

Maybe cuz it will take approximately 10 years to finish it 😂

@mhatt9773 3 жыл бұрын

@@LienesLibrary Fer chrissakes, I doubt I'll live that long.

@AliaFast 9 ай бұрын

Hello, great review, thank you. Does the book have any LGTBQ... character or theme? Or any hint?

@Junksaint 3 ай бұрын

Reminds me of a more beautiful and "heavely" backrooms

@theesperanzacompromisebyja9044 3 жыл бұрын

Good to omit spoilers.

@user-bd2ob2zs4t 3 жыл бұрын

i agree with what you said about the journey being better than the destination, and solving the mystery definitely ended up ruining some of the mystique for me. also, i'm gay so the use of the whole "gay predator" trope was frustrating. overall, i couldn't really enjoy the book anymore

@danielleoliver1734 3 жыл бұрын

I really love the books but... Didn’t see the ‘cult’ twist coming, but somehow it worked, though I still don’t completely understand, was he just imagining it or did he really enter another realm

@cheeseandonions9558 2 жыл бұрын

I liked 60% of this novel even though it made look up the definition of "vestibule" in the first paragraph.... But yes, it's basically a dreamscape of someone who is fascinated with something she saw once in her life and can't forget. Amazing opening... Fart-inducing end.

@alpacamale2909 4 ай бұрын

This book is so boring

@ElenaGaunt 3 жыл бұрын

I found a copy of "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" on the side of the street, years ago, thrown away by one of my neighbors, I presume... and even though I still have that book (I tried to finish it multiple times), I can't really pass the 40% landmark. I really want to give this author a second chance, given that she's so much praisedIcan't