Trapped in a museum world?? (Piranesi | Susanna Clarke)

[@pithygrapefruit]

Susanna Clarke has a chronic fatigue syndrome. She was diagnosed right after Norrell. She talks a lot about her own isolation and how she processed it. I think at one point she stopped thinking of herself as the woman she was before and even as a writer. So that concept of Piranesi viewing Matthew as another self who is dead but lives within seems like it was the same for Clarke. That’s why I think the last part was necessary. It speaks to Clarke’s journey as she published this book. The person she was during her isolation and the person she was before all converging into the woman she is today. That’s super poignant to me. Matthew’s loss is Susanna Clarke’s. 17 years of silence that we can never get back. I like that Piranesi doesn’t explicitly explore it because well, what can Piranesi do? It’s so far beyond his grasp. He is grounded in the present and his current circumstances- just like when we are unwell. Totally loved this era of lit fic.

[@Jason-andTheArgonauts]

Fugue.

[@SloanePaoPow]

I really appreciate that you all are willing to voice your dissenting opinions. It makes this podcast a more interesting and mature review and analysis on books than many other booktubers. That said, you're also super entertaining.

[@NWCountryGirl17]

I'm so relieved that you guys liked it (usually I enjoy a roast) I love the way Susanna Clarke write its just so mundane odd that it evens out so well

[@maximilianlopez196]

I think the general consensus is that the bookclub enjoyed this book and glad we could discuss a overall high quality piece of literature together 😊

[@kragary]

It's almost like at the end of the story the main character was able to do what Arne-Sayles originally set out to do, that is bring back to our world something we had lost. He was able to merge the two mind-sets, Matthew's modern one and Piranesi's ancient one, and as a result the House is beginning to seep through to our world in places, or perhaps only in some precious moments. I'd say it was worth it.

[@amyallen6863]

I love that moment where you as the reader go "oh he has a smartphone." Pause. "*Oh. He has a smartphone.*"

[@palor2911]

I think Piranesi is a book where explaining the plot wouldn't do it justice. There's so much vibe in it, and it's exquisitely written. There were moments where i was in awe over how she described something. I love the whole vibe of the book. Its something that cant easily be replicated. Also, i love how different and imaginative is it. When i first started listening to the audiobook, i had to rewind it several times because i wasnt sure if i had heard it correctly. There were ocean tides inside a house?! Amazing!

[@maurakm13]

The NERVES that I felt when I saw this video title lol - I love Piranesi so much! I read it last summer and recently followed it up a few months ago by reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I also adored. For me, Clarke is the absolute sweet spot where gorgeous prose and tight writing meet genuinely creative fantasy premises. I’m relieved to hear from the opening minutes that you all had a good experience with it and can’t wait to listen to your thoughts further when the workday is over!

[@Jen37978]

57:10 I always had the impression that the other was being careful about what he gives Peranesi in case it triggers his memories

[@pithygrapefruit]

I love Piranesi!!! Love it! Literally drove an hour just to get a hard cover of it when it first came out. I love, love , love it. So shocked to see you guys doing literary fiction.

[@Based808]

My only qualm is the albatross never came back

[@Sari97H]

Hi! It took me a while to listen to this one because I was so worried that none of you will like it and, at the same time, didn't found a time to listen with all the care and detail to your experiences with this book. This book has been a revelation to me and I'm glad to see that it has been enjoyable to you all.

[@ebilliot510]

My Fridays do not start until I see your reviews.

[@peledtalli]

One of my favorite books ever. After finishing, I flipped to page one and read it again! Last sentence punched! And I think Piranesi had reached enlightened in the House! Before he was an academic snob, so he'd already gone through an arch, and the last act was in essence the last nail on his old persona.

[@llindberg194]

Where can i cast my vote for more literary fiction? This book was such a delight, i was so relieved our utterly adorable hosts connected with it as well.

[@unresolvedtextualtension]

*ruggedly handsome. --Will

[@llindberg194]

@@unresolvedtextualtension Of course, pardon me my benevolent overlord. I shall make certain to pay homage to your rugged handsomeness from now on.

[@unresolvedtextualtension]

Omg don’t feed his ego -Kt

[@llindberg194]

😂😂

[@CrisM779]

Ah, I thought that Susanna Clarke's name sounded familiar! I read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell years ago and I'll definitely say that it's one of those books that sticks in your memory. I really appreciate it when authors leave things to the reader's interpretation.

[@the_sapphirerose]

Speaking of video games, you should absolutely check out Control or Alan Wake 2 by Remedy Entertainment because those games have a lot in common with the themes of Piranesi that it's kind of spooky (especially Control which is set inside a place called The Oldest House and was partly inspired by The Southern Reach Trilogy). In fact it's because those games are so open-ended that I don't mind Piranesi being open-ended too because I think if Clarke added more "body" to the work, I think the book would have lost some of its appeal as you suggested and also gone against the idea of the House being a nexus of old or lost ideas.

[@Ichithix]

I unreservedly loved "Piranesi".

[@zeereads]

oh i loved this book so much and I'm really happy to see how much you guys enjoyed it!!! i can honestly say I've never read anything quite like it (yet?) and i was instantly reeled in because of how unique it feels. i really need to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell too! thanks for the review!!!

[@Dylan_Devine]

I think it would have been possible to have him morn the loss of Mathew without it being overt or dwelling on it--he could have been shown going through stages of grief and feeling this emptiness that he couldn't explain, and there could have been a dramatic irony where the audience knows what he's feeling but he doesn't because he's never experienced it before. In other words, he could have experienced the loss of his past life and identity but it could have been filtered through his child-like simplicity. Like a dog whose owner dies; the dog doesn't understand what death is and that humans aren't immortal, but it knows it doesn't see its owner anymore and that some new strange person is taking care of them when he misses his original owner.

[@logandevereux5076]

Okay Maria, lovely cohost of the best podcast on KZbin. I must know where I did you get that too because it’s GORGEOUS!!!!

[@thatgamingfreak]

JS&MN felt like Dickens. Piranesi felt like Borges. I cant wait for her next book to feel like a grad school textbook.

[@nihad-m]

I think this book was a tip of a hat to portal fantasy especially Narnia. The other doorways a homage to the many pools in the Magician's nephew and Mr Tumnus is on the cover for crying out loud.

[@eugenebezpalko1631]

That ephemeral book that you were talking about is Will's favourite - Song of Achilles :)

[@whimystical]

Returning to this book through this podcast has reminded me of just how much I *adore* this book. But on the subject of the ending-- I do agree that it feels long but I don't think it's unresolved without reason. Piranesi's reintegration in my mind doesn't get resolved because it's something that he as a character (or three) will never be able to resolve. He will never be without Piranesi, without Matthew, without the House so he can't truly be apart of reality either. Much like how that third self will never be a Child of the House because he wasn't born of it, only born of it's absence, the third self can never be truly of reality, because he is both the House and it's absence, reality, and it's absence. Just in the same way Piranesi would never be able to fully return to the House and be the way he was before, the third is stuck between the two worlds in a way that no one else is and never will be again with the exception of Raphael who, while not experiencing it herself, is able to get as close to understanding as she can through Piranesi.

[@chowinsnow]

I was anxious the entire time I was reading this. Didn’t like it, but I want to hear what you all thought.

[@sabrinabeeart]

God damn it William with that winx club slander! I've had piranesi on my tbr for ages but didn't pick it up bc i got burned by lit fic one too many times. I agree with Will there, too many men thinking their pretentious thoughts need to be shared. But I'll give this one a go

[@marocat4749]

Its, ok the first seasons are the right spot of fantasy tropes played fun?! And the witches are iconic. I mean winx club the better parts know what they are.

[@HushIAmTalking]

You guys reviewing a non-magic book and liking it means i must now leave to read it too! The last recs i took from you were Temeraire (gorgeous, perfect, my everything) and Seven Deaths of Evelyn whatsherface (interesting, confusing, too damn long) so i trust you guys What i've heard so far makes this sound very thought provoking so i'm looking forward

[@choco1199]

Shout out to the audiobook narrator! 👍

[@user-nn2hp6jg2w]

side note: maria i love ur top!!

[@liul]

I love Myst video-games, specially the second one

[@lesyablackbird]

i wonder if i'm the only one that was disappointed that the story connected with our world. i wanted this strange house that was the world, to BE the world. and if it connected back to another world or reality, that is be another alien one. i felt a letdown that its a human from our world that went to another place and forgot. i wanted the whole thing to be other.

[@spiderlegspinch9001]

When I first started listening to the audio book. I thought it was going to turn out that the earth went through some sort of disaster and that everything man-made was calcified, so all the statues were actually people once and the giant building he was in was some derelict skyscraper that was particularly submerged by the sea. It didn’t take long for me to realize that wasn’t it

[@llindberg194]

I was very disappointed by this, and to this day, refuse to acknowledge that everything Piranesi experienced in the house was strictly "real". I think a lot of ot was him trapped inside with his own mind, and that "real" things happening are interpretations of events that did unfold. For example his study of certain persons is why they come to confront him inside the house, and I acknowledge that he might have been abducted and held prisoner in some way, but we don't know that it happened as it seems in the book. If it did, it seems rather random and strange that 16 even knew how to get there, but if he was trapped on himself for some reason it makes more sense that he could be found and helped. Idk, I just prefer the book as an allegory, and reality isn't allowed to barge in and ruin it.

[@stephanie0311]

Exactly! That's what I wanted from this book, magic, mystery, an atmospheric other world, it did it so perfectly at the beginning and then just ended on - here is the real world and it's really shitty.

[@lesyablackbird]

@@stephanie0311 exactly! there are so few books fully committed, not to just an alt version of our world but with magic, but to a fully diff world. where there is not only magic but even the basic rules of reality are different. and here we had a world that was a house and a house the size of a world, with all the nature and things, inside the walls of the house. how wonderful is that?!

[@stephanie0311]

@@lesyablackbird It was lovely! I want my quality escapism, not a reality gut punch 😂

[@ddoublya]

Hello! Been binge watching a lot of your videos. I was wondering if you all had considered reading the blurb if the books you review before deep diving into the podcast? I find myself having to look up the book halfway through your show bc I don't know what you're talking about.

[@writerducky2589]

Not me downloading the Catalan edition on kindle and forgetting Catalan is a language😅 At best I know a few words in Spanish... the two most important being, no comprende. Thankfully it was just the sample and not the whole book😶 Also, your podcast really is the best. Your dynamic is wonderful and the insights you bring are amazing and I always learn something new about stories and ways to look at them.

[@Starburst514]

I'm with Will 😂 i went through a literary phase when i was a kid and first started writing. But these days my current style is like genre bit written like literature (??) I like the introspection and exploration of themes in lit but I prefer it with a genre and plot to have the setting and delivery 😅😅

[@toppersundquist]

My daughter hounded me for a year to read this. :D

[@Leashpole]

I enjoyed this book, but it just didn't grab me. One of those situations where I can't pinpoint anything wrong with it, but I didn't fall in love Edit: I was spoiled before reading it so that probably affected my experience hearing people's theories Edit 2: I don't think he could begin to grapple with the existence of Mathew while he was still in the house

[@evelynwall6054]

Do you guys offer beta reading/ARC reading services?

[@unresolvedtextualtension]

Katie does! You can email her at betareadingbykatie at gmail.com

[@evelynwall6054]

@@unresolvedtextualtension thank you!

[@HushIAmTalking]

I have finally finished Piranesi and am now BACK to finish the video (it really is not in your interests to make me interested in the book because i am a SLOWWWW reader) p.s this book is nowhere near a short story and is a perfectly normal length you guys just read a LOT of fantasy 😂

[@spiderlegspinch9001]

Am I tripping, didn’t you guys already do this one?

[@sciencefantastic]

Nope they didn't! :D

[@spiderlegspinch9001]

You're right. I checked my old emails. It was the live stream

[@eugenebezpalko1631]

Even though I loved the book I still think that the ending is a little too long. I could have done without 16 being overly explained.

[@choco1199]

Watching everyone love this book makes me feel so fucking dumb as rocks. I was so bored fucking bored listening to the damn audiobook. An felt so angry after. So i dnfd it. I dk why i didnt just like it!!🤬

[@llindberg194]

To each their own 🙂 If you don't vibe with Piranesi's exploration of the house, I get why this book would be a rather dull read.

[@choco1199]

@@llindberg194 it’s just frustrating because i still see the genius in it.

[@angryotter9129]

I almost DNF’d in part 2 because I was extremely bored. Glad I finished it though.

[@chowinsnow]

I hate it too

[@choco1199]

@@chowinsnowlol

[@marocat4749]

Not watched recall, its a good entertaining scifi movie with arnold schwarzenegger, and maria hasnt read it? He is pretty good in it. And i think the starship trouper regisseur. Ok its fun and good. and wonderfully campy. Not the reboot, that is just no.

[@therabbitholeguild]

While I understand the sentiment of not wanting to read someon's identity crisis...... I think a lot of people are in the denial period that comes just before an identity crisis. I say whatever can trigger people to move onto that phase toward something like self awareness is great. Also 'dishy' is the worst verbage i have ever heard.