"Piranesi" by Suzanna Clarke

Personally I have a bit of difficulty getting in to books written in the first person. I’ve never nailed down exactly what it is about it that I find abrasive, but has always caused me to hesitate.

Some books work best— perhaps would only work— as a first person retelling. All Quiet on the Western Front is a recently-read example that immediately comes to mind, but Piranesi might be the definitive example of why a book should be written in first person.

Piranesi’s personality oozes out of the book. His thoughts, experiences, and world is one so far out of reason that any detachment from his perspective would do him a personal disservice. The book is roughly structured as journal entries as a justification for the narrative style, but the reason it is so effective is because Piranesi’s exact thoughts and feelings are integral to the experience of the story in a way that would be awkward to communicate from any perspective but his own internal monologue.

The world of the House is a strange mystery for the reader to unravel as Piranesi goes about his days, and the reader travels with him as he learns both the origins of the House and his own.

There’s a lot that I’d like to say which doesn’t quite fit the nature of a review and instead veers into the world of interpretation. Instead of theorizing I’ll just say that the world and story of Piranesi is intriguing in a way that’s difficult for me to communicate. An excellent exploration of the surreal which tells a beautifully short and concise story. Though the earliest section drags a bit, everything clicks together and forms an incomplete image of an incomplete world. An incomplete world with an incomplete man as its lone true inhabitant.