Piranesi (Clarke)

Piranesi 
Susanna Clarke, 2020
Bloomberg USA
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781635575637


Summary
From the bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others.

Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant.

But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge.

But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 1, 1959
• Where—Nottingham, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Oxford University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in England


Susanna Mary Clarke is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Her second novel, Parenesi, was published in 2020.

Clarke is the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister and his wife. Although she was born in Nottingham, because of her father's ministerial posts, she spent her childhood in various towns across Northern England and Scotland. Reading became one of her main pleasures, especially the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen.

Clarke received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from St Hilda's College, Oxford in 1981. For eight years, she worked in publishing at Quarto and Gordon Fraser, then spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in Turin, Italy and Bilbao, Spain.

Returning to County Durham in 1992, Clarke spent the rest of that year in a house overlooking the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel in 1993 and also took a position as a cookbook editor for Simon & Schuster in Cambridge. She remained in that job for the next ten years.

In 2003, Bloomsbury began working on the publication of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which became a bestseller when released in 2004.

Two years later, Clarke published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006). The novel and short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Piranesi, Clarke's second novel came out in September, 2020 to excellent reviews.

Awards
2005—Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
• Hugo Award for Best Novel
• Locus Award for Best First Novel
• Mythopoeic Award
• British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year Award
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/24/2020.)

Book Reviews
Piranesi is a high-quality page-turner-even the most leisurely reader will probably finish it off in a day-but its chief pleasure is immersion in its strange and uncannily attractive setting.… Establishing that sense of totality—and the feeling of peacefulness that accompanies it—is Ms. Clarke's standout feat.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal


Infinitely clever…. [N]one of [Clarke's] enchantment has worn off—it's evolved.… to abide in these pages is to find oneself happily detained in awe.
Washington Post


Could Piranesi match [the hype]? I'm delighted to say it has, with Clarke's singular wit and imagination still intact in a far more compressed yet still captivating tale you'll want to delve into again right after you read its sublime last sentence.
Boston Globe


The long-awaited followup to Jonathan Strange is even more magically immersive.… Here is a protagonist with no guile, no greed, no envy, no cruelty, and yet still intriguing.
Los Angeles Times


Enthralling [and] transcendent….  [T]he sweetness, the innocence of Piranesi's love for this world is devastating to read. Clarke's writing is clear, sharp—she can cleave your heart in a few short words.… The mystery of Piranesi unwinds at a tantalizing yet lightening-like pace—it's hard not to rush ahead, even when each sentence, each revelation makes you want to linger.
NPR.org


(Starred review) Clarke wraps a twisty mystery inside a metaphysical fantasy in her extraordinary new novel…. Sure to be recognized as one of the year's most inventive.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) Clarke creates an immersive world that readers can almost believe exists. This is a solid crossover pick for readers whose appreciation of magical fantasy leans toward V.E. Schwab or Erin Morgenstern. —Lucy Roehrig, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Library Journal


(Starred review) As questions multiply and suspense mounts in this spellbinding, occult puzzle of a fable, one begins to wonder if perhaps the reverence, kindness, and gratitude practiced by Clarke's enchanting and resilient hero aren't all the wisdom one truly needs.
Booklist


(Starred review) Readers who accompany [Piranesi] as he learns to understand himself will see magic returning to our world. Weird and haunting and excellent.
Kirkus Reviews

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