3.5 ⭐️
A new, interesting take on a Greek retelling of the story of the labyrinth, Piranesi was a thought-provoking, though somewhat confusing, novel. The book follows Piranesi (if that even is his name…iykyk) a man in his mid-30s who lives in a labyrinth like house with an ocean “imprisoned” within. The house, in a way, is Piranesi’s religion, his god. The house provides for Piranesi and he deems himself “the child of the house”. Piranesi fills his days tending to statues, exploring the far reaches of the house, caring for the 13 dead (collections of bones he has located in his adventures) and carrying out scientific observations of birds, tidal patterns, stars, etc. He keeps a meticulous journal of his daily life in the house. Piranesi is not totally alone, and on scheduled days he meets with “Other”, as he is lovingly named. Other is carrying out his own “scientific” research in an attempt to unlock some great and magical truth about the universe.

The story was admittedly hard to follow, though this is intentional by the author. The reader learns more as Piranesi unlocks key memories and old journal entries that shake his perception of reality.
I was engrossed in the concept of the house and found the modern-ish day story line to be compelling, however due to the author revealing more about Piranesi’s life through old journal entries I felt the story lost momentum right when it should have realistically been picking up. There were a lot of moments when you are just reading blocks of biographies and while this is a good tactic for keeping the story brief, I think it really slowed down the pacing of the story, and a lot of the time I was bored of reading about this that or the other random character in his journal. Ultimately, it all tied together and was an enjoyable read, and I’d still recommend it to any lovers of Greek-retellings. However loosely.