I’ve always been a little intimidated by ‘The Classics’. Referencing Roman Gods or Greek Mythology always seemed to me a shorthand way to point out ‘I’m smart, posher and more important than you’. Ridiculous I know, and entirely my own insecurity, but it’s a preconception I can never quite shake off, and one which leads me to give anything remotely Classical a wide berth.
So, on Christmas Day, when I unwrapped Piranesi, I took in its obscure name and the centaur on the cover and immediately thought, this isn’t for me.
How wrong I was.
Piranesi is a difficult book to describe. It is narrated by the titular character, who lives in ‘The House’, a huge sprawling building which contains a seemingly endless array of giant statues, and is inexplicably flooded by racing tides n a regular basis. Piranesi is alone except for ‘The Other’, an enigmatic character about whom we know very little, but who provides Piranesi with his only company and purpose.
The protagonist is a difficult character to get to grips with at first, largely because he is unreliable, seemingly confident in his understanding of his world, but clearly oblivious to something.
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the strange world in which Piranesi lives is not so strange after all, as signs of our own world begin to creep into his. The book, therefore, becomes a mystery – who is Piranesi and how did he end up in The House? Who is The Other, and what is his role?
As I feared, there were moments in the novel where I felt I was completely missing the point. Were there clever classical references which I just didn’t get? Almost certainly. Did it stop me enjoying the book? Not at all!
The beautiful crafting of Piranesi’s naïve and vulnerable narrative voice, and the journey towards solving the mysteries at the centre of the plot, meant that what I assumed would be a weary intellectual slog became instead a gripping page turner. I did not want to put this book down until I figured out who Piranesi was and knew where he ended up.
Clarke is a master of storytelling. She weaves into the novel philosophy, science, art and classicism – and yet somehow the novel is still light and easy to read.
Even now I’ve finished the novel and have had time to reflect, I’m not sure I understood everything, but I really enjoyed it and surely that’s all that matters.
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