Taschenbuch, 245 Seiten
Am 2. September 2021 von Bloomsbury Publishing veröffentlicht.
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
Ik heb in het begin een beetje moeten doorzetten om niet op te geven. Een uniek verhaal, een beetje speciaal.
Ik heb in het begin een beetje moeten doorzetten om niet op te geven. Een uniek verhaal, een beetje speciaal.
What a strange little book. It's very peaceful for a book with so much mystery. It creates a unique atmosphere by contrasting the mystery narrative with the narrators admiration of everything that isn't mysterious.
What a strange little book. It's very peaceful for a book with so much mystery. It creates a unique atmosphere by contrasting the mystery narrative with the narrators admiration of everything that isn't mysterious.
This was a lovely, interesting, engaging book. It was rammed with Narnia references that you simply wouldn't have noticed if you happened not to be familiar with Narnia, but which were huge fun if you were. Piranesi himself was likeable, and I rooted for him from the start, even as he started to understand that he hadn't always been a person he could like.
But so many world-building questions were left completely unanswered!
This was a lovely, interesting, engaging book. It was rammed with Narnia references that you simply wouldn't have noticed if you happened not to be familiar with Narnia, but which were huge fun if you were. Piranesi himself was likeable, and I rooted for him from the start, even as he started to understand that he hadn't always been a person he could like.
But so many world-building questions were left completely unanswered!
I loved the world in which this story is set. An infinite labyrinth of statues and sea, occupied by characters that I wanted deeply to know more about.
You follow the story through the journal of the point of view character. The best parts of the story are, to me, when the writer's and the reader's understanding of events diverge. It felt like a Hitchcock movie, where I, with full access to the main character's thoughts, started coming to different interpretations of information they've received - and what I knew compelled me to keep reading in hopes that the main character would catch up. I also appreciated the themes of the story: kindness, interaction with place, memory, ambition.
I loved the world in which this story is set. An infinite labyrinth of statues and sea, occupied by characters that I wanted deeply to know more about.
You follow the story through the journal of the point of view character. The best parts of the story are, to me, when the writer's and the reader's understanding of events diverge. It felt like a Hitchcock movie, where I, with full access to the main character's thoughts, started coming to different interpretations of information they've received - and what I knew compelled me to keep reading in hopes that the main character would catch up. I also appreciated the themes of the story: kindness, interaction with place, memory, ambition.
A beautiful reflection on the human condition. And an absolute masterclass in world building. Unlike other fantasy novels, the world is not very deep, but the way it is revealed and layered through the eyes of the protagonist is unlike anything I've read before.
A beautiful reflection on the human condition. And an absolute masterclass in world building. Unlike other fantasy novels, the world is not very deep, but the way it is revealed and layered through the eyes of the protagonist is unlike anything I've read before.
Lu en cinq jours. Difficile exercice que de le résumer, et il n'est pas certain que cela serve à grand chose. Piranesi vit et explore La Maison Éternelle, peuplées de Statues gigantesques et d'Oiseaux. Le livre est captivant sur son début, où il en dit peu sur le pourquoi et montre cette Maison.
J'ai reçu cette lecture à un moment où j'avais besoin d'évasion, de plonger un peu en moi. La Maison Éternelle a constitué tout à la fois un échappatoire, un lieu de méditation et de refuge. Une réalité à expérimenter plutôt qu'une énigme à déchiffrer.
Lu en cinq jours. Difficile exercice que de le résumer, et il n'est pas certain que cela serve à grand chose. Piranesi vit et explore La Maison Éternelle, peuplées de Statues gigantesques et d'Oiseaux. Le livre est captivant sur son début, où il en dit peu sur le pourquoi et montre cette Maison.
J'ai reçu cette lecture à un moment où j'avais besoin d'évasion, de plonger un peu en moi. La Maison Éternelle a constitué tout à la fois un échappatoire, un lieu de méditation et de refuge. Une réalité à expérimenter plutôt qu'une énigme à déchiffrer.
I like this a lot. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. it was like a really good, really satisfying meal.
I like this a lot. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. it was like a really good, really satisfying meal.
Unique and richly allegorical. You'll fall in love with the titular character.
Unique and richly allegorical. You'll fall in love with the titular character.
Unexpected, mysteryous and very engaging. A fresh fantasy with a touch of philosophy.
Inhaltswarnung Minor spoiler, which reveals a mid-book event which is very different in setting than the consistency of the opening chapters might suggest.
I really enjoyed this. I was captured by the reliable hook of an initially confounding fantastic or symbolic setting, gradually made comprehensible as information is revealed and the reader acclimatizes to the concepts in play. The infinite architectures of The House reminds me of the similarly spectacular House of Leaves, or the YouTube Backrooms phenomenon. It makes me want to revisit the symbolic locations of Banks "The Bridge". It reminds me of deeply evocative late nights, lost in endless videogame worlds.
About 2/3 of the way through, I caught a reference as a character is using childhood memories as part of a ritual to reopen a doorway to a lost world, from the rose garden of his childhood home. As potential doorways begin appearing, he notes "The color of the roses was supernaturally bright."
This is no doubt a deliberate reference to Aldus Huxley's "Doors of Perception" (bookwyrm.social/book/168195/s/the-doors-of-perception-and-heaven-and-hell-perennial-classics), a trip report on the opening of said doors during the psychedelic experience of mescaline, in which repeated reference is made to a supernaturally bright and vivid vase of flowers, "shining with their own inner light and all but quivering under the pressure of the significance with which they were charged".
I really liked this story! Glad it got put on my radar from Jacob Geller's video on infinity.
I really liked this story! Glad it got put on my radar from Jacob Geller's video on infinity.
I really enjoyed the book, the smaller world that the protagonist lives in is very simple and is intriguing, but not somewhere I feel I need to return to. The larger universe though is interesting, with its reality plus a little magic vibe. I enjoyed the unravelling mystery and it compelled me to read it much faster than I've read books of similar size. The first few chapters describing the House reminded me of the descriptions of The Sleeper Service in Iain M Banks' book Excession. To the point where I thought the book was going to go in a sci-fi direction.
I really enjoyed the book, the smaller world that the protagonist lives in is very simple and is intriguing, but not somewhere I feel I need to return to. The larger universe though is interesting, with its reality plus a little magic vibe. I enjoyed the unravelling mystery and it compelled me to read it much faster than I've read books of similar size. The first few chapters describing the House reminded me of the descriptions of The Sleeper Service in Iain M Banks' book Excession. To the point where I thought the book was going to go in a sci-fi direction.
