![]() To cope he would have to disregard Piranesi’s experiences there. He could have come back with his full memory and would have years of pain to heal from. Also, you can’t just undo something traumatic by leaving the situation, you have to heal slowly. It’s important to our development as people to be able to move between various learned states so that we can cope with the challenges of being alive. However, in trauma terms, this kind of splitting off of identities happens whenever we have an extreme emotional reaction to something (a trauma). The House “causes” this forgetting of his identity in order to become the Child of the House. In Piranesi’s case it seems like Clarke knew what she was doing in trapping Matthew away. As someone with a long history of mental health problems I’ve done my fair share of learning about how trauma shows up and affects people’s lives. This is not the first time I’ve written about DID (here’s a small piece on Moon Knight). I spent a bunch of time thinking about DID, trauma and dissociation in relation to this novel. The layers of learning about who he is, and how many of him there are or have been that starts to surface near the ending is truly on point. ![]() I’d like to talk about something that happens in Piranesi that I found so important and compelling. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of Piranesi, you can do so at, Book Outlet and Barnes & Noble. I hope if you read it that you love it as much as I and the rest of my book club members did. And if you like aspects of mythology and Greek architecture, as well as psychological themes, this book is also for you. If you enjoy fantasy that centres around a couple of characters only, eerie imagery and a mysterious world, this book is for you. It also goes heavy on some psychological themes which, if you need to be careful with, please do. ![]() I was not expecting that, but was grateful for it. The things that happen are confusing, unnerving, sad and yet joyful.īy the end of the read I had sobbed a few times. The characters are interesting, strange, though I do think a couple of them are a little one dimensional. The writing is simple enough not to distract, but also changes in tone and style depending on who is speaking. I never seem to get sick of looking at it. The cover art to this book is utterly gorgeous. If you’ve read the book and would like to delve into those, here’s a full interview with Susanna Clarke. Clarke is also careful to interject them into the book a few times so that if you were already making the connections you could find out more. None of them are required for understanding the plot (though they might add to your interest level). There are a lot of references and layers to Piranesi. Its main categories, however, are fantasy and literary fiction. I think I did a little in the beginning too, because of some of its imagery and occult themes. I’ve also read some people compare it to Lovecraft. Piranesi does not really come close to either of these in its visceral or visual horror. One was Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer and the other was The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. There are two horror novels I’ve read in recent years that I loved. I remember before reading Piranesi trying to find out exactly how horrific the horror was and whether I would be capable of reading it. This book is many things and can be placed into several categories. I’ve already talked about it a fair bit this month and I’m wary of spoiling it for those of you who might just want a push to reading it. There is so much I could say about Piranesi. ![]() I read this with a small group of people for an online book club and I’m so happy it’s what won that poll. It’s sad, horrific at points and utterly gorgeous.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |