Susanna Clark’s Piranesi is a strange, sparse, haunting novel about a man who lives in a seemingly endless house partially flooded by an ocean. He never leaves the house and knows nothing but its miles-long twisting corridors, strange statues, and underwater hallways full of coral reefs. He cares for the house, spending his days learning its secrets and tending to its residents. The novel is a beautiful piece of literary sleight of hand: as readers, we quickly join the protagonist in his wanderings, but with our own knowledge of the wider world beyond the house, we’re easily able to interpret events that seem mysterious to the protagonist.
I first read Piranesi a month or two ago, but it’s a book that’s really stuck with me. I can tell I’m going to be returning to it both soon and often. It’s a novel about a lot of things, and I’m sure that future readings will bring new layers and perspectives. However, what struck me on my first reading was how much the book is about belief. We as readers are invited to visit the protagonist’s world, and we see how his daily life shapes and informs – and, occasionally, challenges – his beliefs. I cannot help thinking that we move through a world of eight billion people, all of whom live inside their own unique, endless, flooded houses. Every person we meet has their own deep, secret knowledge, and their own enduring mysteries. Some of these we might be able to answer due to our own experiences and knowledge. Sometimes, another person will understand our own problems far better than we can ourselves, for the same reason. We don’t have the luxury of reading a novel to fully immerse ourselves in the lives and thoughts of every person we meet, but we can take a moment to listen and try to understand the beautiful tumbledown houses and endless oceans inside them.