Piranesi

I really really enjoyed this weird and wonderful novel. It’s an amazing feat, in just 245 pages, it’s one of the most compelling, dream-like, peculiar and shocking novels I think I’ve read. It’s written so beautifully, the descriptions of the ‘House’ and their many halls, statues and tides are so magical and there are phrases that you want to imprint in your mind.

It is quite difficult to first get into the book and understand what’s going on, but it’s clever, because as the reader you are understanding things at the same time as Piranasei, the inhabitant of the house is. There are so many layers to the storyline and it stays with you for long after reading the book. Although otherworldly and fantastical it is also about the reach for knowledge, idealism vs. science and the role teachers can have on students.

The audiobook is read by Chiwetel Ejiofor who has a very fitting voice for the calming and majestic House.