Piranesi

My book for September was Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This is the second of two books that Carmen gave me for Christmas. Piranesi won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. It was a finalist for the 2020 Nebula Award and the 2021 Hugo Award.

This is a difficult book to describe. Piranesi (the main character) lives in a place called the House. It is a world composed of infinite halls and vestibules lined with statues, no two of which are alike. The upper level of the House is filled with clouds and the lower level with an ocean. The story is told through entries in a journal that the main character is keeping. As the story progresses, Piranesi discovers who he really is and how he came to be in the House.

Reviews of the book are very polarized; it seems that people either loved it or hated it. I found the book interesting. I like science fiction books that play with ideas. Although this is more fantasy than science fiction, it has some interesting ideas. I enjoyed it and graded it a "B-". It was a nice break after the 960 page tome about Grant...