![]() I find this to be quite a fitting image for Piranesi, who feels he needs to guard over the bones of the dead and give them offerings, as well as being a companion to the Other. The meaning of ‘Pan’ in later languages is also associated with ‘to guard’, ‘watch over’, and ‘companion’. It did, however, remind me of images in Greek mythology – specifically of Pan, the God of nature and the wild. At first I imagined Piranesi to look like this, when of course he doesn’t, as it turns out. I was also intrigued by the image of the faun playing a flute on the cover of the book. ![]() I also loved that, in the last few journal entries, he transitions from talking about Matthew as being a voice he’s hearing inside himself, to switching and describing Piranesi as being inside him once he has gotten accustomed to the regular world again. It would have been nice to see some conversation between them before the flood happened, but it fit in with following just the information that Piranesi knows, so I suppose it works out in the end. I suppose my only slight complaint is that I felt the ending/confrontation between the Other and Raphael was not quite as exciting as I thought it would be. Piranesi’s dwindling memory and his personal confusion was something that I felt too, as the reader is sent to circle in their minds all the things being told about this world and trying to deduce what exactly this place is. I loved the slowly release of information. But of course, this theory quickly unravelled when the modern elements of this story (phones, biscuits boxes) came back into my mind. I actually thought, when mentions of a labyrinth and minotaurs came up, that perhaps this was a prequel to the ancient Greek minotaur myth, and that perhaps the Other was Daedalus designing the labyrinth before the minotaur arrived. It did not start, progress, or end in any way that I was expecting it to or could have guessed, which was honestly refreshing.Ĭonfusion and a need to know more helped me to fly through this book. I encourage anyone to read this book – you will likely be confused for a large part of it, but the slow release of information is well-crafted and leaves the reader wanting more with each turn of the page. ![]() Piranesi does describe his surroundings in terms of old statues and stone buildings, so this seems fitting in retrospect. I’ve only found so far that it’s the name of an Italian artist “whose etchings of Rome’s ruins contributed to the revival of neoclassicism” (The Free Dictionary). I also searched up ‘Piranesi’ after reading this book to discover if there was some hidden meaning to the name. Described in some places as a labyrinth, with statues of minotaurs, Piranesi slowly learns about how he came to be in this place, and what this place really is. He describes a house of many halls and rooms, and knowing only one other living person: another man named the Other. Let me try to be as spoiler-free as possible: Piranesi follows a man who is writing about daily happenings in his life in journals. I must have confused even more people by now. I think I must have gained another forehead wrinkle through the first half of this book, just wondering “What does it mean? Where are they? Where is this going?” – not in a bad way! Just in a way that was unexpected, different, and completely original. ![]() The summary doesn’t offer much concrete information about the plot, which interested me when first picking up this book, and really it was for the best because the mystery and suspense drive the book forward. There are very few books I’ve read in recent years that have crept up on me quite as much as Piranesi has. *no spoiler section (you will see another warning when you reach the spoilers)*
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