Piranèse

I read this book as part of LucieBulle's bookclub monthly community read.

I liked certain aspects:

• already, that the journey to this world was not an "astral" or magical journey, as it seemed to be at the start. I was a little afraid of the end of the novel with the "manisfestation".

*The gradual discovery of the key points of each character's past, and the main one saved by a woman and it does not end in a transfer romance

*The question of identity that comes with experiences and memories, and acceptance from family/friends that he must have had a seizure, and everyone accepts that he needs to go to therapy

Neutral:

• Its scientific methodology is interesting, although repetitive (the statements in each entry are long)

However :

• a lot of repetition of words and above all, long sentences.

*Narrative style not rich enough for my personal tastes.

• Lack of answers concerning the sizes of statues and of this universe that Piranesi lived in... did he measure correctly as it would seem from his writings? or are all sizes exaggerated by the same effect of forgetfulness / on the verge of losing ones bearings?

• By what were these caused? I would have liked, for example, that his executioner had given him drugs or something, which would explain the notions of altered space and time because, at the end, we learn that he must have been a prisoner somewhere near a isolated beach or island; however, to my knowledge, no real place would correspond with Piranesi's measurements...

j'ai bien aimé certains aspects :

*déjà, que le voyage vers ce monde n'était pas un voyage "astral" ou magique, comme il semblait être au départ. Je craignais un peu une fin de roman avec la "manifestation".

*La découverte graduelle des points clé du passé de chaque personnage, et le principal sauvé par une femme et ça ne finit pas en romance de transfert

• La question de l'identité qui va avec les expériences et mémoires, et l'acceptation de la famille/amis qu'il devait avoir eu une crise, et tout le monde accepte qu'il doive aller en thérapie

Neutre:

Sa méthodologie scientifique est intéressante, bien que répétitive (les énoncés de chaque entrée sont longues)

Par contre : * en anglais, beaucoup de répétitions de mots et surtout, les phrases à rallonge. * Style narratif pas assez riche à mes goûts perso. * Manque des réponses concernant les tailles de statues et de cet univers que Piranaise ait vécu... a-t-il bien mesuré comme il semblerait par ses écrits ? ou est-ce que toutes les tailles sont exagérées par le même effet d'oublis / au bord de la perte des repères ? Par quoi étaient-ils, ceux-là, causés ? j'aurais bien aimé, par ex, que son bourreau lui ait donné des drogues ou qqch, qui expliquerait des notions d'espace et temps altérés car, à la fin, nous apprenons qu'il devait être prisonnier qq part vers une plage ou île isolée ; or, à ma connaissance, aucun lieu réel ne correspondrait avec les mesures de Piranaise...

I really enjoyed this. I was captured by the reliable hook of an initially confounding fantastic or symbolic setting, gradually made comprehensible as information is revealed and the reader acclimatizes to the concepts in play. The infinite architectures of The House reminds me of the similarly spectacular House of Leaves, or the YouTube Backrooms phenomenon. It makes me want to revisit the symbolic locations of Banks "The Bridge". It reminds me of deeply evocative late nights, lost in endless videogame worlds.

About 2/3 of the way through, I caught a reference as a character is using childhood memories as part of a ritual to reopen a doorway to a lost world, from the rose garden of his childhood home. As potential doorways begin appearing, he notes "The color of the roses was supernaturally bright."

This is no doubt a deliberate reference to Aldus Huxley's "Doors of Perception" (bookwyrm.social/book/168195/s/the-doors-of-perception-and-heaven-and-hell-perennial-classics), a trip report on the opening of said doors during the psychedelic experience of mescaline, in which repeated reference is made to a supernaturally bright and vivid vase of flowers, "shining with their own inner light and all but quivering under the pressure of the significance with which they were charged".