Miscellaneous Chatter > Literature

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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H:
I really wanted to like this book, but like JS&MN the writing is good, the concept is great, but ultimately the book just didn't "do it" for me and I struggled to get myself to finish it.

SmilerLoki:

--- Quote from: H on February 05, 2021, 02:25:56 pm ---I really wanted to like this book, but like JS&MN the writing is good, the concept is great, but ultimately the book just didn't "do it" for me and I struggled to get myself to finish it.

--- End quote ---
Pretty much my relationship with JS&MN, although I still hold it in high esteem. But there is just too many words there that do relatively little, and certainly nothing for story progression.

H:

--- Quote from: SmilerLoki on February 06, 2021, 08:24:01 am ---Pretty much my relationship with JS&MN, although I still hold it in high esteem. But there is just too many words there that do relatively little, and certainly nothing for story progression.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, I think this is pretty much exactly it for me.  The story just doesn't seem to "get" anywhere nor does it seem to reveal much in the process or journey.  Maybe I just miss it though, somehow.

Wilshire:
Its called "Fantasy of Manners" and/or "Slice of Life", which are 'sub-genres' or classifications of fantasy wherein little happens - the focus being on the characters/relationships rather than anything actually happening.

I loved JS/MN despite missing much of it in a car ride while it was playing (it put me to sleep). The parts I was awake for were great though, but therein lies the rub lol. In my estimation the JSMN would have been improved by removing half of it. If was was reading a physical copy, I probably would have been skipped 10's of pages at once looking for plot.

I haven't read Piranesi, but it seems that's just Clarke's writing style. As such, I'll probably skip it.

SmilerLoki:

--- Quote from: Wilshire on February 10, 2021, 03:27:35 pm ---Its called "Fantasy of Manners" and/or "Slice of Life", which are 'sub-genres' or classifications of fantasy wherein little happens - the focus being on the characters/relationships rather than anything actually happening.

--- End quote ---
Unfortunately, there is also very little characterization happening. All of the relationships have almost no progression, and are themselves rather milquetoast. It's realistic (real life is short on serious drama), but this is the less often encountered sort of realism that's in fact bad for fiction. It's simply boring, and one of the things people try to escape by reading entirely made up books.

It is, though, done by choice in JS&MN, of this I have no doubt. The book is just too well-written for Susanna Clarke not seeing it. In the end, it's what she wants to write, which is the best point of view an author can have. Writing should first be for whoever's writing, and only after that for others, that's how we actually get good books. It's also why even very good books will never be for everybody.

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