I remember vividly asking my mom for this book on the recommendation of a BookTuber, but I can’t actually remember which BookTuber it was? So thank you to the unnamed BookTuber who helped me find this gem. Even if I don’t remember who you are in particular.
(Also, I really like Clockwork Reader and withcindy, so I guess, there are my BookTube recommendations?) I liked this book. Was it a book that I can see myself re-reading over and over again (hello, Ready Player One)? No. Not really. I’m a fast reader; I have a short attention span. This book didn’t leave me with enough emotions to spend my next day thinking about it (see The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), and didn’t make me really interested in particular bits of academia mentioned in it (I collect academic areas of study from books. Like, if I read a character who’s really well-written and a sommelier, I will be reading about cocktails for the next week. Hence why I’m also reading about cocktails right now).
In terms of reasons why I would recommend this book to people, I can really think of three reasons.
First off, the book has a pretty interesting premise. Essentially, the story is about a man who is stuck in another world (The House), and his story there. That’s really interesting, this idea of other parallel worlds that happen to be related to ours. There’s also a bit of a mystery element to this story, where as a reader you don’t really understand a lot of things that are going on in this world and the titular character’s surroundings. I liked that. It kept me on my toes, and made me want to keep reading. The thing is, halfway through the story, the story spoils itself, and the mystery element of trying to figure out this world is gone. And since the main character still doesn’t know what’s going on, we as readers have to keep going on with the story as though we don’t know what’s going on either.
Secondly, the book’s writing is the type that I like. It has the weird capital letter thrown in here and there a lot (e.g. referring to oneself as Myself is slightly jarring), but overall, the choice to use simple, naturalistic diction to convey the story’s emotional bits is really effective, and makes it so that as a reader, the story is not only easy to understand but also helps make sure that the mystery of the story isn’t lost in translation.
Lastly, the story is a short read and the characters are actually interesting. I finished the book in about three hours, which is about the normal amount of time I generally need to finish a book. The characters were engaging. Piranesi, as the titular character, was interesting, and I enjoyed the way that his other identity was kind of like another character within him (although having just watched Glass, I’m kind of sick of characters referring themselves as an alter ego or something like that, but this book does it well).
I would definitely recommend this book to people who want to read something that will get them back into reading or something that has a bit more of a mythical touch to it. Will I be re-reading it over and over? No. But I enjoyed it, and really, what more can I ask of a book?
Happy Monday!!
コメント