Piranesi

We follow the young journalist, Matthew Rose Sorenson, styled Piranesi, who resides in a mysterious maze of vestibules filled with statues.

The book starts off as a philosophical exploration into an alternative reality. Pleasantly mind-stretching, we are privy to the humble life of Piranesi. We find him to be a resourceful man, who teaches himself to fish, collect fresh water and craft clothes. We find him to be scientific in nature, cataloguing and documenting every vestibule and statue in a very systematic manner. We also find him very kind, as shown by his help in building the Albatross’ nest.

Some anthropological questions are raised in Piranesi’s world, and despite his rigorous scientific nature, he develops a sense of spiritualism. This can be observed from some of the imagery he uses to describe the environment, such as the cross, his reverence for the dead and statues that embody ideals/characteristics.

Piranesi is cognisant that the House provides him with his every need. The underground provides him with seawood for sustenance and weeds for fires; the top section provides him with fresh rainwater; the middle section provides him with a safe place to berth. Perhaps spirituality is mandatory when one relies on the elements for their survival.

We will leave this question unanswered.

The book then takes a thrilling turn into the occult. We discover that Piranesi’s world is an alternative reality, a purgatory for lost ideas from the Earth. A world that Matthew and his (dead) predecessors had become trapped in. The evil genius behind this is Dr Laurence Arne Sayles and Dr Kettering.

Sayles believed that logical scientific thinking had disregarded the ancient reverence for nature. That there existed alternative realities that could be tapped into. However, instead of sharing his methods and making his discoveries reproducible as any scientist who had made a breakthrough would do. Sayles instead kept it secretive and within the confines of the cult that he had generated. It appeared he used ‘The Statue World’ as his own personal dungeon.

When Piranesi is finally rescued, we are left asking ourselves, was encouraging him to come back to the ‘real’ world really the kindest option?