It’s hardly so simple.
In thisnew EW series, staffers discuss how they’re coping with experiences of anxiety and isolation through books.
In this entry, Christian Holub writes about getting lost in labyrinths.
Credit: Bloomsbury
Hello EW readers, Im checking back in with our Quarantine Book Club!
Whats it been, six months sincemy previous entry in this column?
I think we can all agree that it feels more like six years, if not longer.
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Piranesiis available in bookstores this week, but I got an advance copy earlier this summer.
Before you get jealous, like know that this was a very double-edged sword.
I was certainly excited about it at first.
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Clarkes debut novel,Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, is one of my favorite books ever.
The novels immense readability does clash with its intimidating doorstop size.
The initial tease forPiranesi,first announced last fall, seemed promising in this regard.
Sarah Lee
This was and is the basic back-cover plot description: Piranesi has always lived in the House.
It has hundreds if not thousands of rooms and corridors, imprisoning an ocean.
Piranesi records his findings in his journal.
Then messages begin to appear; all is not what it seems.
A terrible truth unravels as evidence emerges of another person and perhaps even another world outside the Houses walls.
Sounds like some of that Good Fantasy Stuff, right?
We know the main character as Piranesi, but thats not his birth name.
He is dimly aware of this; he just cant remember what he used to be called.
But the real-life Piranesis most famous series of prints isnt called Labyrinths, its calledImaginary Prisons.
Piranesi lives in a place he cant leave, performing tasks for someone who doesnt compensate him.
That makes him a prisoner, and a slave.
In fact,Piranesihas one of the cheeriest narrators youll come across.
The novel is almost entirely epistolary, composed of the title characters journal entries to himself.
The statues are particularly interesting.
Piranesi tells us that this statue smiles slightly and presses a forefinger to his lips.
He might as well be reminding you to put your mask on before you leave the house.
Like other immunocompromised people, my punch in 1 diabetes made me even more paranoid about possible sickness.
That early period contained both the terror and the excitement of the unknown.
Lockdown was scary from the get go, but those initial weeks had the frisson of disruption.
Not unlike Piranesi, I myself turned to writing and observation to cling to some kind of sanity.
The second is to preserve whatever knowledge I possess for you, the reader.
I was eventually reminded of this too.
Even when I did join a march, it remained within walking distance of my apartment.
Alas, it was also brief.
Hopefully, by now we can at least remember that were not alone in here.
Almost 200,000 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus so far, with the number increasing every day.
So much death in so little time is a devastating blow to our society.
We need to let ourselves grieve for those weve lost, and honor their memories.
This is something else that is present inPiranesi: Caring for the dead.
He talks to one in particular: Your good looks are gone, but you mustnt worry about it.
This unsightly condition is only temporary.
I will place you somewhere where the fish and the birds can strip away all this broken flesh.
It will soon be gone.
Then you will be a handsome skull and handsome bones.
This piece is not a blueprint, though.
There are more people, they respond.
