Piransi by Susanna Clark

Piranesi lives in the House, a labyrinthine structure with seemingly endless halls each with statues of different size and theme. He can remember the 7,678 he has visited. He spends his days fishing in the Drowned Halls and cataloging the statues and performing research for the Other, a well-dressed man who visits once a week and gives him tasks in pursuit of the Great and Secret Knowledge . The Other gave him the name Piransi though he is certain that isn’t his real name. In fact, Piransi remembers nothing of his past including how he got there. He is content with his life, innocently marveling at the halls and statues. There is a religious aspect to the way Piransi sees the House, it is the giver. 

Then things start to happen and Piransi begins to doubt the Other. To the reader, he is being gaslit with the Other manipulating his memories. The story then takes on a different tone. 

The first third of the book describes Piransi’s daily life and interactions with the Other. This is where I might have given up if the book wasn’t only 158 pages on my Kobo. Once Piransi begins to put bits of information together the story picks up and gets more intriguing.

Memory is a major theme in Piransi and how important it is to a person’s identity. As the Other gaslights Piranisi, he begins to question himself. I was much interested in what memories and the lack of memories can have on one’s sense of self.

The nature of reality is another consideration. To the reader, the House is unreal but to Piranisi it is his whole reality, he doesn’t question it, or even find a way out. He has nothing to compare the house to so his whole perception is shaped by the House.

I enjoyed Piranisi. I don’t think the story could sustain a longer book and it works quite well as a novella. Once you get into the rhythm, the story flows along and begins to pick up momentum. Plus, I really like mazes, labyrinths, and the no way out story.

Note: Piransi probably refers to Giovanni Battista Piranesi, a 16th century architect and artist who made a series of prints of imaginary prisons.

 

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Natural Beauty is Huang’s first novel and this body horror is a banger of a start.

The first person narrator, daughter of Chinese immigrants who fled the Cultural Revolution, was once a promising pianist but a traumatic family event left her psychologically unable to play. While working as a dishwasher, a woman who saw her play invites her to come to a high end beauty and wellness clinic named Holistic. There she is offered a job. Working at HolistiK isn’t just a job, it’s a commitment to a way of life. The employees use the products  and are given regular tune-ups. The narrator is told “We don’t sell products. We’re selling a lifestyle. Desire.The possibility for them to become us.”

The exotic products and treatments are an exaggerated parody of what you can find celebrities promoting. For example, one treatment involves remora eels and crabs. Even as the narrator finds herself drawn deeper into the Holistic culture, she finds that the products and treatments she receives are having an effect. They aren’t merely cosmetic, skin deep as it were, but are gradually altering her body.

The narrator is recruited into a special program which deepens the mystery of what Holistik really is and is the start of the full on body horror she experiences in the second part of the book. The horror Huang portrays is nicely done and leaves the reader both repulsed feeling sympathy for those who succumbed to the lure of finding beauty.

Natural beauty touches upon self-worth, race and identity, and consumerism where Holistik creates a demand for their products and treatments with the employees serving as living advertisements to clients who desire the “natural” beauty they see. The more outlandish the treatment the more people with the means will embrace it.

I hope to read more from this author.