Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram

 

This is a tough book to write about and I would recommend it only to someone I know well. It deals with suicide ideation which will be a red flag for many. This short (135 pages) novella is compelling and beautifully, even lyrically, written. I can’t use the word “enjoy” to describe the reading experience but I do appreciate it.

Vicken is on the Montreal Metro to Saint Lawrence River where he plans to drown himself. He has battled depression and anxiety since adolescence and having only “The withering ember of dreams” left he decides this is the time and place to end things.

He falls asleep and wakes when the train reaches what he thinks is the terminus of the line and, indeed, it is a terminus, just not what he expects. At the top of the stairs he passes through a formidable turnstile gate that grants “permission to exit only”. He finds himself alone in a dull grey brutalist concrete station. There is no exit to an outbound train, only a labyrinth of halls. He meets a caustic and dismissive woman and together they explore. Unfortunately they aren’t together long.

Vicken finds himself “...denied a destination, caught in a transitional environment, a space between beginning and an end”. What is this place? My thought was that this is a form of purgatory, that Vicken could find a way out by sifting through his memories, searching for meaning, exploring what it means to be himself. Instead is alone, isolated from any community, experiencing an existential, often surreal horror. I took the labyrinthine halls as a metaphor for endless despair, no way out. Would Vicken have the courage to leave if presented with a possible exit or is he doomed to remain trapped within himself?

Coup de Grâce is a remarkable book that challenges the reader. This is the most difficult book I’ve read in a while. Read through to the; the author makes a stylistic shift that is pretty neat.

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.