Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: A review

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading this book. Even a third of the way through, I still wasn't sure. A labyrinthine world of endless halls filled with statues and inhabited by two living humans and thirteen dead bodies? Is this The World or is it a construct of a greater world that exists outside the labyrinth? And if it is only a piece of a greater world, who built it and why? And where is that "greater world"? Our narrator does not know the answers to these questions. He remembers nothing before the labyrinth, not even his own name. The second human in the labyrinth, referred to as the Other, calls him Piranesi, but he does not believe that is his true name. Piranesi is perfectly happy and content in his labyrinthine House. He sees the House as an entirely good entity that provides him with everything he needs to survive. There is one problem which Piranesi must face in regard to the House: Its lower levels are periodically flooded by tides from...