House of Leaves

I didn’t find House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski hard to read. Yes that’s how I’m opening my review. I’ve seen pictures of copies of the book with a bunch of those colored sticky bookmarks poking out. Real fans will say that you’re supposed to do that to narplay the dudes exploring the house. Maybe I’m used to holding text in my head because I often read while simulatneously moving my hands. (I’m a magician.) Maybe I’m built different or maybe I just missed out on like 99% of the book.

House of Leaves is about a man who is attempting to piece together a manuscript about a film by William Navidson of him exploring his creepy, creepy house. Very fun read. Horror writing tends to be more about the feels than plot and this book definitely delivers on that experience.

A lot of internet people don’t really like the Truant footnotes with all the sex and drugs but I think they are necessary to counterbalance the academic writing style of the Navidson Record. The Navidson Record being a scholarly review is necessary as a vehicle to describe the contents of the movie (which allows it to be constructed in the reader’s imagination while remaining fictional) but presents a set of disadvantages. It denies the reader the ability to do their own critical thinking by exlicitly suggesting ideas about symbolism and speulating on the motivations of the characters. The given analysis of the film, however, is actually quite good and surprisingly funny. I will be reading John Hollander’s The Figure of Echo.

There are some parts I think could have been cut.

There was a section about doing scientific analysis on the materials of the wall which showed the house was older than the universe which I don’t think added anything to the lore. IMO, the fragments of the house should have disappered in the real world to mirror items from the real world disappearing when in the house.

I also didn’t like the idea that the book exists within its own story. The scene where Navidson was burning the pages of the book he already read for light to read the next page was pretty cool but I think it could have been another book. It also didn’t make sense for a guy who’s trying to exploremaxx to bring a heavy book. The part with the narrator and the musicians also wasn’t that interesting or meaningful idk.

There’s some violence and sex so if you don’t like that don’t read the book. But if you’re ok with it I do think reading this book was a good experience and I would recommend it. Definitely worth taking a look even if you don’t end up enjoying it.

If this blog post gets 1,000 Updanielewskis magic simp will turn into a modern lit blog.