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Mark Z. Danielewski: House Of Leaves

Any thoughts on this book? I felt the base story was very chilling, but the double layer of narrators on top of it was fatiguing. Kind of like Victor, Victoria. A story pretending to be a memoir pretending to be another memoir.
 
I absolutely loved House of Leaves, so was eager to pick up Only Revolutions. To be honest, that one made no sense to me.
 
I made it through House of Leaves, It did take me a while, because I had to read it a bit at a time. it was certainly not a book that I had trouble putting down.

Of course, I generally do not read to think. I read to be entertained. (there are exceptions, of course, I try to force at least one 'intelligent' novel on myself a month) This book was right on the cusp for me, and while I don't mind the thinky stuff, it will not hold my attention as well as the non-thinky books. :rolleyes:

I enjoyed it. To me it seemed almost like not only was there a fourth wall AND an unreliable narrator, but there was also an implied fifth wall (the minotaur as threat to reader), whatever the heck that means. I am a complete sucker for a crossover of any kind, and this one was close enough for me to think of it as such. THe other thing I liked was that, by complete coincidence, several of the OTHER books I was reading at the time either had something in common with HOL, or with each other. Being the creepiness lover that I am, I loved that, in a goosebumps up the arms sort of way.

OR, on the other hand, I wanted to throw against the wall.... a bittersweet moment, as it was the library's copy, and while I was denied the satisfaction of book abuse, I was glad it was not my money that had purchased it.
 
House of Leaves.

I'm 18 years old and really do not like reading. I'm going to be enrolling into college here in about a year, and i'm already dreading the thought of being required to read.

A few of my good friends had been baggin' on me to read the book House of Leaves. I kept refusing to read it, but after constant bickering, I finally decided to give it a shot. I had one of them lend it to me about two weeks ago, and have been reading it in my spare time.

Well, I just barely finished the book earlier tonight, and I can honestly say that I really, really enjoyed that book. That was the first book that I have read on my OWN personal choice in years. I really enjoyed the fact that it's a horror book, but at the same time, it's a supernatural, strange horror book. Not the typical old zombie, vampire, beast horror book. (I really hate those things. Those are always the type of horror books they make you read in school). I enjoyed the fact that I could relate to is so much, (at least to Johnny Truant).

If you're a fan of the book, House of Leaves like I am, what are some other books that I should look into? I'm realling enjoying the fact that there actually ARE books out there that I can read and actually enjoy a lot.

Please, if anyone has some other reads that are similar to House of Leaves, let me know!



Johnny.
 
houseofleaves said:
If you're a fan of the book, House of Leaves like I am, what are some other books that I should look into? I'm realling enjoying the fact that there actually ARE books out there that I can read and actually enjoy a lot.

Please, if anyone has some other reads that are similar to House of Leaves, let me know!

Johnny.
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Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason by Joyce Atkinson and Kristine Atkinson with description here:

Amazon.com: Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason: Joyce Atkinson, Kristine Atkinson: Books

Sounds like different genre, but it has a similar pasted-up format to House of Leaves that might be just what you are looking for.

Hope it works for you, and good luck with your reading. Keep at it. You'll find good ones. :)
 
In an odd fact about this novel, a very small portion of it appears in spoken form on the 2000 Poe album Haunted, in the form of a song entitled Hey Pretty. Poe is the author's sister, and the author reads the portion of the book in the song himself.

It's an interesting listen for fans of the book, and worth checking out.
 
That album is great. There is also the song "5 & 1/2 Minute Hallway".

Poe is Danielewski's sister. I think I heard that they toured the US together promoting both the book and album.
 
My boyfriend give me a copy of this book, he loved it. I wasn't so sure and it took me ages to get into it but I'm glad I did.

I wouldn't call it a horror novel though. It's American Gothic at its finest but its more about disturbing the reader's sense of place and reality. Maybe it's a 'disturb' novel.:star4:
 
I wanted to like this novel... I really did. I knew it would be huge so I bought 6 signed copies from Amazon when it first came out and did very well selling them after the book hit but as for reading the book. I tried several times. I just felt like the author was so enamoured with his own uniqueness that the book and storyline fell all over the place. I frankly found it irritating and it is one of the very few books I have ever started and not finished... I just kept getting pissed off! :devil:
 
gonewiththewind said:
I wanted to like this novel... I really did. I knew it would be huge so I bought 6 signed copies from Amazon when it first came out and did very well selling them after the book hit but as for reading the book. I tried several times. I just felt like the author was so enamoured with his own uniqueness that the book and storyline fell all over the place. I frankly found it irritating and it is one of the very few books I have ever started and not finished... I just kept getting pissed off! :devil:
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If the quote in your signature means you're a Borges fan then I'm surprised you didn't like House of Leaves! It contains a lot of the stuff Borges used in his work: reviewing non-existent books, labyrinths, nature of reality and probably other stuff that I can't remember (read the book over a year ago).

And to everyone who didn't like Johnny Truants story, you should definitely try to push on. The last part of his story combined with the whalestoe letters in the appendix are the best parts of the book imho. Really changes the way you look at the rest of the story.
 
Its a good book, right enough, but the footnotes were a pain in the arse. Its like Traunt or whatever his name is cant let the story run without trying to steal the limelight with his big footnotes. I just read the story and ignore him.
 
Thanks Fed, Appalling,
Your detailed suggestions will help when I ever get around to trying the book again.
 
Have finally taken House of Leaves off the shelf and started reading it. Decided to do it in layers. Finished the top layer (the Navidson Record) and am now starting into Johnny Truant's footnotes. Searched for this thread to see what others have said, and I can relate to most of the comments here. Looking forward to the end, I expect I will be glad to have read the book, mainly to say that I have read it. So far, it has seemed like pretty thin soup, except for one dramatic sequence down in the cave and the final trove of letters from Johnny Truant's mother. After this much effort I expect that I'll put together a review to provide an organized critique.
Now to continue reading.
Anyone else read it recently?
 
Gabrielle Ray said:
It would make a terrible film: no director could really get to grips with it.
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I agree it would be a challenge. But I think Memento, Inception, Last Year at Marienbad, even the simpler Shutter Island, and also the TV series Lost, all have enough structural points of similarity with House of Leaves to suggest that it would not be at all impossible. Whether the resulting film might be terrible, or simply challenging, I think would come to depend on the director. So far, I don't think that the layering of points of view and plot lines is that-all complicated in Leaves, and it would be iinteresting to see how such a project might turn out.
Cheers!
 
Peder said:
Have finally taken House of Leaves off the shelf and started reading it. Decided to do it in layers. Finished the top layer (the Navidson Record) and am now starting into Johnny Truant's footnotes. Searched for this thread to see what others have said, and I can relate to most of the comments here. Looking forward to the end, I expect I will be glad to have read the book, mainly to say that I have read it. So far, it has seemed like pretty thin soup, except for one dramatic sequence down in the cave and the final trove of letters from Johnny Truant's mother. After this much effort I expect that I'll put together a review to provide an organized critique.
Now to continue reading.
Anyone else read it recently?
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Thou art wise.
 
dsm32 said:
Thou art wise.
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Many thanks. Thou art generous. :)

I'm still mired in Johnny Truant's footnotes, which don't start out particularly promising. Afterward, I may finally get to all the other stuff of clippings and composite pages, but so far they haven't ignited any interest in the corner of my eye as I pass by.
But, we shall see; and I will finish.

In the meantime, though, I will say that the Navidson Record was absolutely fascinating. Written in the form of a scholarly journal article, complete with footnotes, cross-references and quotations from respected living figures, there are places where one could completely believe that it was an authentic non-fiction account of a real-life event. Impressive writing, I would say.
 
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