Rating: 
Summary: Still spooks me
Review: As other reviewers have mentioned, of the two stories here, one succeeds quite brilliantly and the other doesn't. The whole Johnny Truant thing was tiresome, repetitive, bombastic, and self-involved. I skimmed a lot of it.But the Navidson record was fantastic. One of my all-time favorite haunted-house stories. Some truly creepy moments that I still (months later) think about and that still make the hairs on the back of my head stir. Like the endless bicycle ride down, and down, and...
Rating:
Summary: Are you afraid of the dark?
Review: This is quite possibly the scariest book I have ever read. There is definitely no need for visuals here, your own imagination will be enough. I am actually starting to fear my closets.
Rating: 
Summary: ambitious... too ambitious for its own good
Review: I picked up The House of Leaves, quite honestly, because of not only the storyline, but also the unique design of the book itself. As I read through it, I realized that, of the two, what I liked more was the storyline. My guess is that the author's idea was that, rather than just write a horror story, he should do something original with the book in order to make it appeal to the critics and the intillectuals, thus the bizarre frameworks. Probably the most annoying aspect of the book was the footnotes by Johnny Truant. It was rather frustrating to be smoothly going through the normal text and suddenly be ripped out of the narrative into another narrative that I didn't care much about. Rather than skip over it, I wanted to be sure I read all of it, so I could be fair in reviewing the novel. The only truly good part concerning that character was the introduction, which basically dares you to read the book at the risk of your own sanity. To be truthful, I would have enjoyed a traditional narrative myself. I understand that many people like it because of its bizarre setup, however I feel it only works if you're able to question whether or not it's true. Since, for legal and logical reasons, the reader can discover it's not (e.g., the cover of the hardcover version, which has a note by either Zampano or Johnny Truant to himself in which he wonders whether or not to rewrite the book so that two of the characters are killed). That said, however, I enjoyed the story within the story (within the story?) of The House of Leaves. It was a creepy haunted house plot that was much more frightening than even the traditional spirits-roaming-dark-halls stuff. It became less frightening as the story went on, but it had me scared of the dark for a few nights.
Rating: 
Summary: this is not a book
Review: I picked this book up one afternoon at Rizzoli in the WFC, and felt cheated. This was not the book I was looking for. This was something else - not a book, more like a journey, with a cacaphony of voices bleating off the pages. I didn't know about the reviews, the prizes, the nominations. All I knew was I needed something to do while waiting for a friend to finish her damn meeting and come down for lunch, and figured burning some time in a bookstore would be a good thing, since I had a 2 hour flight to JAX in 4 hours. I knew something was wrong after the first 3 chapters, after I got up from my aisle seat and got lost in the plane's restroom.
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Summary: Bizzare and innovative...
Review: This is unlike anything I've ever read! It is definately worth cheecking out if you want something different and fascinating. You've never seen anything like this before, and it's very spooky...
Rating:
Summary: Surface readers need not apply
Review: Make no mistake about it. This book will challenge you to dig for meaning and wrestle with the words. Your efforts will be rewarded. Not perfect, but it will make ya think.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing story that eventually drowns in its own gimmicks
Review: Equal parts intriguing, chilling, funny, maddening, gimmicky, annoying, pretentious, and boring, I'd have to say at the end of the day I really can't recommend "House of Leaves" except as a noble but failed experimental effort. What starts out well becomes increasingly frustrating as the author turns from footnotes to foreign languages to braille to redactions to strange fonts and colors and peculiar typography and photo-montages that invariably struck me as just so much showing off. I could almost see Danielewski swinging from the monkey bars shouting "Look Mom, look at me!" Which is a shame, becaue the core of the book is solid and interesting, but it all eventually falls apart under the weight of so many gimmicks. The author was much more impressed with himself than I was, and I can only hope that in the future he'll trust his own command of a good story paired with good writing and leave the gimmicks for prop comics like Gallagher.
Rating:
Summary: House of Leaves
Review: While I'm not usually a big fan of the horror genre, I found this book to be excellent. While initially it can be a bit of a struggle navigating between what is in essence two narratives, eventually this becomes one of the most intriguing features of the novel. There is a great balance struck as I found my interest level shifting back and forth between what is in essence two very different stories. While not drop dead scary, some of the more subtle images created by the author are the ones that stay with you and create the mood. I would recommend it highly, but be patient with the somewhat obtrusive print style in parts (although that does add to the effect nicely). Overall excellent and an extremely creative project.
Rating:
Summary: Fear of the Dark
Review: I used to be scared of the dark, till maybe I was six. I mean scared. I wouldn't go upstairs without someone else; if my sister tried to sneak up without me, I'd run after her. Well. Twelve years later, I find myself running past the dark rooms in my House and keeping the light on till I can fall asleep.
This book will turn your pages. Some people argue that there's meaningless footnotes and praise for this book derives from the format of the text -- well, if you're only looking at the surface, you won't enjoy it -- be shaken by it? -- as fully as you should.
Sure, I rushed through all that blab on old man Z and even Johnny Truant for the House. What makes this book so horrific, including the formatting and nonsentical footnotes, is the House. What makes it so fearsome is the fact that this isn't about some monster running after you -- the House itself is the thing to fear. Unhuman, emotionless, yet utterly beastial.
Creature darkness, indeed. Although it might take some patience (this from an impatient person), the book is well worth the read if you ignore just the surface of it; like a well, there's a lot more depth below your reflected face.
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Summary: Thomas Pynchon Meets H.P. Lovecraft
Review: What a cool book! It is extraordinarily hypnotic. I really liked all the footnotes and "faux" book and journalistic sources. Danielewski creates a mirror-image world of our own, with just enough cracks in the mirror to produce a sense of horror. (The phoney Camille Paglia quotes are priceless.)
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