House of Leaves : A novel

Rating:
Summary: With or without gimmicks, its great story... mostly
Review: Is the book filled with gimmicks? Yes. Do they overpower the story? That's more complicated. This is really two stories: The Navidson Record and Johnny Truant. Can either of these stand alone as a good story? The Navidson Record can. Truant's cannot as it is about his reaction to the former. While I was fascinated by the Navidson Record, Truant became a chore. His long monologues and gratuitous sexual encounters were at first interesting but soon became a burden. I skimmed a good chunk of them. As for the hundreds of footnotes... In the context of the narrative style of The Navidson Record I found them to be fine. The Navidson Record is what would happen if Jorge Luis Borges sat down with Clive Barker to write a novel about a haunted house. Zampano, the fictive author of The Navidson Record, is even an old blind man -- just like Borges. Truant, on the other hand, is what happens when a creative writing student tries to write an edgy, hip horror story. He's an L.A. partier going nowhere. The styles contrast too much. It's like listening to Bach interspersed with Faster Pussycat or any of a million other LA rock bands now confined to the $2.99 bargain bins of your local record store. As soon as you start to get into one it switches to the other. Is this a great literary achievement or is it trash? Who cares? It's different in a genre prone to staleness. If its not by King, Koontz, Barker, or a handful of others -- or about vampires -- then it probably won't get published. Anything to crack that narrow horror market is godsend. Danielewski gets a A+ for research for although many of the footnote references were fictitious many more weren't and some of those works were obscure.

Rating:
Summary: danielewski is brilliant
Review: Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves is one of the single most brilliant works of fiction/psychology i have ever had the good fortune to discover. It can equally be called House of Echoes/ Memories/ Fears and Motives, and like christ's father's house, it has many rooms. i think the leaves also refer to layers of your own personal sub/unconscious and (like the original idea behind mantras, mandalas, and maybe religious architecture in general), the book presents a medium to plumb those personal depths. perhaps (one of) the points is that each of us, like the house, is bigger (and deeper, scarier, darker and more unpredictable) on the inside than on the outside. the structure of the narrative creates so many resonances it's like 2 mirrors facing each other reflecting each other's reflection forever. but it's not even the book's narrative, but the journey it sets you on, that is the goal. i also think it is an exceptional piece of self-criticism, epistemological doubt, and satire about the limits, absurdity, and inescapability of over-intellectualizing the world (by a brilliant mind parodying itself). experience it.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been much better
Review: It is just too bad. I really wish that I could say more good things about this book, because I really liked it when I started it, but as I got further and further into it- it lost my interest. The idea is a great one, and the style is a fun for a while (especially the use of different page lay outs) but the endless footnotes lead nowhere. Perhaps that is the point, especially when considering the idea of the novel- but still there just wasn't much in them except to show off how many authors and book titles one person can come up with. So....I can't tell if I really want to recomend this book or not. It began so promising and original but by the end it was boring and uninventive. At least that was how I felt. I rather wish that I had spent the time reading something else now that I look back on it.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent example of form over function.
Review: It's a shame the house on Ash Lane wasn't in New York, as it could have been leased for millions.

Seriously, this is some of the most awful tripe I've ever had the misfortune of reading. The multi-level narrative, when done well, is a literary device meant to keep a reader's interest; however, in this case it only prolongs the banality of the novel. I mean, how many times are you going to be fooled with Truant's hallucinations? After reading "But none of this ever happened" for the nth time, all I could think of was what if it never happened that I plunked down 20 bones for this trash.

And then the footnotes! Just one headache after another contributing little or nothing to the story.

Lord preserve us from erudite pseudo-authors.

Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to me - read the book if you want to read it.
Review: While an excellent book, and a truly awesome work of literature, "House of Leaves" should not be attempted by anyone who is not willing to give reading it a pretty supreme effort. However, any one who has plenty of time and determination (and imagination) will be amazed by this book.

I admitt, "House of Leaves" is trying sometimes. The footnotes everyone is complaining about are sometimes helpful, and sometimes nothing but annoying. Some people complained that the odd layout of the book is obnoxious. While indeed I was getting strange looks from my family as I turned the book over, flipped it upside-down, diagonally, and went rapidly through sections that had only one word per page, that's all part of the fun . . .

There's a lot of unneeded parts to this book, certainly, and there's no real end to the thing. All I can say is that if you have lots of time on your hands, read this book. I know it has changed the way I look at most literature. It has also changed the way I look at the absence of light, and it will be a long time before I walk down any more unknown hallways in the dark.

Rating:
Summary: You don't finish this book, it finishes you
Review: This book messed with my head. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about. When I was reading it, I couldn't concentrate on anything else. This book dug it's claws into me, no joke. Not for the conventional or faint of heart. People who have lost their fear of adventure need not apply. Are you at an age where new and interesting ideas scare you? You wont like this book. Don't like thinking outside the lines? You won't like this book. Like to challenge yourself? YOU'LL LOVE THIS BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: Levels on levels on levels
Review: Take your time with this book. I rushed through it the first time and have regretted it. Half of the fun in the book comes from tracking down references and quotes. (It helps to have multi-lingual friends)

The type-setting can be difficult at times, but that is a deliberate effect. An excellent first book that is well worth the extra effort that it demands.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - but not as original as thought
Review: The story is terrifying and the psychological games played within the book provide the tools to make it very difficult for the reader to know when something is happening and when it isn't. The mix of real and fake sources and information also blurs the line between reality and fiction (intentionally) and the special effects of the text design and book layout are in a class by themselves. They provide the reader with a feel for the experience and situations of the protagonists that is rarely felt in modern fiction (though it is often felt in older fiction and maybe we are too jaded to enjoy good fiction without an extra punch).

I would point out that none of these techniques are new. The mix of fictional and factual sources and information is as old as the foundation of novels in English - Daniel Defoe. The use of textual special effects can be found in "Through the Looking Glass", "Flatland", etc. Psychological confusion has a well-developed history in fiction and is present in horror (The Dark Half; The Haunting of Hill House) as well as other genres (The Double, Don Qixote, etc.). None of that is to take away from the wonders of this book. It is only to try and point out that it isn't what I would call a work of genius (i.e. ultimately creative) - merely one done by a really good, and patient, craftsman.

What gives the book its real punch are the textual special effects. It was their description in the Wall Street Journal that led me to this book and they are what makes it fascinating and an unforgettable experience to read. I do recommend it and I also feel that it does occupy an eminence in modern fiction - but primarily because a great deal of modern fiction is so attenuated by critical theory as to be anemic.

Rating:
Summary: I want a refund!
Review: What a complete waste of time... I'll admit that I did get into it at the beginning and even had trouble sleeping for a couple nights from a slight case of the heebie-jeebies, but my interest proceeded in a downward spiral much like the near-infinite staircase encountered in the Navidson house. I never felt the slightest connection with any of the characters, and became increasingly annoyed with the narrator's ramblings, the overdone explanations, and the style of the book in general. Reading this book became more like a chore, with the only motivation to keep reading being that I'd be able to start a new book as soon as I finished. Though, in the end, this motivation proved to be insufficient... just got too fed up and moved on. This is the first book I've ever not completed, and after delving into something new, my joy of reading immediately returned and made me wish I'd dropped this one along time before I finally did. I went in with high hopes and an open mind, but came out utterly disappointed... save your time and money, and read anything else.

Rating:
Summary: A cut to the chase...
Review: If you look at all the other reviews, they will tell you it all. to tell you the truth, there are really no words to describe the horrifying and psychologicaly taxing experiance you get when reading this. I slept with the light on for two night(this is not a lie!). I finished the book three days ago and I am still obsessing over the end. If you don't read this there is some seriosly wrong with you (but if you're not psychologicaly demented, you will be when you finish reading. I promise). --Write me at [e-mail]-- to talk about this outstanding book.