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Summary: Who says plot is the enemy of fiction?
Review: Don't believe -- for good or ill -- the opinions in circulation that equate this book with work by Wallace or Pynchon. It is its very own self, and the bits and pieces copped from (referring to?) DFW (endless footnotes, for example) and TP (the presence of a minor voice named "Chiclitz," for example), suggest more about Danielewski's tastes and methods than they do about his aspirations and intents.I think. At any rate, the amazing thing about this book is that for all of its deconstructive technique and filigreed mannerisms, it manages to tell a direct story in an extremely engaging way. In other words, fear not: A fine narrative lurks in these dark pages.
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Summary: The first book I would publicly rave about on Amazon
Review: This is an incredible book... like an especially intriguing nightmare, where reality is just bent enough for everything to seem off-balance. I cannot say enough good things about it.
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Summary: A rarity
Review: I must admit I am only on page 50 however this is one of the most complex, intelligent, passionate, mathematical and personal novels i have ever ventured into. For anyone who likes to think while they read, who doesn't mind reading passages over and over again to find new meanings, who enjoys a story that creeps under your skin and one that stays with you thru the day and makes you NEED to read... this book is for you. ( I won't bother you with a summary fo the plot as i do not think i could do it justice--but please, check this book out- it's refreshing in the light of so much trash...)
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Summary: Work in Progress
Review: Basically I'll say this: the book is a challenge, and the"no vivifying center" bit he states is sofitting. Admittedly I'm not even through this book yet, but I EXPECTit to have no center because that is the inherent metaphor in and underneath the text. It is, GASP, a metaphor. If House of Leaves is to be described using a Hollywood sell-out "indie film" as a cultural reference as Alexander M Maidy will attempt then those who mistakenly purchase this book will expect the new "less is more" paradigm and won't freakin' enjoy it! As a kid who suffered through William S. Burroughs "Naked Lunch" and was surprised that the film was in some ways better, I can appreciate that the endless footnotes and critical analysis might put off the pulp fiction affectionados but, come on! This book confounds the brain for minutes, meanders between incoherence and sex and sublime juxtopositions to keep you reading. I can't put it down. I guess I AM pretentious. House of Leaves will become an anti-establishment classic on par with anything by Ballard, Burroughs, and perhaps Thompson. If you haven't ever tried to cop a buzz from a stranger and learned what a mistake that can be, don't bother starting now by picking up this book - you won't understand it. As the very first page after the forward states: This is not for you. I unfortunately missed my opportunity to meet the author at his signing. DAMN!
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Summary: A work of staggering talent and imagination
Review: A complex, brilliant work which, as the other reviewers have set forth, can only be compared to Pynchon. House of Leaves is a thoughful, brilliant expansion of the structure of the novel format which challenges the reader and entertains at the same time. Thank God MZD is not wasting his time writing a screenplay, as his staggering talent and imagination should not be confined to 120 pages.
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Summary: A very different tale of horror
Review: Danielewski's book has a very original approach to telling a horror story. While there might be some comparisons to The Blair Witch Project, the book doesn't have that film's immediacy, but fortunately, it also doesn't have its tedious argument scenes. The detached nature of certain parts of HOL's narrative makes this book a little less effective than it might have been -- in other words, there are times when we're reading someone's interpretation of another person's transcript of someone else's home videos -- but the way in which the story is told is fascinating, and there are some genuinely spooky moments. Danielewski employs themes of loss, separation, fear, and love to excellent effect in all three narratives.
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Summary: The new face of fiction is Mark Z. Danielewski
Review: House of Leaves is a literary triumph of the highest order. Centering around a Blair Witch-esque premise of a horrorific entity that cannot be seen, Mark Z. Danielewski gives the world an innovative way to read a novel. Packed with information (fictional and real), Danielewski tries to make the reader doubt whether what they are reading is real or very cleverly written fiction. From the introduction by Johnny Truant to the opening pages of the heart of the novel (the so-called "Navidson Record"), I found myself wondering whether or not Danielewski had come up with one of the most realistic horror novels ever written or one of the best novels ever written. Not as publicized as the recent Stephen King novella "Riding the Bullet," Danielewski's first book should be on magazine covers everywhere. This is a must read for EVERYONE!
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Summary: A New Structure, Built of Leaves
Review: For those of you who've pored over White Wolf's 'Borderlands' anthologies, finished every last Tanith Lee, Clive Barker et. al. book you can get your hands on; for those of you who've heard whispers and, maybe, had a little taste of the new trend in horror, 'imaginiative fiction ...' for everyone who seeks, afraid of what they might find but aware the entire time of the futility of the search ... for those hungry, desperate, and just plain looking for a new good scare ... House of Leaves. Danielewski has prepared for us a vast and crippling epic of horror, more intelligent and incredibly more enjoyable than anything else published to date. This work is simply incredible, and I highly expect to hear much of Danielewski in the coming months and years. Thank you, Mr. Danielewski, for giving us House of Leaves.
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Summary: I Want My Time & Money Back!
Review: Unwisely drawn to architectonic balderdash (the weirder the better), I wanted very much to like this book. Try as I might, I couldn't. Did you ever think you might achieve something truly noteworthy by imitating what others have done with great success, bit by bit assembling your scattered imitations, hoping the end result would justify your borrowed means? Authors do, and I suspect this is what Mark Danielewski has tried to do with House of Leaves. Despite occasional flashes of better than decent writing, it just doesn't work for him. Why? There's no heart here; no vivifying center. The result is a poorly contrived, highly pretentious mess. Don't waste your money and time. Alas, I did.
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Summary: Cult phenomenon or the Next Overhyped Horror Movie?
Review: Yeeeeeesh. . . .watch out if "House" catches on . . . you'll never hear the end of it . . . See, if the people that scripted The Blair Witch Project had an ounce of cerebral fortitude and imagination, they would have made it like this sprawling work of art and not the annoying Real World arguefest that it was. No doubt studios indie and major will be beating down Pantheon's door quickly, as this "film" about a house that's a quaint colonial on the outside, but defies physical and spatial logic on the inside, slowly expanding to a blackened, directionless maze that would make the Winchester Mansion seem like the Unabomber's shack in comparison, BEGS for the Industrial Light and Magic treatment (which, by the way, gets a mention in the footnotes) that usually translates into big box-office numbers. Tell you what, I'd watch it. A movie with this much originality going for it would probably give the horror genre the kick that it desperately needs. The novel's maniacal complexity, horizontal, vertical and flat-out book-shifting footnotes (where the print turns upside-down, referential and mirrored to personify the labyrinthene complexity of the home's . . well . . expansive interior) and poetry-scrapbook layout assures it of never making Oprahs Mainstream Book Club anytime soon (thank GOD). Johnny Truant's acidic narrative of the old blind man's story serves it's purpose as a witty readers guide to the Navidson Record, a grandiose account of building structure, photography, death and the darkness of the human condition. Inevitable Pynchon and Foster Wallace comparisons will sprout up due to the book's length and cavernous depth, but with all of it's mountainous textuals and encyclopedic assault, I surprisingly found House of Leaves to be quite a smooth and easy read (I read it in two days). Unlike Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest, which pound you into submission from Chapter One (that's not to say it's a BAD thing), House actually places emphasis on plot and narrative over the prosaic self-indulgence typical of experimental post-modern fiction. The story itself is very reminiscent of "The Tunnel" by William Gass, only this time the house does the "digging" and not the author. I kind of disagree with Easton-Ellis's back-cover comment about the book "rendering most fiction worthless", since I've been reading books like this for years. But a big hats off to Danielewsi, who sets a new post-modern standard for new authors (and their word-processing programs), and for revitalizing a stagnant genre once and for all.
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