709 pages
English language
Published May 4, 2000 by Pantheon Books.
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies—the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.
The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is …
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth—musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies—the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.
The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.
I had been recommended this book when I was in high school by some fellow cinephiles, but i’m glad I waited 13 years later to watch it. Metatextuality is so important to me now, and I am so thankful I got to enjoy this book as an adult. Especially after having also gained experience living in LA in my 20’s.
Real cool book. Lots to think about. I thought it would be scarier, based on what people told me about it. It’s really more of a love story. I really liked it, and how much it plays with the structure of a novel. Very “meta!”
Whenever anyone asks me for a recommendation on a book, I give them House of Leaves. As a fan of experimental novels, nervous tension, lingering dread, beautiful and sometimes baffling prose, and reading as a physical experience, this book ticks all my boxes.
I seldom read a book more than once, but I’ve read House of Leaves several times. It’s constructed and printed such that it’s like reading a different book every time. Not a different story, but a different telling of the same story. Reading it the second time was a bit like overhearing the same conversation from the other side of the room, if that makes any sense.
It’s a great book. It’s inventive, challenging, and beautifully terrifying. In movies, they talk about elevated horror. This is an elevated haunted house book in all the right ways.
When I started House of Leaves--three weeks ago--expecting a horror story, and to be sure, there are scary parts, but the central plot is really a love story. There's also some mystery, history, mythology, and philosophy...but let me back up:
A family moves into a house which contains a hallway that is too big to fit into the house. Will Navidson, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist, and his partner, former model Karen Green, have moved to this house in a rural Virginia town with their two children to be together and work on their relationship. Unfortunately, the house comes between them, for awhile...
Navidson becomes obsessed with exploring, photographing, and filming the house, and enlists other professionals to help him. What follows would make a good horror flick. Meanwhile, the claustrophobic Karen wants nothing more than to pack up everything and get them all out of there.
The tale …
When I started House of Leaves--three weeks ago--expecting a horror story, and to be sure, there are scary parts, but the central plot is really a love story. There's also some mystery, history, mythology, and philosophy...but let me back up:
A family moves into a house which contains a hallway that is too big to fit into the house. Will Navidson, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist, and his partner, former model Karen Green, have moved to this house in a rural Virginia town with their two children to be together and work on their relationship. Unfortunately, the house comes between them, for awhile...
Navidson becomes obsessed with exploring, photographing, and filming the house, and enlists other professionals to help him. What follows would make a good horror flick. Meanwhile, the claustrophobic Karen wants nothing more than to pack up everything and get them all out of there.
The tale of this house, referred to as The Navidson Report, was the resulting film. House of Leaves is a commentary on The Navidson Report, written out in a very scholarly fashion by an older man we know only as Zampano, who dies before finishing it. Actually, his notes are a mess, and they are found (that's another story) by a young man named Johnny Truant (Johnny come lately?) who becomes just as obsessed with putting together this story as Navidson was about exploring the house. Oh, and another thing: Truant is never able to find any proof that The Navidson Report or any of the people involved, actually exist.
Down the rabbit hole we go: Zampano included many footnotes, so many that sometimes they will take over the page, especially when these footnotes have footnotes. Truant also footnotes some of Zampano's footnotes. Author Mark Danielewski must have had a lot of fun with this, sometimes attributing quotes about The Navidson Report to famous people, such as Stephen King. There is much humor, and his parody of academic commentary is quite well done.
Johnny Truant does more than add footnotes--something in Zampano's original text will set Truant off on tangents, during which we learn about the downward spiral of his life, which seems to echo a certain dark, downward spiral Navidson experiences. Truant is a most unreliable narrator, and whenever his voice took over, I was never sure what was real and what was nightmare.
But then, this entire novel is intentionally disorienting, and no review would be complete if it didn't mention the way much of the narration of Navidson's exploration of the house is literally disorienting.
conventions are reversed.
on the plot, when normal
to keep one's mind
Sometimes it's hard
Danielewski forces the reader to turn the book in all directions, read in different ways, and chase footnotes. I spent quite a bit of time on one page, decoding a letter from Johnny's mother. It wasn't hard to do, just a bit more demanding to read than my usual fare, and definitely a first in my fiction reading experience. And, by the way, the plot jumps around in the usual way, too.
I find this so mysterious, and have so many questions...and I find that I've added my own notes in the margins...
It's an homage to [a:Borges|500|Jorge Luis Borges|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1389336941p2/500.jpg]! And quite well done, too (at least up to p.50). I'd love to continue reading it but only with the attention and time that it deserves... and I have none of either right now. So, time to create a new bookshelf: deferred. Like to-read but for a future day with fewer time constraints.
Strange book, but amazing.
Johnny Truant searches an apartment for his friend and finds an academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record. This film investigates the phenomenon of the Navidson’s house where the house is larger inside than the outside. Initially it’s less than an inch difference but it keeps growing. The only problem with all of this is there is no evidence of this documentary ever existing. The book House of Leaves is that academic study (with all the footnotes) mixed with Johnny’s interjections, transcripts from the documentary and anything else.
This debut novel of Mark Z. Danielewski tries to mix a horror novel with some romance and satire but it mainly focuses on just how unreliable a narrator can be. I’ll be honest with you; I struggled to work out if I should review this as a piece of literature or as art, so I’ve done both and you …
Johnny Truant searches an apartment for his friend and finds an academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record. This film investigates the phenomenon of the Navidson’s house where the house is larger inside than the outside. Initially it’s less than an inch difference but it keeps growing. The only problem with all of this is there is no evidence of this documentary ever existing. The book House of Leaves is that academic study (with all the footnotes) mixed with Johnny’s interjections, transcripts from the documentary and anything else.
This debut novel of Mark Z. Danielewski tries to mix a horror novel with some romance and satire but it mainly focuses on just how unreliable a narrator can be. I’ll be honest with you; I struggled to work out if I should review this as a piece of literature or as art, so I’ve done both and you can find my art review on Knowledgelost. Danielewski has really come up with a unique idea here, it’s almost the literary equivalent of The Blair Witch Project; there is a lot happening on the pages but the reader never gets a full grasp on what is actually happening.
The first 150 pages of this book were quite enjoyable, there were some funny moments and it gave you a real feel for what was going on. But then everything turns completely weird and I found myself raging and sometimes going insane. This is by no means an easy book to read, more of an exploration in the postmodern idea of Post-structuralism. I don’t pretend to understand postmodern literature but it was interest to see what Mark Z. Danielewski does in this book.
You’ll either love or hate this genre blending novel; for me, I hated the story. I think my wife got more enjoyment out of watching me rage than I did with reading it. House of Leaves is known as Ergodic literature, which requires the reader to navigate the text in a non-traditional way; this is the first time I’ve seen a book like this. Everyone will have a different interpretation of this novel, so I would love to hear what others thought. Also make sure you check my post about this book as an art form.
This post originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2012/11/29/book-of-the-month-house-of-leaves/
The literary equivalent of a 'found footage' horror film (like The Blair Witch project or Cannibal Holocaust), House of Leaves is spooky and inventive and probably my favourite book I've read all year. Its experiments in formalism are clever and complement the story perfectly, helping you engage with the story in a unique way.
I can't recommend it enough. Just terrific.
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