Have you ever seen something out of the corner of you eye, then realized it was nothing, just a wisp of your imagination? What if I told you that there’s a book that perfectly emulates that feeling and will completely alter your opinions of what a “book” is, right on the shelves of your local library? That book is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, and it’s about to flip your world upside-down.
One look at this book will be enough to make you question the contents. The paperback cover on the front isn’t long enough to actually cover all of the pages! The frontispiece sticks out about a quarter of an inch, making the whole thing look precariously unprotected. Begin reading, and you’ll be in for the ride of a lifetime.
I will not spoil this book, but I will tell you that it’s about a young man, Johnny Truant, who finds out about a dead old man, who wrote a long academic paper on a film about a family who moved into a house in Virginia. The kicker is that this film, entitled “The Navidson Record,” has no record of ever having existed. That’s about as much as I’ll say, but if that already sounds confusing, get ready.
The book begins with an introduction, then chapter one, dense and strange chapter two, then… it progresses into a mess of tangled footnotes, contradicting ideas, extremely verbose commentaries on philosophy and even straight-up lies, all of the time ignoring the conventions of a book’s format, with some words upside down, some smaller than others, some mirrored, changes in font aplenty and some pages almost entirely blank. If that’s not enough, once the narrative part of the book is over, there’s a series of appendices that completely re-contextualize the main character.
Sometimes this book is almost incomprehensible. This is why I can’t give it a ten. Frankly, the prose is so chock-full of pointless intellectualisms that it can sometimes feel like a chore to read. It’s worth slogging through; the ending of the entire book can easily give you chills. If it ever becomes too wild, there are several forums which can help you make sense of this beast (I recommend looking at them after completing the book).
Reading this book with a pad of paper for notes is recommended. Expect to spend at least two weeks slowly chewing through the ghostly prose. I also should warn: the book contains lots of strong language and violent imagery. It’s not a film, but if it were, it’d surely be rated “R.”
One thing about it is for certain. The real meaning behind the book is terribly elusive, but it’s possible that, someday, all of it will just click in your mind. It could be a week after you finish. It could be a year. Or ten. When it finally does, you’ll know why it was written, and you’ll never be happier. Or more scared.
My final verdict: 9/10, well worth your time.
Books similar to this
The Familiar by Mark Z. Danielewski
Tree of Codes by Johnathan Safran Foer
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Albert Angelo by B.S. Johnson