Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

54 reviews

antares's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

after exactly a month, i’ve finished my journey/experience/fever-dream of House of Leaves. 

and holy shit, did i love it. i have way too many thoughts and notes to even summarize my adoration and analysis  here but it was right up my alley.

of course, this is not a book for everyone—This is not for you. but if you’re a fan of ergodic literature, academic criticism, and long-winded hedonistic stream-of-consciousnesses, and if you know what you’re in for, then i would recommend it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Sexism, and War

pourrir's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really loved this book, and for a couple of reasons.
First, Danielewski really pokes fun at dense, useless academic writing by presenting the neverending footnotes, side-subjects, and haughty language as the ramblings of Zampano. It made reading the text fun, to gleefully skip past lists of fake names, books, magazine articles, and interviews that have never existed and are used only to frame the story.
Also, the formatting was used to further the suspense or the theme of each chapter perfectly, making it an engaging read. I could understand why some may not like this book, as it was challenging to follow at times (jumping back and forth through the text) but was so worth it. 
Without getting into what actually happens, I really enjoyed that there was a satisfying ending (imo) to both the Navidson story and Johnny's story. At any moment I honestly expected Zampano's transcript to just end, leaving the ending even more ambiguous than it already is. 

Also, filling out the content warning section of this review made me realize how messed up this book is.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and War

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was a real challenge to finish and that's coming from someone who is used to reading big books. The main story told through the Navidson Record may have been one of the best horror stories I have ever read and easily deserves 5 stars. Unfortunately, I did not care much for Johnny's story and his ramblings and even though I'm used to reading academic papers, at times this was just too much, drawing me completely out of the story. The ending fell a bit flat to me and some of the appendices also felt pointless or remained unexplained. Still, the genius of the Navidson Record prevents me from giving it a score lower than a 3.5.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape

turtleneck's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Exhaustively ambitious and a mammoth task to read. Sometimes I would be irate as I read because of how many times it changes layout and style. But I wouldn't be a member of the 'Finished House of Leaves' Club if it didn't claw my interest. And I wouldn't be thinking non-stop about it if the story wasn't gripping or effective (and affective [1]).

---
1. The reader of House of Leaves fails to mention that it is the The Whalestoe Letters, included in the second edition of the book caused her to inconsolably weep.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Medical trauma, and Infidelity

alylentz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book, but I do know I really respect what it does and can see why so many people love it. Personally, I think you're going to get the most out of it if you really commit with a lot of effort, including multiple rereads and reading theories online, and I'm just not really in a place to do that right now (and to be frank, it grab me enough to do so). I still enjoyed it and found it worthwhile, but it is definitely not a book I would recommend to everyone just on the simple fact that it is intentionally frustrating and intimidating. Additionally, I think there are some classic misogynistic early 2000s horror elements to this that make it lose a little bit of its shine when reading it today. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Sexism, and Misogyny

lauraorourke's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I don't even know where to start with this book! I am so glad I read it! It took me about 50 pages to really start nerding out over the book. If you're only looking for a good story, I wouldn't suggest tackling House of Leaves. But if you're interested in being taken on a reading journey or if you've ever studied (postmodern) literature and want to get back into that frame of mind, this is a book that you absolutely can't miss!

House of Leaves can only be read in physical book form. That's because the experience of reading this book is SO physical. You aren't just given a story of a house of horror. The act of reading the book itself will take you into the house, slowing you down, speeding you up, getting you lost, making you dizzy. It is that which makes this reading experience so unique, and so exciting.

House of Leaves is a multi-layered experience. In the centre is a house and a family living in that house. They discover that the inside of the house seems to be larger than the measurements on the outside. The experience of living in, and exploring that house was turned into a film, which another man spends his life trying to understand. He compiles everything he can about this film and this family, all the academic and media mentions. When he dies, a third man discovers his work, which is in fragments in an old trunk. He begins making sense of all the pieces, and putting it together, giving it order. However, regardless of the degree of separation, it seems like everyone is being haunted by this house.

My library book copy is full of post-it annotations. I found myself entirely enthralled by this book, the way it made me think and feel and reflect and fall into the house. This book is not for everybody, but I hope it's for you. Because it's nothing like other books.

(At the moment I'm rating this 4 stars. I feel like the story is 3 stars and the way the book is written is 5 stars. But I know that even the slow parts of the story (not all of it is slow!) has a purpose, and I may eventually bring this book up to a 5 star read. I have to see how long I nerd out over it, I suppose.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Cancer and Vomit

jerusha's review

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, Blood, Addiction, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Child abuse

Minor: Ableism, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Child death, and Cancer

gingerkathrynreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

One of the most frustrating things I've ever read! Had it not been a Literally Dead Bookclub pick, I wouldn't have picked this up by myself, and would certainly have DNF'd hundreds of pages ago. Some parts I absolutely loved, to a 5 star level, and other parts I hated, so it comes at a weird average 3.

I was really gripped by the story of the Navidson Record, and couldn't get enough of those sections of the novel, but was frequently and repeatedly irritated by the lengthy interruptions from footnotes, in particular those from Johnny Truant. At times it felt like I was reading two completely separate stories, and personally I didn't get much at all from Johnny's, as it was too graphically violent and uncomfortably sexual (I had to start skipping huge sections).

However - I know I'm going to enjoy reading other peoples' thoughts and theories online (which ultimately feels like the aim of this book, over providing us solid answers) and I enjoyed it's experimentation with genre, medium and the sheer feat of Danielewski having written this book. I wish I had studied this in a literature class, because I felt like that's what it needed for me to get all I could out of it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

kukushka's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

otherworlds's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. This book is disorienting and haunting in the best kind of way. It re-envisions the concept of horror itself, subverting expectations of the genre in a terrifying way reminiscent of half-remembered nightmares. It puts words to that wordless instinctual fear of the dark, the impossible, the unknown and unknowable. At the heart of this story, though, is intertwining narratives of trauma, grief, and love.

I highly recommend it! That being said, please heed the trigger warnings and take care of yourself while reading this book. It's very graphic and upsetting at times, especially if you're already prone to derealization or paranoia.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, Islamophobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Incest, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Blood and Suicide

Minor: Animal death

Unreality and paranoia. May be triggering for psychotic/dissociative readers.