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juliezantopoulos's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
5.0
Okay, forming thoughts after finishing this book is difficult. I have thoughts, feelings, and questions. I have feelings about my questions, questions about my feelings, and I doubt my own thoughts. I have more questions that when I started and more answers than I hope to find. Legit, nothing makes sense. lol.
It was a ride. It was an immersive reading experience (if you let it be) and you have to be willing to go on the journey or I don't think you'll get out of it what you should. You have to commit to the puzzles and the decoding to the anxiety and the uncertainty when reading it. You have to let your sink just a little bit into the madness of it all if you want to take from this book all that you can.
That being said, I'm sure there are nuances of this book that I missed, parts of it that were over my head scientifically or spiritually and that's okay. I enjoyed the hell out of this book and was deeply impacted by it in several ways. The writing methods used were brilliant. They unsettled the reader, made them keep pace and focus on things, caused anxiety and panic where needed. I was in awe of it even when it frustrated the hell out of me.
The House is a living character in this book. The "characters" are real and flawed and broken and beautiful (though I strongly believe the kids should be locked away cause they ain't right!). I became invested in all of them, in their past, present, and futures. I was sufficiently creeped out, shaken, and terrified at parts of this story and frustrated and confused at others.
I understand how Z and Johnny come into play in this book, how they're needed to help tell the story but quite honestly, whatever message was meant to be sent with Johnny's storyline was lost on me. For his part in this book, I knocked off a star. His descent into paranoia and madness definitely added to my own feelings of the same but I ended up skim reading so much of his inner dialogue due to disinterest or frustration over three page long run on sentences. I didn't ignore or totally not read, I feel I still understood his story, but I definitely didn't pay as close attention to him as I did Navy and the House.
This was a ride, guys, a seriously insane ride and I think everyone should go on it! If you do, definitely tweet @according2jewls and let me know!
TW for violence, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, and high-stress anxiety (I legit think if you already have anxiety this could set you off if you go deep into this story like I think you should). That said, I have anxiety and I was ok during the reading but breaks were needed.
Additional thoughts after re-read in 2021
I am changing the rating to 5 stars. As a reader, I could see what Mark did with Johnny's POV after a little reflection. As a writer, I am constantly blown away by the detail and attention that went into this novel. The theories, sites, redit threads all dedicated to the book and the mindset of the readers is so impressive. It is an absolute masterpiece.
I noticed so much the second read through that I didn't recognize in the first reading. Things that I may have highlighted but not fully understood the importance of. I'm walking away with such a different understanding of this book than I had the first time. I can't believe that I thought Johnny's POV was the weakest part of the story before, when at the heart of this book beats Johnny and his mother's relationship. I have never been so crushed by a novel as I was in the last large footnote by Johnny. I have no words if what I believe happened at the end of this book actually happened. None.
This book is by far and away the most annotated and tabbed book on my shelves.
It was a ride. It was an immersive reading experience (if you let it be) and you have to be willing to go on the journey or I don't think you'll get out of it what you should. You have to commit to the puzzles and the decoding to the anxiety and the uncertainty when reading it. You have to let your sink just a little bit into the madness of it all if you want to take from this book all that you can.
That being said, I'm sure there are nuances of this book that I missed, parts of it that were over my head scientifically or spiritually and that's okay. I enjoyed the hell out of this book and was deeply impacted by it in several ways. The writing methods used were brilliant. They unsettled the reader, made them keep pace and focus on things, caused anxiety and panic where needed. I was in awe of it even when it frustrated the hell out of me.
The House is a living character in this book. The "characters" are real and flawed and broken and beautiful (though I strongly believe the kids should be locked away cause they ain't right!). I became invested in all of them, in their past, present, and futures. I was sufficiently creeped out, shaken, and terrified at parts of this story and frustrated and confused at others.
I understand how Z and Johnny come into play in this book, how they're needed to help tell the story but quite honestly, whatever message was meant to be sent with Johnny's storyline was lost on me. For his part in this book, I knocked off a star. His descent into paranoia and madness definitely added to my own feelings of the same but I ended up skim reading so much of his inner dialogue due to disinterest or frustration over three page long run on sentences. I didn't ignore or totally not read, I feel I still understood his story, but I definitely didn't pay as close attention to him as I did Navy and the House.
This was a ride, guys, a seriously insane ride and I think everyone should go on it! If you do, definitely tweet @according2jewls and let me know!
TW for violence, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, and high-stress anxiety (I legit think if you already have anxiety this could set you off if you go deep into this story like I think you should). That said, I have anxiety and I was ok during the reading but breaks were needed.
Additional thoughts after re-read in 2021
I am changing the rating to 5 stars. As a reader, I could see what Mark did with Johnny's POV after a little reflection. As a writer, I am constantly blown away by the detail and attention that went into this novel. The theories, sites, redit threads all dedicated to the book and the mindset of the readers is so impressive. It is an absolute masterpiece.
I noticed so much the second read through that I didn't recognize in the first reading. Things that I may have highlighted but not fully understood the importance of. I'm walking away with such a different understanding of this book than I had the first time. I can't believe that I thought Johnny's POV was the weakest part of the story before, when at the heart of this book beats Johnny and his mother's relationship. I have never been so crushed by a novel as I was in the last large footnote by Johnny. I have no words if what I believe happened at the end of this book actually happened. None.
This book is by far and away the most annotated and tabbed book on my shelves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide
mosslover's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm not even sure what to say in this rating -- the book was dense, confusing, full of characters we either don't like it don't get a chance to connect to and YET there's so many incredibly beautiful passages and haunting moments that make me reluctant to give it any less than a 5. My advice is to read it only if you're feeling adventurous. Also: I read it as an ebook, but I picked up that I was missing a lot of stylization etc available in the print version so I'd recommend you get a physical copy if you can.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault
rebeckareads's review
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Rated 9.2 using the CAWPILE rating system.
I'm still nursing a book hangover after finishing House of Leaves last night, so I'll try and make this review brief(er then the book itself).
Cosmic horror and ergodic literature are both things I have a weak spot for (if done correctly). That combined with the fact that I suffer from claustrophobia, resulted in this being a very tense, challenging read for me. It would have been a solid 5 star read for me but... I don't know, something just rubbed me the wrong way about
UPDATE 22nd July 2021: I just watched NightMind's video series analysing HoL; it made my jaw drop and up my rating to 5 solid stars. It basically did all the hard work for me and made me understand and analyse the book in a different way. Now I desperately want to re-read and annotate this. (The first part of NightMind's series can be found here: https://youtu.be/kfVztT3UeYw)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity and Rape
parttimerarebookdealer's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide
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