Reviews with content warning for Confinement - House of Leaves

This was a true experience from beginning to end. Between the layers upon layers of narration, the jumping around between footnotes and appendices, and the formatting which mirrors the story as well as deliberately seeks to disorient and confuse the reader, this is easily one of the densest, most demanding books I've ever read. I absolutely loved it.

There are just so many little details in this book, little secrets that are left for the reader to uncover. I definitely did not get everything out of this book that I could've the first time round - this is definitely one that I plan to reread at least once. Maybe I'll reread it when I move out to my own place (whenever that may be), which will either be the best idea I've ever had or the worst. I'm excited to find out.

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jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense 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

5.0

„ ...and there you have it, another body on the floor surrounded by things that don't mean much to anyone except to the one who can't take any of them along.“

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rhizome's review

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challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

holy shit

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alylentz's review against another edition

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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.

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cbarteau's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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lauraorourke's review against another edition

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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.)

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jerusha's review against another edition

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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

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gingerkathrynreads's review against another edition

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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!

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