Reviews

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

sklus's review against another edition

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2.0

Weird, and not in a good way (at least for me). I liked the formatting and the frame story, but I didn't really care about the narrator/editor/book-compiler's story. Both were filled with misogyny so that bumped it down from a 3-star to a 2-star book. Whole sections of the book-compiler's rantings were devoted to the women he had sex with, who were only in the book as sex objects. Even Karen, a character in the frame story and the only female main character in the book, was only really there to be promiscuous and suffer.

Also, no one should be exposed to the horrors of fictional academia and this book was filled with annotations and discourse. Disgusting. Real academic papers are not fun to read, why would you put it into a book meant for entertainment??? Another small thing that bothered me was the amount of white space throughout the book. I know it was meant to tell part of the story, but I couldn't help thinking it felt more like a waste of paper than anything meaningful.

gkaltam's review

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

1.0

pennergy's review

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

4.0


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warmrats's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

emiliakongshaug's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative 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

4.5

just_julio's review against another edition

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

5.0


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sunn_bleach's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0


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khalypsomoon's review against another edition

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4.5

Best love story I’ve ever read

calmar46's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense

4.25

matchamademoiselle's review against another edition

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4.0

La Maison des feuilles c'est trois histoires qui s’imbriquent, s’enlacent et fusionnent au point d’être indissociables.

C'est un challenge à part entière auquel il faut rester solidement accroché au risque de perdre pied et de lâcher le pavé.

J'ai adoré tourner le livre dans tout les sens, voyager à travers les pages de cet objet à la structure atypique.

Je voulais vraiment découvrir les secrets de cette maison et de la famille qui en a fait les frais, connaître l'issue de cette histoire, des explications...

D'autant plus que l'exploitation du thème de la folie et la réflexion sur la frontière entre le réel et l’imaginaire sous des formes variées et complexes étaient géniales.

Mais les passages indigestes m'ont dégoûtée. 800 pages dont la forme dessert parfois le fond (je n'en pouvais plus des notes de bas de page), c'est long. J'ai trop souvent eu l'impression de lire une caricature de branlette intellectuelle pompeuse et inutile.

Et puis les enfants ne servent pratiquement à RIEN.

En terminant je n'ai pas pu me détacher de la désagréable impression d’une promesse non tenue, un livre trop compliqué pour ce que c'est, une expérience contraignante et exigeante, qui demande beaucoup mais donne peu.

Je reconnais le travail engagé par l'auteur et les éditeurs (j'ai de la peine pour vous) mais je suis passée à côté du chef-d'œuvre.