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kjboldon 's review for:
House of Leaves
by Mark Z. Danielewski
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a book that young dudes will find profound. I am a grown-ass woman. It is not profound. It is sexist, immature, humorless, and purposefully difficult to read. If you are super into any of the things that it's doing, you might enjoy this book: a traumatized young man coming of age story, a slow burn horror story about an evil house, a philosophical foray into signs and meaning, and a satire on academic writing. But if it's a satire, why is it so humorless? OK, the scene when the teacher goes to the house to find out why the kids' art is so effed up, and finds them in the midst of blood and screaming? That was funny.
Of all the things it attempted, I found the slow burn horror story the most interesting. It was seriously unsettling until it became tedious. And in that horror story, I thought the character of the regular-guy brother Tom was well drawn.
I feel like Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation trilogy owes a lot to this book, as does the show Lost. It shares some DNA with Blair Witch Project, too. And it owes more than a little to Infinite Jest, what with the footnotes as well as the "what's real and not," and "what is influencing what"?
The horror story, and this book, go on so long that I stopped caring. The women characters are most often treated as sex objects. The character of Karen is slut shamed, objectified, and belittled for her mental health issues and for not wanting her husband to go into the weird part of the house. But he keeps going back beyond reason. Justice for Karen!
I read to the end only because someone I care about asked me to read this book. If not for that, I would have given up long before. It is too much work to read given that none of the elements engaged me. I saw the "aha" it manufactured, and I wasn't impressed.
My advice is if you're going to read it, just focus on the house story and Johnny's story. Skip the footnotes and many of the weird typographical flourishes. The reason most people find it profound is for the relation between the two stories.
Of all the things it attempted, I found the slow burn horror story the most interesting. It was seriously unsettling until it became tedious. And in that horror story, I thought the character of the regular-guy brother Tom was well drawn.
I feel like Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation trilogy owes a lot to this book, as does the show Lost. It shares some DNA with Blair Witch Project, too. And it owes more than a little to Infinite Jest, what with the footnotes as well as the "what's real and not," and "what is influencing what"?
The horror story, and this book, go on so long that I stopped caring. The women characters are most often treated as sex objects. The character of Karen is slut shamed, objectified, and belittled for her mental health issues and for not wanting her husband to go into the weird part of the house. But he keeps going back beyond reason. Justice for Karen!
I read to the end only because someone I care about asked me to read this book. If not for that, I would have given up long before. It is too much work to read given that none of the elements engaged me. I saw the "aha" it manufactured, and I wasn't impressed.
My advice is if you're going to read it, just focus on the house story and Johnny's story. Skip the footnotes and many of the weird typographical flourishes. The reason most people find it profound is for the relation between the two stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria