A review by cappuccino136
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense
  • 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

This book is dark, tragic, immersive (if you let it), unsettling. So creepy. Atmospheric. It is also super pretentious. The descriptive writing style and the visual formatting put you in the experience. Overwhelm you with information. My strategy for the info overload was to dump it into a journal. My anxiety was that I would forget something or not notice it. Get hopelessly lost. In the act of journaling to relieve my brain, I shared the experience of Zampano and Johnny as they compulsively wrote and edited this into some sort of shape. I think the final shape will be different for each reader. This is an intricate maze to get lost in and there is not a solution at the end. It is a peak into the eye of madness. Flirting with the void and what might live there. For me, the last chapters were a bit anticlimactic. Please check content warnings. There is some emotionally rough stuff. Child and animal abuse (and death), mental health, drug abuse, etc.
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