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A review by amyvl93
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a tough one to review because on the one hand I can't quite wrap my head around the amount of work that Danielewski has done to create essentially an entire artistic and academic world within these pages - but I also hit some pretty big slumpy moments making my way through this.
House of Leaves is a multi-layered story. It starts when a slightly eccentric elderly man Zampano dies, leaving behind hoards of academic writing on a film called The Navidson Record, which is discovered by Johnny Truant who decides to piece the documents together. The problem is, no one seems to remember this film existing, and being exposed to its contents appears to be sending Johnny mad. As a reader - the narrative is split between Zampano's writing on the contents of the film - and by extension the story of the Navidson's in their creepy shape-shifting house, and within the footnotes Johnny's story.
House of Leaves is a multi-layered story. It starts when a slightly eccentric elderly man Zampano dies, leaving behind hoards of academic writing on a film called The Navidson Record, which is discovered by Johnny Truant who decides to piece the documents together. The problem is, no one seems to remember this film existing, and being exposed to its contents appears to be sending Johnny mad. As a reader - the narrative is split between Zampano's writing on the contents of the film - and by extension the story of the Navidson's in their creepy shape-shifting house, and within the footnotes Johnny's story.