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A review by acg233
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
2.0
I don't think it has ever been so difficult for me to give a book a poor rating. My expectation of [b:House of Leaves|24800|House of Leaves|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403889034s/24800.jpg|856555] was astronomical (I know, that was my first mistake). First, because many people hyped it up so much, but also because this is the exact kind of book I love. I love books where you have to do the work and piece things together, and savvy readers can get much more from the work than what first appears. So, I was incredibly excited to read [b:House of Leaves|24800|House of Leaves|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403889034s/24800.jpg|856555].
I also did a couple things wrong. I didn't want to buy a copy, and I knew I would forget to return a physical copy, so I read an ebook. That was a HUGE mistake. I wanted to finish it before the 21 days were up. so I also sped through the end.
On the plus side, I'm pretty sure Mark Z. Danielewski is a genius. On the negative side, I'm obviously not.
This book is so fucking cool. When people ask me what it's about, I tell them it's a story of a guy, Johnny, who finds a manuscript for an academic book written by Zampano, which dissects a documentary, made by Navidson, about a house that gets bigger and bigger on the inside, while staying the same on the outside. Danielewski uses every possible gimmick known to man: pictures, footnotes, sideways, backwards and upside-down text, different color text, etc. etc. etc.
The plot (re: the house) itself is scary. Not in a way that you're like peeing your pants 'cause you're so scared, but more in that you just get the heebie-jeebies. You want to check under your bed and in your closet afterward to make sure your house hasn't magically grown.
That all being said, this was a struggle to get through. I know every piece of the novel means something, but those 700 pages were dense and what started out as enjoyable soon turned to just plain work because of the sheer size of the novel. I got the feeling that Danielewski was just dragging out the novel simply to make it longer and include all his little hints, instead of doing it because the plot required it.
I wish that I had liked this more, so much . This is definitely a novel that I'll have to return to, but as of today, the rating stays as it stands at 2 stars.
I also did a couple things wrong. I didn't want to buy a copy, and I knew I would forget to return a physical copy, so I read an ebook. That was a HUGE mistake. I wanted to finish it before the 21 days were up. so I also sped through the end.
On the plus side, I'm pretty sure Mark Z. Danielewski is a genius. On the negative side, I'm obviously not.
This book is so fucking cool. When people ask me what it's about, I tell them it's a story of a guy, Johnny, who finds a manuscript for an academic book written by Zampano, which dissects a documentary, made by Navidson, about a house that gets bigger and bigger on the inside, while staying the same on the outside. Danielewski uses every possible gimmick known to man: pictures, footnotes, sideways, backwards and upside-down text, different color text, etc. etc. etc.
The plot (re: the house) itself is scary. Not in a way that you're like peeing your pants 'cause you're so scared, but more in that you just get the heebie-jeebies. You want to check under your bed and in your closet afterward to make sure your house hasn't magically grown.
That all being said, this was a struggle to get through. I know every piece of the novel means something, but those 700 pages were dense and what started out as enjoyable soon turned to just plain work because of the sheer size of the novel. I got the feeling that Danielewski was just dragging out the novel simply to make it longer and include all his little hints, instead of doing it because the plot required it.
I wish that I had liked this more, so much . This is definitely a novel that I'll have to return to, but as of today, the rating stays as it stands at 2 stars.