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A review by niaamore
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
| Favorite Quote | It may be the wrong decision, but fuck it, it's mine.
| My Review | This review is going to be a personal one. So, before I go on and on, here is the overall review.
This book is one of a kind. I don’t know if I can recommend reading it. It’s weird, disturbing, and very very sad. Everyone seems to have a different experience with it. If you’re curious, I urge you to give it a try.
Now for the personal bit. This book was a favorite of an old friend of mine, a ten year long friendship, with a person I’ve lost contact with. It’s funny how life can turn your closest friends into strangers. Oftentimes it’s the little things that make you drift apart, like a busy work schedule. You may never see them again, but every so often, you’ll come across something that reminds you of them, and you feel all the old memories resurface. Finding this book at the back of my closet did just that.
I promised him I’d read this book, and I can now say that I have. The cruel twist of fate is that the experiences I’ve had since our friendship has made me appreciate this book even more than I would have if I read it before splitting ways. It’s safe to say, the experience I had reading House of Leaves was a whirlwind of emotions.
The synopsis of House of Leaves is deceiving. It’s pitched as a story about a man named Johnny who discovers a dead man’s manuscript about a film called The Navidson Record. The film is about a creepy house and the family that lives in it. The catch? The film never existed, and the man writing the manuscript, Zampano, is blind.
Creepy, right? This is the type of book that crawls under your skin. I couldn’t sleep the first night I started reading it. Then, by accident, I got spoiled by a fan theory I found in a comment section of a youtube video about unique books with strange formatting. I don’t want to spoil the book, so the next section will be marked as such. It’s about the story behind the story. I recommend reading the book first, if you haven’t, as the theory may ruin the horror.
House of Leaves is a book about a man named Johnny Truant who was severely traumatized by his abusive father, and is grieving the death of his schizophrenic mother. We learn early on that Johnny has a talent for storytelling. His friend Lude would often throw out a prompt, and Johnny would then create a story around it on the spot. The editors, who have been tasked to make sense of the manuscript Johnny had given them, add both Johnny's father’s eulogy, and his mother’s letters while in a care facility. Through this, we learn of his trauma, and of his mother’s illness. We also learn that his mother is an exceptional writer. A talent Johnny seems to have inherited.
All of these hints allude to the fact that Zampano, along with The Navidson Record, are entirely made up by Johnny himself. The theory is that this book was written just after his mother’s death. The symptoms he experiences are likely early signs of schizophrenia. The story of The Navidson Record is symbolic of his trauma. The endless dark hallways represent the trauma within, the outside of the house being the mask he wears, and the fate of the characters who venture into the house represent the struggle of dealing with said trauma. The monster in the house is sometimes referenced as a minotaur in a labyrinth, a Greek mythological story about a man with a bull’s head who is forced to roam in a maze until he is slain. The myth and the book both allude to the mix of sympathy and horror we feel towards the beast.
Knowing now that House of Leaves is actually a story about trauma, and the quest one must go on to heal from it, gave me closure I didn’t know I needed. My friend always had a taste for the dark and depressing. His other favorite collection of novels is Pun Pun, a manga series arguably more dark and depressing than this book. I even once saw him read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara with a straight face. It’s safe to say, he faces the darkness head on. I’m more of a love sick optimist, one who lives for stories with found family and happy endings. I may avoid books with heavy themes such as this in the future, but I’m glad I got to read this one.
I doubt he’ll read this review, but I still wish him well. I also wish you well, dear reader. Even if you stumble and fall, and make some bad decisions along the way, just know they are yours, in the end. And if you can learn from them, that is something to be proud of.
| My Review | This review is going to be a personal one. So, before I go on and on, here is the overall review.
This book is one of a kind. I don’t know if I can recommend reading it. It’s weird, disturbing, and very very sad. Everyone seems to have a different experience with it. If you’re curious, I urge you to give it a try.
Now for the personal bit. This book was a favorite of an old friend of mine, a ten year long friendship, with a person I’ve lost contact with. It’s funny how life can turn your closest friends into strangers. Oftentimes it’s the little things that make you drift apart, like a busy work schedule. You may never see them again, but every so often, you’ll come across something that reminds you of them, and you feel all the old memories resurface. Finding this book at the back of my closet did just that.
I promised him I’d read this book, and I can now say that I have. The cruel twist of fate is that the experiences I’ve had since our friendship has made me appreciate this book even more than I would have if I read it before splitting ways. It’s safe to say, the experience I had reading House of Leaves was a whirlwind of emotions.
The synopsis of House of Leaves is deceiving. It’s pitched as a story about a man named Johnny who discovers a dead man’s manuscript about a film called The Navidson Record. The film is about a creepy house and the family that lives in it. The catch? The film never existed, and the man writing the manuscript, Zampano, is blind.
Creepy, right? This is the type of book that crawls under your skin. I couldn’t sleep the first night I started reading it. Then, by accident, I got spoiled by a fan theory I found in a comment section of a youtube video about unique books with strange formatting. I don’t want to spoil the book, so the next section will be marked as such. It’s about the story behind the story. I recommend reading the book first, if you haven’t, as the theory may ruin the horror.
House of Leaves is a book about a man named Johnny Truant who was severely traumatized by his abusive father, and is grieving the death of his schizophrenic mother. We learn early on that Johnny has a talent for storytelling. His friend Lude would often throw out a prompt, and Johnny would then create a story around it on the spot. The editors, who have been tasked to make sense of the manuscript Johnny had given them, add both Johnny's father’s eulogy, and his mother’s letters while in a care facility. Through this, we learn of his trauma, and of his mother’s illness. We also learn that his mother is an exceptional writer. A talent Johnny seems to have inherited.
All of these hints allude to the fact that Zampano, along with The Navidson Record, are entirely made up by Johnny himself. The theory is that this book was written just after his mother’s death. The symptoms he experiences are likely early signs of schizophrenia. The story of The Navidson Record is symbolic of his trauma. The endless dark hallways represent the trauma within, the outside of the house being the mask he wears, and the fate of the characters who venture into the house represent the struggle of dealing with said trauma. The monster in the house is sometimes referenced as a minotaur in a labyrinth, a Greek mythological story about a man with a bull’s head who is forced to roam in a maze until he is slain. The myth and the book both allude to the mix of sympathy and horror we feel towards the beast.
Knowing now that House of Leaves is actually a story about trauma, and the quest one must go on to heal from it, gave me closure I didn’t know I needed. My friend always had a taste for the dark and depressing. His other favorite collection of novels is Pun Pun, a manga series arguably more dark and depressing than this book. I even once saw him read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara with a straight face. It’s safe to say, he faces the darkness head on. I’m more of a love sick optimist, one who lives for stories with found family and happy endings. I may avoid books with heavy themes such as this in the future, but I’m glad I got to read this one.
I doubt he’ll read this review, but I still wish him well. I also wish you well, dear reader. Even if you stumble and fall, and make some bad decisions along the way, just know they are yours, in the end. And if you can learn from them, that is something to be proud of.