4 replies to this topic

[Lunis]

I cannot begin to describe my experience with Mark Z. Danielewski's novel The House of Leaves. Describing the book would take all day, but I'll break it down: its a narrative, told through the filter of up to 3 different people, about a strange house that is somehow bigger (mind-bogglingly so) inside than it is out.

Besides the story of this house itself, and the people who live in it, the book is also disturbingly close to reality by mentioning that the novel is based on a movie made about said house, and that it was a doctumentary seen by many real famous people (Stephen King is one). The line between the story and the reader becomes blurred, obscured, and sometimes it disregards that line and goes on its merry way.

If you see this book in a store and flip randomly in the middle, you'd note that the text itself (and footnotes) changes; the nature of the text changes with the narrative, until you're literally turning the book around in circles trying to read it. I actually got motion sick trying to read part of it. This is a novel that messes with you, just short of physically grabbing you and becoming a part of your life. I heartily recommend it to anyone in search of read that goes beyond simply entertaining you; it makes you think.

*Reading Rainbow theme* But you don't have to take my word for it! ^^

[KiloTango]

I need to second this. House Of Leaves is one of the most amazing pieces of horror ANYTHING ever. The story and typesetting is stunning, Johnny makes a brilliantly compelling narrator when he takes the spotlight, and the coded letter in the appendix is one of the most unsettling experiences I have had with a piece of literature.

(Lunis: I don't know if you did, but yeah, I actually sat down with a piece of paper and decoded it. And OH GOD. D: )

To give you more of an idea of how it works, it's a story that touches on the lives of 3 people. The one closest to us is Johnny Truant, an assistant in a tattoo parlour who comes into possession of a strange broken manuscript that turns his whole life inside out. The Manuscript is written by a diseased man called Zampano, who happened to be blind, and is a critical book about a film called The Navidson Record. His book swings between critical theory and straight out story, telling the tale of the guy called Navidson who owns the House and the film me made about and the effect the utterly messed up building has on his friends, family and himself. The book that we read is Zamphano's manuscript, put back together by Johnny complete with lots of foot notes and digressions from him about his own life.

Other footnotes from the 'editors' that it seems Johnny gave the book to help to really blur the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction, making Truant seem even more real, and as the madness of the House gets reflected in the insane layouts of the book it gets blurred even more, leaving you wondering if the darkness has infected the book just as it does Johnny's life when he puts it together.

It's a story both about the heart-rending horror of the unknown and incomprehensible, but also through Johnny's stories about how people can be just as traumatising themselves.

Oh, and for gods sake don't be put off by the length. It's a big book, but many of the pages contain very few words so it won't take you as long as you think.

Seriously, go and read this.

[animejosse]

I'd ask about why you let "House" be in blue all the time, but I have a feeling it got something to do with the layout of the book. Am I correct?

[KiloTango]

Yeah, in the original version every time the word house appears, it is in blue. If you don't have a colour version, you can still tell it's different (as it's lined up a little different and grey instead of black in a BW copy).

[Handy Candy]

Yeah, in the original version every time the word house appears, it is in blue. If you don't have a colour version, you can still tell it's different (as it's lined up a little different and grey instead of black in a BW copy).

This sounds terribly interesting D: Looks like I've found my next reading adventure!