House of Leaves
Oh Hi There,
This book is a fucking mess.
The only reason I read it was cause it kept popping up everywhere, on my Facebook in several book club groups I’m in. Also on Instagram and Twitter. This motherfucker even haunted me in my dreams. So I took that as a sign and ordered it off eBay. I tell you that cause when I got it it was packaged in a yellow envelope and when I opened that the book was wrapped in cellophane. I get why it was cause it’s a thick one but it was creepy.
If you aren’t into books that make you want to scream, cry, and throw it across the room cause the way it’s written and jumps all over the place makes you want to set it on fire. Then friends I have one thing to say to you.
This is not for you.It took me in total maybe a month to read this one. I mainly read it between phone calls at work. Honestly, I’m glad I got on ADHD medicine before I got too far into it cause I may have just said fuck it and gave up. I only say that cause I found myself rereading pages over and over again. I would read all day and only have gotten through like 20 pages. That may also be because there is a lot to it.
This book is basically 2 stories intertwined. I am not going to go into any major details cause I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. However, I will tell you It’s a rollercoaster of jumping back and forth between the 2 storylines. There are a lot of footnotes and editor notes. The way this is set up is that it has footnotes that can. go on for pages and an appendix that you can flip to when it’s related to the story. I read the book straight through without flipped to the appendix cause my brain couldn’t take it when I tried to do that. I highly suggest reading this book any way you are comfortable doing so cause it’s a fucking lot.
Honestly, I really enjoyed this book and it kept me guessing. I would think I had an idea of what’s going on only to realize I absolutely did not. I did a lot of googling of quotes or random wording I came across in it cause I didn’t get the way it was phrased. There is a forum on the author's website I suggest you use it cause it will help you process and work out some things. Also, if you can find a friend or someone else who is reading it to that also helps. This book is one that is meant to be fucking discussed.
I suggest you read this book cause it will make you feel some kind of different about your life. I can’t explain it but you will feel it once you read it. Also, it could be different for everyone.
This book was written by Mark Z. Danielewski and was published in March 2000. This was actually his debut book, and he killed it right out the gate. There is also a companion book that follows this one called The Whalestoe Letters. Which you will understand that reference once you read this book.
I am including a link to the author’s website below. It’s got a list of all the books he’s written and links to where you can buy them. Once I recover from this one I’m going to check out more of his stuff.
