House of Leaves

One Song Glory

Has anybody here ever read (or attempted to read) Danielewski's House of Leaves?? I recently read it for a Typographic Text class and DAMN, is it fucked up! Essentially, it's a book about a haunted (?) house that's bigger on the inside than the outside. It's a 700-page beast of a book that has up to 7 possible authors within the text itself...we actually counted in class, haha. It's complicated, deeply unsettling and extremely avant-garde as you have to turn the book in all directions to make heads or tails of it, and even dig out a mirror at one point to read footnotes in mirror writing. Extremely dense typography but absolutely brilliant.

The story revolves around this guy who finds a manuscript about a non-existent film called "The Navidson Record", which is a sort of realist documentary about this house. Very Blair Witch. So you've got Johnny Truant's character commenting in typewriter/courier font about how fucked up this manuscript is, plus rambling "footnotes" that are actually just stuff about his own life and how the book is driving him absolutely insane, plus the author of the manuscript's own completely fictional footnotes that at one point completely overtake the text pertaining to the film itself. It's so overwhelmingly detailed that I feel like if I was channel-surfing and came across this "movie" on TV, I would instantly know what it is. I feel like I've actually experienced this film in reality and weeks later, I can't get it out of my head.

Also, one thing that jumped out at me as soon as I opened the cover was the epigraph ... "THIS IS NOT FOR YOU." Apparently Danielewski has stated that this is in fact, a Pearl Jam reference, my fun fact for the day.

So has anybody else ever tackled this book or have any opinions on it? I was reading this and Joyce's "Ulysses" at the same time for separate classes and I actually found THIS ONE more frustrating! Stream-of-consciousness that still resembles an actual book felt like a walk in the park compared to this thing.

xsmytx

Yea i read it.What a crazy book. I think all the flip floppin they have you do through-out the book tries to make you fell like your in their situation. Good book though!

watsonj1982

It's my favorite book. A FANTASTIC read.

One Song Glory

Oh, it's right up there now for me too.

the wolf

sounds unique. i'll check it out.

thanks !