Some have called it the most horrifying book ever written; others have called it the most boring. My sibling called it weird. These are all words that describe Danielewski's House of Leaves - a book I decided to challenge myself to read last year.
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| My book's cover is ripped. |
I began reading it at the end of October and finished just before ringing in 2026. I read in spurts. Sometimes the book read like one of the dryer college papers my professors wanted me to tear apart and analyze. At other times, the book sucked me in to the point I lost track of time. The story isn't linear and neither is the book's layout. I was constantly flipping back and forth from the "main" story to different appendixes, exhibits that aren't actually there, and footnotes upon footnotes upon footnotes. I would have to turn the book sideways and upside-down to read the text. Sometimes the text took up a square inch of a page, or there would be one sentence, or a dot, or music notes, or brail. Foreign languages were sometimes not even translated.
The story follows the Navidson family, or maybe it follows Johnny Truant as he tries to decipher the dissertation a dead guy named Zampano, left scattered around his apartment. Really, I think the Editors are the real protagonists. They jump in when things become really confusing, confirming for the reader that things really are that confusing.
Honestly, if you ignore the footnotes, the story is about the Navidson family moving into a house that starts to grow on the inside while remaining the same size on the outside. The patriarch, called Navy throughout the story, is a photojournalist haunted by a photo he took in Africa. This photo is based on the real photo The Vulture and the Little Girl taken by Kevin Carter. Navy decides he needs to document the move and sets up cameras everywhere.
It almost sounds like the start of a found footage movie. Oh, that's because in the universe of the text, it is a found footage movie - one that the Zampano guy is writing this dissertation is obsessed with. This obsession is then transferred to Johnny Truant who is telling us his life story and mental breakdown. However, the found footage film may not even exist in the world Truant inhabits. It definitely doesn't exist in ours.
The Navidsons quickly discover that the house is growing, but only on the inside. Random hallways, pitch black hallways, appear and stretch reality. Navy begins to explore these hallways with his twin brother and a professor friend from the University of Virginia (the house is near Williamsburg, VA) - all with a trusty camera.
A few more people join the exploration and what follows is pandemonium. There's a Minotaur monster walking the growing hallways and madness turns to quickly turns to murder. The chapters that provide a scientific explanation were mysteriously destroyed by a bottle of ink spilt by Truant. The Editors apologize for this loss of text. There's also a huge chunk of philosophy that was destroyed by the original writer Zampano.
The book is immersive from page one to the back of the book's summary. Even the copyright page is full of metacommentary and fourth wall breaks and a note on the edition I read. House is always in blue and Minotaur is always red. There is one place where the color purple is used.
I didn't really like Johnny Truant...or any part where he randomly jumped in. I didn't like any of his interjections, except for one. I enjoyed reading his mother's letters while she was locked in an asylum. I didn't need to read his parts of the story, but I did.
I also didn't find House of Leaves horrifying in the slightest. There was some dread and paranoia, but nothing horrifying. I agree with my sibling, it was weird.
I bought my first house this year and have been slowly unpacking and settling in. My cat passed away in the summer and I just lost an aunt that I am was very close to. I'm trying not to lose myself in all the news being reported on - especially in Minnesota. None of this is relevant to the above. However, it is an example of the writing style in House of Leaves.
I haven't found any parts of my house that are growing, no dark hallways I can't explain, and no monsters growling in my walls. I can occasionally hear my neighbors and my pipes rattle. There's no where for someone to easily hide in my house.
Why would anyone need to hide in my house?
I can think of a few reasons. I've read a lot of books and seen enough movies to wish I had a hidden room. House of Leaves was not one of those books.
We had our first major snow storm of the season and year. I don't own a proper snow shovel, but I was able to get a regular shovel from Ace Hardware (they were out of snow shovels and salt). With the regular shovel and a broom, I was able to clear the steps and sidewalk. Then more snow came and erased all my work - like how the growing hallways in the Navidson house suddenly vanished.
I wonder if this book - that is slowly going insane and driving me insane along with it - punched trough its universe and ended up pulling the Navidson story from a third, separate universe. The first universe being the one we inhabit. Truant never found the house in his universe. I doubt it exists in this one.
I still want to know how this book actually got published. There's no way it would be in our modern publishing climate.
Do I recommend this book? Sure, if you want a challenge, but it is weird and tragic...and possibly boring in places. Johnny Truant is awful and his parts could be skipped. Maybe this book really wasn't for me, but I did find it compelling.
There is a lot going on in my life. There's a lot of stress and sadness. Reading a book like House of Leaves took me out of this universe for a little while and let me occupy a different one.
I still don't like Johnny Truant.
Until the next post.
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