Reviewed by: Kris

Written by: Mark Z. Danielewski

Titled: House of Leaves

This is a book written in layers. The main story is a novel written by a blind man, Zampano, about a documentary that doesn’t exist, The Navidson Record. The documentary is about a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Zampano writes pages upon pages about this house seen in the documentary. In the first few pages, we find out that Zampano has died and the passages have fallen into the hands of Johnny Truant, a tattooist’s apprentice. Most of the story is about Will Navidson and his odd house. Johnny Truant has written several passages also, and creates an interesting side story. There are footnotes, appendices, photographs, and endnotes. These all create something that is interesting and at times, difficult to read.

Where do I start? This book is intriguing to read. I was immediately drawn in by the introduction, and at times found it extremely hard to put down. Johnny Truant has written many personal passages, and they are usually very graphic. If you don’t like to hear about sex, drugs, or blood and gore, then you might not want to read the Truant passages.

The story about the house is pretty scary, and this drew me in the most. I think I was sucked into the story as much as the people in the story were sucked into the hallway that mysteriously appears in the living room.

Pages of this book are difficult to read, not because they are hard to understand, but because you don’t know how to read the page. Some pages are written upside down, sideways, diagonal, or just as a jumble. Some pages have only a few words written on them. When I read these passages, I completely understood why they were written that way. It just fit with what was happening in the story.

I was sort of disappointed with the ending though, because it sort of fizzles, but that is the only flaw I found with this book. If you like Stephen King, then you should like this. This is a book that has become a sort of cult classic, especially on the Internet. Definitely read this if you like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, or Chuck Palahniuk.