I managed to finish House of Leaves on Friday. More or less. What I finished was the main text of the story. I still had thirty pages of appendices to read through. And the index to scan. What, wait! An index in a novel you say? Oh yes. The index actually turned out to be rather hilarious, a sort of index parody with hardly any of the things you would expect to show up there but lots of things you never see in an index like “and” which appears on pages 3-78, 80-154, and so on. There is also “five” and “July” and “more.” And then there are entries like “canine DNE” with “DNE” meaning “Does not exist.” These are sprinkled throughout the index. There is “dolphin” and “donkey” and “lubricants.” Kind of funny.
But why? Well, it plays into the fact that the main part of the text sort of mocks academic criticism. How to explain? The main text is an academic treatise written on a movie called The Navidson Record, a movie that has been seen by many but doesn’t seem to actually exist. The criticism is written by a man of the name Zampano who is pretty much driven mad by his work on the book. This text is filled with extensive criticism and footnotes. Incredibly, a good deal of what is cited actually exists. There are also citations of “experts” talking about the film and these are completely made up but they are woven in so expertly with the non-made up stuff that they appear to be real.
In spite of all the academic babble, Zampano actually does manage to tell the story of the film of the Navidson Record. It’s about a house, but not just any house. Imagine husband, successful photojournalist who has won a Pulitzer Prize, who is away from home quite a lot because of his work and has a tendency to court danger. Imagine the wife, beautiful, a former model, who has had an affair or two while husband has been away. Or maybe she hasn’t, husband isn’t sure and he isn’t sure he wants to know the truth. They have two young children. They move to a house in the Virginia countryside, hoping to create a family, hoping to save the marriage. It seems like a normal house until they leave to visit family out of state for a few days and return home to find a hallway that wasn’t there when they left. At first they manage to rationalize it away. But then another hallway shows up, this one in the living room instead of between bedrooms. This one is dark and impossibly long, this one seems to go on forever leading into perfectly dark rooms and other hallways. It is freezing cold in the dark and the rooms and hallways are continually shifting and changing.
Wife furiously battles the house with feng shui. Husband calls in friends and experts, locates professional explorers who mount an expedition into the depths of the mysterious house. Husband doesn’t get to go because wife forbids it. Weird things happen in the dark and cold. People die. Weird things happen in the light and warmth. People die.
Along with this story is a second one told by Johnny Truant. It takes place mostly in footnotes to Zampano’s book. Johnny came into possession of Zampano’s papers after he died and is trying to assemble them into a coherent whole. He becomes obsessed, his life falls apart, he perhaps goes insane, he perhaps recovers.
There is an additional layer, other footnotes by an editor who has taken the entire manuscript, Zampano’s and Johnny’s combined which amounts to one whole book, and published it.
It is a crazy book. There were moments when I was genuinely creeped out. There were others when I was utterly bored. When I finished the main text I felt like it had bordered on a waste of time. After all the appendices I appreciated the book much more. On an intellectual level, it is clever and interesting and intriguing in how Danielewski made this book even work. The ideas, the themes, parody and mockery were well done. But other than the few times I got the creeps, I was never truly emotionally engaged with the book. I was never sure why I should care and there was nothing to hate so I was left at a distance, reading a book about a book about a movie. And maybe that is how I was supposed to feel but I like my books to be more than intellectual mind games; I like to be mentally and emotionally engaged.
So there you go, for what all that is worth. I didn’t hate the book. I didn’t love the book. I am glad I read it though so that’s something.
Hmm, this sounds like some of the more obscure 18th-century satires I’ve read–they’re much more fun when you read the prologues, appendices, and indexes.
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Jeanne, hmm, yes, perhaps that’s it. I tried to read the book as though the main text were the main text but all the extras are just as important and in some ways more so. I also expected it to be a horror story. I suspect if I could go back and start over without the expectations I began with my reading experience would be much different.
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An index in a novel you say? As if I haven’t read Pale Fire! Another novel that follows Jeanne’s model specifically, full of obscure 18th century references.
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Tom, I have not ventured to read Pale Fire yet, one of these days. The index was rather entertaining and I can imagine Nabokov’s must be most excellent.
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Thanks for this review. I’m reading his other work “Only Revolutions” at the moment and tbh I’m finding it hard going. It’s more like a very long beat poem than a novel. I admire his skill and craftsmanship. On Revolutions is all about the circular – the reader is expected to turn the book upside down every eight pages or so, the end of the book is in the middle, etc but the story is so vague, if one can even call it that that I get the feeling the book belongs in an art gallery rather than in a bookshop.
From your review it seems like house of leaves is somewhat similar.
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It sounds a fascinating but maddening sort of book and perhaps it is a close run thing whether it “works” for a reader. I think I will probably leave it alone just now.
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Ian, yes, fascinating and maddening which I think is how the reader is supposed to feel because it echoes the fascination for the house as well as the madness that always seems to be just around the corner for everybody in the book. The more I think about it the more I think the reading of the book is supposed to mimic the house itself and induce a similar experience for the reader as for the characters in the book. I’m starting to think that the more distance I get from the book the more I might come to like it.
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Novelproject, ah, I was wondering about what Only Revolutions might be like. Yes, House of Leaves has text diagonally across page, upside down and backwards and in a circle and pages mirroring pages. Both books are probably a copyeditor’s nightmare. Besides the poke at academia, House of Leaves plays with the metaphor of house as mind. I expect we are supposed to find these books hard going. I suspect I will one day give Only Revolutions a try because, why not?
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ooooohhhhh!!!! This I have to get…it sounds absolutely unique and the index is enough to tell me this is one hell of a book!!!
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cirtnecce, it is unusual. If/when you get to reading it, just don’t expect it to be a horror story because it isn’t and I thought it was. Also, remember that the extras are just as important as the “main” text. That should set you up for a good reading experience.
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Despite everything going on in this book (a lot of which didn’t make much sense to me), I actually liked it more than I thought I would.
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misanthropologist, at first I didn’t like the book much at all but the more I think about it the more I like it. Ask me about it in a few months after it has all finished sinking in and I will probably tell you I loved it.
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I’m that way too about some books. It’s like the more I think about it and the more I actually like it. I know exactly how you feel!
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I picked this one up at the bookstore and thumbed through it. It didn’t take me long to figure out it wasn’t for me, so I put it back. It looked…well…bizarre. A page with one word…then a page with nothing…then a page packed with margin notes and footnotes and text and snippets. (Am I thinking of the right book?) But I did like the cover, which is why I picked it up in the first place. The book looked very challenging – and I hoped that’s not why I put it back – but now I feel vindicated.
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Grad, yup, you have the right book! It is a challenging book but not in the way that James Joyce is challenging, for instance. This is more of a connect the dots challenge, and at times a puzzle/game challenge. Not a book to read when tired!
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I have never ever seen a novel that was indexed- although it sounds tongue-in-cheek and amusing. But I don’t think the book would be my type- the house sounds rather creepy!
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Jeane, the index was a hoot. I almost skipped it but my curiosity got me and when I started looking at it and realized what was going on it I was very glad I didn’t skip it. The house is totally creepy but the book as a whole, you definitely have to be willing to work and not mind the way the text tends to get rather crazy.
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I’m never quite sure how I feel about books like this where you feel so dis-engaged from the characters. It doesn’t mean it is not a very worthy read, and it sounds like there was lots of interesting things going on, but not the sort of book you can feel all warm and fuzzy about after the fact. I do admire your ability to stick with a book and see it through–could you bottle a little bit of that up and send me some! 🙂
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Danielle, there were lots of interesting things going on and the more I think about it the more I like it. But definitely not a page-turner or an emotionally engaging sort of book. I began the book with different expectations so I think I would have liked it better if they had been otherwise. I know you can stick with books just fine, there have just been so many good ones lately that they make it hard to focus on just one or two! 🙂
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Oh, isn’t that the truth! 🙂 And some books really grow on you After you turn that last page. Funny how that works sometimes!
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This has to be the oddest book I’ve heard of all year. A novel about a film that doesn’t exist yet everyone talks about it?? A novel with an index to entries that don’t exist? And rooms in a house that just materialise. Most peculiar.
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BookerTalk, odd is definitely a good description. It’s one of those books that asks a lot from the reader.
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I don’t think I loved this as devotedly as some people did, but I got a kick out of it. Even when some aspects didn’t work for me, I loved it that Danielewski was trying something so deeply weird. (And spooky!)
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Jenny, the book does have quite a following, doesn’t it? I liked it overall and, as you say, I too loved that Danielewski was trying something so weird. I will probably eventually read Only Revolutions. Have you read that one?
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This book blew my mind when I first read it, but I hadn’t had much exposure to experimental texts before. Nice to read your measured thoughts on it. I’ll definitely look at this novel again someday.
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Isabella, it’s a book that has been growing on my since I finished it. I like it much better now than I did after the last page. It had to sink in a bit I guess. I will likely give Only Revolutions a try someday.
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