Ms. Hen reviews House of Leaves

 

House of Leaves

Mark Z. Danielewski

Random House

2000

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she wanted to experience a new Halloween book. She learned about this from O MAGAZINE, in an article about the best books for the season. She didn't know anything about it before she started reading it, but she learned it was an underground novel that was passed around before it was published by a publishing house.

When Ms. Hen started reading this novel she thought it was strange. At the beginning, it is two novels in one, about the Navidson family moving into a house in Virginia, and a young man in L. A. reading the novel. The section about the family is in Times New Roman, and the part about the young man is in Courier New. Every time the word "house" appears in the novel it is blue, and there are appendixes, lots of them, some which reference articles that don't exist.

Ms. Hen thinks it is a lot of work to read this book, because sometimes she had to turn it to the side, and sometimes only one or two words are on a page. She learned that this is a type of "ergodic" literature, which means a reader has to work to read it. The novel takes on paths which are difficult to decipher, and the reader has to pay attention to what they are reading.

Ms. Hen paced herself while reading this novel, because she thought she had to spend a lot of time on it, and she could not absorb it in short bursts. This is a book that needs attention.

Some of this novel is like pornography, such as the section about Johnny Truant, and the part about the Navidson family is about issues within a family structure. The horror in this novel is because the family finds a space in the house, which is like a cavern, but it has different rooms and spaces that appear when it is entered. 

A documentary made of the films Navidson makes becomes a giant success, critically and commercially. Johnny Truant goes insane while reading about the house, and at the end of the novel, we hear from his mother, and some artwork is placed in the book.

Ms. Hen thinks this is like nothing else she has read. She enjoyed it, but she was not scared; she thinks it is strange, but in a good way. If a person is brave enough, they would enjoy this novel, but the reader should not be afraid to do extra work. The best things in life have to be labored for, and Ms. Hen admires those who are unafraid.