Book Review: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

This is not for you.

This is the opening line of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.  A psychological horror/love story about...  House of Leaves is a hard book to describe.  Even the genre could be debated.

House of Leaves is about a young man named Johnny Truant, who has found a chestful of notes, pictures, and various journal ramblings from a recently deceased neighbor, Zampano.  He then takes the laborious task of putting it all together to create the novel the old man had tried to make before his untimely demise.  Along the way, we learn about Johnny through his increasingly disturbing ramblings, and stories about his latest hookups.  Oh, and we learn all of this through footnotes.  (More on that in a minute.)  But this is only partly correct.

House of Leaves is about a novel Zampano wrote about a short film/documentary titled, "The Navidson Record" in which, we follow the story of a family of four as they move into a new house on Ash Tree Lane.  Things are going relatively well, until the family discovers some very disturbing secrets deep in their new house.  But even now this doesn't begin to describe what this novel is about.  Lets try and get down to brass tacks.

This novel is amazing.

Characters

• Johnny Truant, a young man who has found Zampano's unfinished book, and has recompiled it into a complete copy.
• Zampano, a blind, old man who has watched a short film/documentary called "The Navidson Record" and has written a documentary of his own, detailing the events that unfold.  He is dead at he beginning of the story.
• Will 'Navy' Navidson, the man of the household and who the "The Navidson Record" is centered around.  He is an award winning photojournalist and has two kids with his partner Karen.

These are our main characters we follow, but each in different ways.

• Johnny's story is followed in the footnotes he wrote in Zampano's book.
• Zampano's story is mostly told through his manner of writing and a few notes and poems Johnny included in the book.
• Navidson's story is told completely through Zampano's description of the events he saw in "The Navidson Record".  We also learn through the way Navidson films the documentary (As described by Zampano.), and things he says to the camera.

Danielewski has done a terrific job detailing these characters, making you feel how these characters feel.  Originally, when I started reading this I admit, the characters (specifically Johnny) were, to say the least, odd, but you warm up to them as you follow their tale.  Danielewski adopts a different writing style for Zampano and Johnny, that are wildly different to each other, yet tells us so much about the characters themselves.

• Zampano is wordy and chooses the poetic over the precise.

• Johnny, likewise, is very much wordy, yet in a completely different way unique to him.  He curses, but not in a way that implies unintelligence.

• Navidson, while described and interpreted by Zampano, has a large amount of dialogue that reveals his inner workings, and is free from other viewers interpretations.

I could go on and on about the side characters in this book, as most seem fleshed out, almost to the same degree as the protagonists, but alas, I have a review to write.

Needless to say, the characters will not disappoint.

Story/Plot

The plot of House of Leaves is about "The Navidson Record" and Johnny's fall into obsession with finishing Zampano's book.  Interestingly enough, even though Zampano is a main character (debatable), in the long run, he has little to offer storywise.  (This is a very hard and confusing thing to talk about.  On one hand, without him the story would not exist and he plays a key part in it, yet on the other, he is almost relegated to the status of a side character.  (He is dead after all.))

That is not a bad thing.

Danielewski knows when to poke a few interesting points about Zampano throughout the book, and he does it well.

House of Leaves is very much a book that's more about the journey than the destination.  You will not find a lot of answers for the events that take place in this book.

This is also not a bad thing.

If Danielewski explained everything, it wouldn't be much of a horror story.  The greatest fear is of the unknown and unexplained, and you will find a lot of the unknown and unexplained here, simply because the characters don't know either.  It isn't lazy writing, rather it's excellent writing.

Opening like it does, House of Leaves pulls you in from the beginning, and never lets go.  The story will keep you up at night, either from fright or sheer curiosity of what happens next.

Style/Format

House of Leaves is written in the style of something all of its own.

• It has footnotes that go on for ages, crossed and inked out words in all of the right places (the infuriating places), and side bars with the words upside down or backwards, all creating a crazy labyrinth within the book itself. 
• At several points there are pages that only have one word on the entire page, dead smack in the center, with blank space all around.
• Sometimes, the words are arranged upside down or at an angle.
• It even has three appendices. (Of course I'm talking about the literary kind.)

And of course, you've probably noticed that the word house is always in blue and all crossed out words in red.  This is also in the book.  (At least the full color edition.)

It is awesome.

For spoiler reasons I can't tell you why this is, but it is effective.  You feel terrified and/or claustrophobic as your reading your way through this labyrinth, constructed entirely of words.  Which leads me to say:

Bravo, Danielewski, Bravo.

Summations

House of Leaves is definitely a interactive read, requiring you to use your mind and link two and two together.  At 709 pages, it is a lengthy read, but well worth the time and effort.  I fully recommend this book, but it is not for those who are easily put off by vulgarity and strong language.

This has been a Tea Time Reads Review of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.  I hope you had fun, and maybe give this book a read.  You won't be disappointed.  (Just frightened.)

A link to the Amazon page.