House of Leaves

[jay o2 waster]

My friend said that this book is the reason that he is afraid of the dark. I'm not much of a reader, I'm slow and it gets frustrating. But he said I will not be disappointed by this. Just want to get some opinions from anyone around here who may have read this book.

[Papillon Noir]

House of Leaves is a very advanced book to read, but the most engaging and scary book you will ever read. I highly recommend it, it the most incredible experience I have ever read.

The first couple of hundred pages can be a little boring and not very scary, but it's written as if you had found this in some old attic and that you're pieceing the story together yourself and as you start to do this, you will be scared. Part of what you are reading is the diary of someone just like you who had found that book and it's effect on him. The core plot of the story deals with a documentary (and it's aftermath) about a house that is bigger inside than it is outside.

The hard thing to read in the book is the text itself. Sometimes there is one word on a page, or the words are at a diagnal or upside down or backwards (you have to read those in a mirror) or it will be all these things on one page.

And then there are the footnotes. There are footnotes on just about everypage that will sometime last pages. Some of these footnotes are useless (they are just footnotes citing sources), but the rest of part of the story itself.

There are also hidden clues within the text itself and some things you will probably have to look up (I had no idea what Yggdrasil was), because part of the story you have to put together yourself.

[jay o2 waster]

Well, I decided to pick it up. I'm 300 pages in already and this book is a total mindfuck. Really good and gripping. Not as scary as I was told it would be but it is so well done.

[noctuary]

House of Leaves is indeed a brilliant book. One of the things that I find so fascinating about it is how open it is to interpretation. Everyone I know that has read it has had a different idea about what it means or what actually happened.

[Dominion]

Is it a difficult read due to the odd structure of the book?

[jay o2 waster]

Originally Posted by Dominion

Is it a difficult read due to the odd structure of the book?

It gets a bit confusing at times. Sometimes i find myself rereading parts just to make sure I got it all. After awhile you get the hang of it though and start blowing through the pages. Takes a little getting used to though.

[Papillon Noir]

Originally Posted by jay o2 waster

Well, I decided to pick it up. I'm 300 pages in already and this book is a total mindfuck. Really good and gripping. Not as scary as I was told it would be but it is so well done.

It gets scarier, you're not even halfway through yet. It is very well done, it took the author ten years to write it. Unfortunately, his second and latest book pales in comparison.

[jay o2 waster]

I just finished it. Still didn't think it was a scary as everyone said but it was still a damn good read.

[AsylumSeeker]

I thought this was a brilliant book from the standpoint that it was something completely original, but it really failed to live up to all of the hype people threw at me about how it would totally change my world view, etc. I found alot of the organization of it to be a bit pretentious and irritating. It was something I'm glad I read because it truly is interesting, but it was almost a forced marched to get through it. It also gets a little heavy handed with the psychological overtones and the juxtaposition of the descent into the house and the descent into the psyche.

[Riff]

I truly enjoyed it. Regardless of any deeper meaning or content, just on the surface it's one of the most original takes on the haunted house idea I've ever read. Has anyone read his new one, Only Revolutions?