I am trying to allow myself more time to read. I don’t think I read enough anymore, and I really should remedy that. And I really should learn to post smaller blog posts, but that’s neither here nor there. I realize not a lot of people like to read anymore. I can respect that as there are other ways to consume your daily dose of imagination. Maybe they’re books on tapes or documentaries or really compelling TV shows and cartoons, whatever it is, we all consume our knowledge in different ways. If we could eat our information, I’d probably be a genius by now. But since I cannot, I read. And this book, one that I’ve mentioned in the past, I think deserves some mention and that’s the “House of Leaves
House of Leaves – written by Mark Z. DanielewskiThis is a very brief synopsis of the book, because seriously, the book is all sorts of crazy, and that’s crazy good. It is not your typical fiction, where it’s a straight forward story with twists and turns and you follow the heroes journey. That would be WAY too easy apparently, as this book likes to think of itself like an onion. It has layers upon layers of story. First we have the accounts of the Navidson family and their experience with a house. A ssssscccarrrry house. But those accounts are being told from the eyes of an older, blind man, Zampano who found the video recordings and pictures of what happened in the house as well as the research he did on trying to understand what happened. But even THAT is being put together and edited and told from the perspective of this guy, Johnny Truant, who happened to move into Zampano’s apartment and find all the items the old man was working with. And that’s when Johnny’s life is thrown into a blender and a delicious milk shake is being made as his own life is being affected and changed due to Johnny’s involvement and work with making the book “House of Leaves
Be aware it does not read like a traditional fiction story, as I mentioned above. It’s like reading a text book interspersed with a horror story and sprinkled with a love story while being saut eacute;ed with a pseudo “true events” story. Words are not always in the same place in the book and there is no way you’re going to get this in digital form. The way the book is laid out is just too complex. The funny thing is, I haven’t even gotten to the story part of the book, just the set up and the layout. It’s very artsy, and unique, and I like those aspects of this book.
The writing is great. I’m a novice, amateur writer, and I probably could not weave a story like this guy can. There’s a huge tale with supplementary text and letters and he has this ability to jump from the perspective of a tripped out slacker to that of a prize winning photo journalist to that of a crazy old man. It’s like reading three books in one, and that’s a good and bad thing. The good being that you get a lot of bang for your buck, the bad being that it may be a lot to take in all at once.
When I had first written this review, I hadn’t finished the book, but then I buckled down, and finished through the last hundred pages I had to go. So much goes on, there’s so much to take in, and because it can read like a text book and takes it’s time, meticulously, getting to the point, that I have to say that it’s constant change of pace makes it a slow read. And maybe that’s the power of the book. Once you get to the end, you leave wanting to learn more and I scoured the internet for more information, which was really cool. When this book was first published, there was a lot of discussion and people were really into the story and whether or not this did exist. I read through a majority of the appendices and a lot of it doesn’t even apply to the book. Just a little tip to save you some time, if you’re not interested in reading more than the main story. But the letters, you need to read the letters from the mom to Johnny Truant. Those are eye opening. “House of Leaves” will bend your mind with all it’s content, and that’s a good thing.
If you’ve read this book, let me know your thoughts. I recommend picking this up, even though it may read like I don’t, but not just because it’s a good book. I recommend you pick this up because this is the first book I’ve ever read, that was a unique experience. It doesn’t just give you a story to fall into, but it gives you a sense of realism that no book I’ve read yet, that was not non fiction, has done. So try it out today. “House of Leaves
