House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Author : Mark Z. Danielewski
Title : House Of Leaves
Published : 2000
Publisher : Double Day
Pages : 736
Genre : Horror, Fantasy

     Johnny Truant wild and troubled sometime employee in an LA tattoo parlour finds a notebook kept by Zampano, a reclusive old man found dead in a cluttered apartment. Herein is the heavily annotated story of the Navidson Report. Will Navidson, a photojournalist, and his family move into a new house. What happens next is recorded on videotapes and in interviews. Now the Navidsons are household names. Zampano, writing on loose sheets, stained napkins, crammed notebooks, has compiled what must be the definitive work on the events on Ash Tree Lane. But Johnny Truant has never heard of the Navidson Record. Nor has anyone else he knows. And the more he reads about Will Navidson's house, the more frightened he becomes. Paranoia besets him. The worst part is that he can't just dismiss the notebook as the ramblings of a crazy old man. He's starting to notice things changing around him . . .

     I had heard of this book long before I came to hold a copy in my hands. I had been told and read so many different things that it becomes hard to tell what is real and what was just hype. Having finally spent some time with it I can see why this might be. To say this was unlike anything I've read before would be an understatement.  This book twists and turns on its self like a serpent. The plot its self would seem at first glance of the synopsis to be a fairly straight forward affair. But the author manages to take this simplicity and allow it to bloom into a twisted nightmare for all those concerned. It is an exploration of how what took a mans life to the darkest places can seep out into the mind of those who would follow. 

     Stepping into this book is like heading blindfolded into a labyrinthine. Never knowing which turn will lead to a dead end or worse face to face with the beast that calls it home.  This is only made more apparent by the way in which the book itself is presented. The pages become a jumble of knowledge and insight. The author force you to turn the physical book upside down and on its side as the text moves and shifts. Not to mention the paragraphs that are presented backward. It pushes the reader's mind in every direction all at once. Much like the heroes of this book, I found myself having to re-read section and push pieces together in hopes of working out what was taking place. At times it feels like trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together when you have not seen the final picture and there may just be more than one mixed into the box.

     This is a complex book, it unfolds its self only when it sees fit to and bears little response to a normal narrative structure. It will not be forever reader, there is too much going on and the feelings it brings out in you will be both confusing and at the same time a delight if you decide to venture in. For my part I'm still trying to put every thing together, I feel it will be quite some time before I can get a grasp on even a small part of it. It is more likely that at some point in the future I will once again dive into it in the hopes of getting a better understanding second time around. But with all the confusion abound, I would say that there are great rewards to be had for those that choose to do so. The book its self has just as much of a cult status as the incident it tries to describe. And with that comes a great deal of responsibility. Many will go in with a thought or idea of what they are getting themselves into. All I would suggest is that you set those things aside and try and come at it with a clear mind and appreciate it unbound by what you may have read or heard. 

     I was not disappointed by the time I spent with this book, It forced me to concentrate and keep many things in my mind all at once. To push my reading in directions I did not consider before reading this book.