House of Leaves

[Guest RobJohnstone]

My friend was telling me he heard about this book "House of Leaves", and that it was cooll. I read some reviews of it online and it seems as though there is a mini cult following of the book. Should I waste my time?

 

--Rob

[Guest red_file]

I suppose it depends on what you want out of a book. House of Leaves is an interesting post-modernist exercise, but I'm not so sure if it's anything beyond that. Plot and character are kinda sacrificed for what the author does with form, so it's the type of book where you're amazed at what he's doing instead of how he's doing it or why.

 

Of course, the cult would say that I didn't "get it," and they'd probably be right.

 

It's worth a read. Library, perhaps.

[Guest J*ingus]

Libraries generally don't carry a book like House of Leaves, at least mine doesn't. But that book is one of the damndest things I've ever read, and no I don't think the characterizations were sacrificed in favor of the gimmick (which is admittedly brilliant). The house itself is one of the strangest, scariest, most convincing portrayals of the Other that I've ever come across, something that is definitely not from here and doesn't play by the same rules that we do.

[Guest Incandenza]

I picked it up a couple of years ago, but I got distracted and never finished it. What I read was pretty interesting, like if David Foster Wallace wrote a horror novel.

 

And Jingus, you just had to type "house" in blue font, huh?

[Guest red_file]

Libraries generally don't carry a book like House of Leaves, at least mine doesn't.

Inter-library loan. If you're willing to wait for it, there are very few books that your library won't be able to obtain.

 

And, c'mon, if Wallace ever wrote a horror novel, it'd at least be funny.

[Guest Incandenza]

I meant Wallace in style, if not in spirit. Or do I mean spirit, and not style? I dunno.

[Guest Vyce]

Libraries generally don't carry a book like House of Leaves, at least mine doesn't. But that book is one of the damndest things I've ever read, and no I don't think the characterizations were sacrificed in favor of the gimmick (which is admittedly brilliant). The house itself is one of the strangest, scariest, most convincing portrayals of the Other that I've ever come across, something that is definitely not from here and doesn't play by the same rules that we do.

I read the book quite some time ago, and like Jingus, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd say it's at least worth reading, if not outright buying.

 

I can see why there's a cult-following. The format is very unique. The house itself is terrifying (it's a tesseract), and the story itself has been described (by me) as the literary equivalent of the Blair Witch Project (when you read it, you'll understand what I mean by that).

 

All of that, plus the author's sister (the singer Poe) is pretty fucking hot.

[Guest RobJohnstone]

cool, thanks for the info. I'll probably just buy it. It's only $20

 

--Rob