I just want to know, why the hell didn’t someone tell me about this book before?  I have to say that when I first heard about it recently, I was extremely intrigued by the concept and couldn’t wait to read it.  And when all is said and done, I honestly don’t know if I loved or hated this novel.

Imagine a house that is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Not only that, the house also changes and moves as it pleases. This is the setting for The Navidson Record, a film created by photojournalist Will Navidson when he moves to Ash Tree Lane with his partner Karen Green and their two children. At first, the house is a dream come true, their ticket to a new and peaceful life as a real family. Then they notice the door. It should lead to their back yard. But it doesn’t. It leads to a dark, cold hallway, which leads to dark, cold, featureless rooms, more hallways, and a spiral staircase that seems to have no end. Navidson begins organizing explorations of the house, which are at first tantalizing and maddening. As they go on, however, Navidson will find that the house takes away more than it gives up.

House of Leaves is written in the format of a researched thesis on The Navidson Record complete with footnotes, appendices, and an extensive index. Well, that’s pretty cool for a work of fiction. Danielewski must have put a lot of patience and diligent work into this. Oh, look at that, colored words and backwards text. Intriguing. I especially like how the text format during the explorations mirrors the claustrophobia and remoteness of the depths of the house (i.e. small boxes of text getting smaller as Navidson crawls down a narrowing tunnel). That’s pretty nifty, really gets you into the story. And coded messages? Wowee!

No, seriously, this book drove me nuts. I don’t have the words to tell you how it frustrated and overwhelmed me. Not the format, that part was actually pretty cool. I can dig the skewed/flipped paragraphs and oddly arranged text. And I even thought I did a pretty good job keeping up with the multiple story lines. It was more the part where the story would really get going, and then Danielewski would throw in twenty pages about the legends of the Minotaur, or about the myth and mechanics of echoes. The footnotes, while a neat touch, were often just distracting and irrelevant. The story skips around a lot, and it’s difficult to keep all the facts straight. I feel like I should have been taking notes while reading it. Not to mention how many unanswered questions the story leaves you with.

I loved the story itself. It was haunting and suspenseful, and even with all the loose ends it left, I enjoyed the ending. I’ll probably read it again, because as much as it drove me crazy, I did appreciate it.  Danielewski has some real talent, and once I’ve recovered from his first clusterfuck of a book, I would like to check out more of his work.  I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a challenge in their reading. And if this review seems lackluster at all, it’s because House of Leaves has left my brains scrambled.