House of Leaves

So where to begin with House of Leaves. It is a book written by Mark Danielewski, about a guy named Johnny Truant, who finds a book written by a man named Zampano, about a movie called the Navidson Record (a movie that does not exist), which is then read by Johnny Truant. Truant also talks about different parts of his life during this reading so it is essentially two different stories going on at the same time. It is very interesting how the stories are intertwined.

This story begins with how Johnny Truant ended up finding Zampano's writings in the first place. The first chapter starts into what was in the Navidson report. This movie is about Will Navidson's family moving into a house and Will's trouble coping with normalcy. Placing cameras throughout the house to record everything so that he would be able to capture specific moments of his family. They eventually go on vacation but upon returning find a room that was not there before they left. Will measures the inside and the outside of the house and realizes the outside is larger than the inside. This is when things really start to get interesting but you will just have to read the rest for yourself.

The interactivity of this book changes throughout the experience. Initially it is how the reader decides to read the two stories and the footnotes. Later on, you are required to interact with the book differently. Sometimes by turning the book and reading clockwise or upside down. In other cases, a mirror was needed to read it properly. Just interacting with the point wasn't even the only strange part. There were parts that had empty brackets, pages with a few or no words at all. Even the index was rather odd. It had the words that were in the book and the pages they were located on but there are many words in the index that just say DNE or does not exist by them.

Everything about this book screams creepy and I love it. From the story itself to the makeup of the book, the chaos never seems to end. To be honest I have not completely finished the book yet but there is no question that I am going to complete this obscure yet captivating masterpiece.