Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - House of Leaves

Not bad, not great. I probably didn't understand half of it, whereas the other half was either thrilling or boring.

I went through every footnote and reference that was actually inside the book, and that too was a mixed bag. Sometimes it was interesting, sometimes it just kept referring back to itself which got frustrating.

I think I would've enjoyed the story of The Navidson Record on its own, as Johnny Truant's bits were just incomprehensible most of the time and not really much of interest until towards the end when

he finally let go of the drugs and sex.

On the good side I was reminded of Susanne Clarke's Piranesi, which is one of my favourites and has a similar labyrinthine feel to it, although a lot more literally than this!

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gondorgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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sullyfunn's review against another edition

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tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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raebeiss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

where do i even begin. a book that took me 6 months to read and is also amazing. please go read this one?

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galaxy_cat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I was planning on writing a whole essay about all the messages, about the confusion and dread this piece of work causes to anyone who is capable of actually finishing it. About its ability to infiltrate your brain and leave a permanent mark, just like JT describes in the introduction.

But then I realised that maybe it's just a house of leaves.

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storm_37's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

House.

5/5

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missmagpie's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

House of Leaves is one of my favorite books of all time, though it's certainly not for everyone. It's a dense, oftentimes frustratingly difficult, read. The two times I've read it, I made a habit of keeping my laptop close to periodically look up allusions or translations or even other people's interpretations to fully grasp what I was reading. But that is also the thing that's so great about it - every time I think about it, read it, or scroll through discussion boards of other people's takes, I get something new from it. It also plays so effectively with form - pushing the boundaries in such a wonderfully post-modern way of what a book IS. What fiction can be. And how typography affects how you read. When asked, I say it's a story within a story within a story; a man finds his neighbor's unfinished manuscript analyzing a documentary about a house that is impossibly bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. And so it is three stories: the tale of the house, the interpretation of the documentary, and the story of the man reading it. But really it's a story about fact and fiction, questioning what is real and what isn't, and questioning the mediums we inherently accept as factual, such as academic papers and documentaries. Most people won't love this book. It takes work to read. It's filled with the rambling commentary of the most annoying character in the world (to enjoy the Navidson Record, one must suffer the annoyances of Johnny Truant). But I love it so, so much.

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