A review by everyotherpageorso
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
While the mind-numbing pseudo-academic style of much of the book was the bulk of the reason I found this book unenjoyable, the excerpts from Johnny Truant were much worse. Almost every single contribution he made to the book included a description of his sexual encounters, which don’t fit the tone of the rest of the book at all. That’s not the real issue either. The problem is: almost every single female character outside of the Navidson Record exists SOLELY to have sex with Johnny or his friend Lude. What really made me throw in the towel (and I don’t consider this a spoiler, because like I said, these intermissions literally have no impact on the actual plot) was “Lude’s List” where he writes the names, ages, and cursory descriptions of the women he’d slept with that month, as well as date and times of day. In the second of these lists, the women are listed only by their names and traumas, and many of them were either raped or molested. These women are glossed over and their trauma is used to describe the revelation of Johnny and Lude that maybe November wasn’t as fun as they thought and that their fleeting relationships with these women and others meant nothing 😐.   In which case, why objectify their trauma at all ?? Then goes on to describe (literally on the very next page) a new conquest’s DDD breasts on the very next page, as well as how he’s both entranced and disgusted by her. Further, right before THAT, one of Johnny’s intended hookups (Clara) tells him about her rape and decides not to sleep with him, and he wonders to himself and the reader if she is defective, broken, or “devoid of meaning and love” because of it. Every time I felt like I could really immerse myself in a bit of the eeriness of the book (and NO, this book is not scary or frightening, it’s very mild) Johnny or Lude detail more of their slimy exploits. It was greasy and gross and I don’t even really feel that bad for not finishing it. 
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