House of Leaves in On Paths Unknown

Jun 21, 2022 Fuggwidit rated it liked it

I picked up this book somewhat blind, I had no expectations and made the decision to read it based on recommendation. I did not so much as flip through the pages before diving in, but perhaps I should have...

I enjoyed and was intrigued by the book at the start, but my enjoyment and interest waned the further into the book I got. By the time I finished, I was relieved to be putting it down. This trajectory of my enjoyment had a couple causes:

1. There are multiple stories happening in this book t I picked up this book somewhat blind, I had no expectations and made the decision to read it based on recommendation. I did not so much as flip through the pages before diving in, but perhaps I should have...

I enjoyed and was intrigued by the book at the start, but my enjoyment and interest waned the further into the book I got. By the time I finished, I was relieved to be putting it down. This trajectory of my enjoyment had a couple causes:

1. There are multiple stories happening in this book that are presented more or less simultaneously, one of which nearly bored me to death and was presented by an insufferable narrator: Johnny Truant. His narrative is in the form of footnotes that have nothing to do with the text they're supposedly commenting on, resembling instead journal entries. For the first half of the book they only seem to glamorize a certain LA lifestyle of chasing girls and doing drugs. Such stories have the potential to be interesting, but these were not. As the focus of these journal entries changed, my level of engagement elicited by them did not. The story these footnotes nominally provide commentary for, however, I DID find interesting. While this will be used as a piece of evidence for the other part of my indictment, I did enjoy the manner with which this base-story was told: that of an academic research paper. It reminded me a lot the type of papers I'd read in art history in college and thought it was a fun gimmick, which brings us to...

2. Gimmicks. This book is just so gimmicky. While the faux-academic style of the base-story describing a supernatural event tickled me a certain way I found agreeable, there were so many other gimmicks piled on top that I quickly became exasperated. Footnotes, footnotes on footnotes, those journal-footnotes being pages long, appendices, inconsistent formatting taken to the extreme (there were a significant amount of pages that had only a few words on them, always in odd places/arrangements, the rest of the page blank. Sometimes the text was upside down, or rotated another multiple of 45 degrees, or backwards. There were a couple pages where you had to read from bottom to top. Every conceivable way that the standard layout of text on page could be abused, it probably was in this book) hidden puzzles (the reward of which often offered no real narrative or aesthetic value), and perhaps most eye-roll inducing of them all, there's a part where a character in the book reads THE book. Yep, they crack open House of Leaves. And it's not even the secondary narrator Mr. Johnny Truant, but the protagonist of what I've been referring to as the base-story. The one who's containing text is found and commented on (journaled over?) by Mr. Truant, his commentary constituting at least half of it...

My overall impression is that the author had a compelling idea, worked to flesh it out a bit but wasn't satisfied. Instead of developing the plot further, the author then tried to shape what could have potentially made a compelling short or shorter story into something larger than it is by throwing every imaginable gimmick at it. For instance, the second narrative seemed to me like it was supposed to function in a similar manner to a laugh track: Johnny's blossoming obsession with the base text (ya know, the text he hardly ever actually comments on) is supposed to suck the reader in to a similar level of emotional investment. Another reason for my impression was the fact that when the protagonist of the base-story begins to read House of Leaves, the narrator makes sure to point out it's 700 PAGES LONG (this fact is relevant where it appears because time is a significant factor in the setting of the scene). I would hesitate to say that this book is 700 pages considering the many pages that only contain a few words, considering the many pages that have functionally nonsensical text, considering the mediocre stream-of-consciousness narration favored by one of the narrators, considering the two different appendices and two different indices. Sir, your book is NOT 700 pages long, probably closer to 400 pages (the narratives both end by page 528).

I get that the obnoxious formatting was supposed to reflect subject matter that was being described, but what it added to the experience was less than what it required to get through. I understand the meta aspects and attempting to implicate the reader as a part of this story by containing referents existing outside of the world of the book (namely the reader) and bending the boundaries of the medium, but honestly I'd just prefer a good story contained in pages that aren't trying to resist being read.

While what I've written so far may come across as scathing, I'm rating this book 3 stars. I of course think my complaints are valid, but there was still plenty to enjoy in the book. In fact, had I read this when I was younger and less jaded, my tastes less solidified, I think I would have enjoyed it much more than I did. There were moments where I really was engaged and enjoying the book. I can't deny that this is a unique work. The author is certainly clever and as I've already admitted, some of the unique approaches he took in writing this did in fact work for me. No piece of media is going to reach every audience. I am sure that there are plenty of people out there that will enjoy this book, perhaps fall down the rabbit hole it seeks to create. At this point in my life, however, I've survived too many tumbles down my own rabbit holes and don't have the time or the energy to take this author's invitation to fall into his constructed one. ...more

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Apr 11, 2024 Kasi rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.4 stars for the most trying novel I have ever read. I do love the arrangement of details within the book and believe that it accurately portrays the insanity within it. Most of the stars I’m giving is because of just how gripping the psychological horror within the book is.

If you’re looking for more honorable intercalation novels I’d suggest “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman or “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende

brb going to cleanse myself now

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