Mark Z. Danielewski

[Aloha]

Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves is my favorite fiction. I also finished The Whalestoe Letters that accompanies HoL. I started Only Revolutions before the increasingly small type annoyed me. Maybe it will come out in eBook one day. One day I will complete his collection.

My review for HoL. This book is my first intro. into postmodernism. I may miss a few things since I still have a lot to learn.

House of Leaves


Books I've Read
House of Leaves
The Whalestoe Letters
Only Revolutions (unfinished because my eyes became crossed)

Books To Read
The Fifty Year Sword
The Familiar (27 volume novel about a cat (?))

[Ian]

Like.

[Aloha]

Good, good. I need to lure livestocks in here.

[Ian]

Baaa

[Moira]

Aloha wrote: "Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves is my favorite fiction. I also finished The Whalestoe Letters that accompanies HoL.

Me too!

I started Only Revolutions before the increasingly small type annoyed me...."

It just looked so....so.....I don't know. I just could not even get into it. It was sad. - Isn't he now publishing some 12-volume novel or something? Or is that another male modern pomo author?

[Aloha]

Yes. It be him. I can't wait to see how the series will be. It'd be interesting to see what his dominant style is.

[Ian]

Pomo author looks so much like porno author.

[Aloha]

LOL. Well, he might be pimping himself with the 12-volume.

[Nathan "N.R."]

Despite having only two novels published to date--the addictive pop-metafictional House of Leaves and the universally hated Only Revolutions (for which reason I've just gotta read)--his projected project is The Familiar, projected at 27 volumes. As of two years ago, The Familiar is designed as a serial novel of some kind with installments published monthly or along some such schedule. It's a bout a kitten. We'll see how voluminous this money-making project turns out.

I suspect that The Familiar is either hugely delayed or will begin publication very soon: The Fifty Year Sword is scheduled for republication next month. And The Whalestoe Letters--isn't that an exact reproduction of what's in HoL's, or is it an expanded collection?

[Nathan "N.R."]

Nick wrote: "although the companion piece includes eleven additional letters not found in House of Leaves. "

Yep. That's what I recall. Thanks. And since the Letters was perhaps the most dull part of HoL's I suspect I'll never bother with the companion publication until it shows up used for $0.68US. I will forever and anon be happy without those eleven letters, methinks.

[Aloha]

You're not missing anything not getting The Whalestoe Letters, as long as you have HoL.

[Nate]

There are a couple significant additional letters, I think, but to me they just sort of scream: "not enough readers understood me so I'm putting out some extra hints"

(not that I didn't have to have the asopect I'm mentioning pointed out to me -- but this was also my intro to metafiction so I wasn't really on the alert.)

[Dharmakirti]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE House of Leaves, easily my favorite novel.

I've started on Only Revolutions a number of times and it's not the font size that gets me (the print gets bigger as you proceed), it's the poetry that I find a bit mentaly exhausting.

I do want to get the Whalestone letters just because I think the letters from Pelafina in HoL are heartbreaking; they were one of my favorite pieces of the novel.

[Aloha]

I felt the same way about The Whalestoe letters, but I was disappointed that the WL did not add much more than what was in HoL.

[Kathryn]

Aloha wrote: "I felt the same way about The Whalestoe letters, but I was disappointed that the WL did not add much more than what was in HoL."

I have actually been looking for TWL, but now that I read your comment about it not adding much, it makes me want to just skip it all together. Next year I plan on re-reading HoL...It's been about...oh, 10 years or more since the first read. :)

[Dharmakirti]

Aloha wrote: "I felt the same way about The Whalestoe letters, but I was disappointed that the WL did not add much more than what was in HoL."

My interest in getting the WL is not that they would add anything or further my understanding of HoL, but I think it would be interesting to read the letters in isolation, absent the context of the novel, especially since it has been awhile since I read HoL.

[Aloha]

I think that if HoL is among your favorite books, it's good to read TWL just to get a more complete look. It's a completist thing to do.

[Dharmakirti]

The Familiar Volume One came out this past week. I'm a few chapters in, and so far, I really like it. Once again, he uses various fonts to identify different characters and plays around with page layouts; I haven't had to turn the book upside down, yet, but I've had to turn it sideways. I love the way he uses the page, it really engages me.

Based on a couple articles I've read, the author has already written the first 10 volumes in the series and we can expect two to three volumes a year. Volume two is supposed to be published later this year.