House of Leaves by: Mark Z. Danielewski
review by: Beth Kinderman '04
Opening a closet door is a routine occurrence for everyone. But what if you opened that door and, instead of your jacket and hat, found that an immense dark, empty space had suddenly opened up in your own home? When you discovered that the space is always changing and heard a monstrous growl approaching from the distance, would you lock the door and try to forget about it--or would you venture inward to see what the darkness held? These are the problems that photographer and filmmaker Will Navidson and his family must confront in House Of Leaves, a unique and chilling first novel by Mark Z. Danielewski. Navidson documents his story in a film which is in turn analyzed in an unfinished book by a blind man named Zampano, who may have just made the entire thing up. Zampano's manuscript is found and edited by Johnny Truant, an apprentice tattoo artist who is slowly driven mad by Navidson's story and tells his own story through footnotes. Confused? Not nearly as much as you'll be when you discover that the text of House Of Leaves is as mutable as the house itself, sometimes appearing upside down, backwards, in different colors and formats, or even one word to a page. Some readers will undoubtedly find this annoying, but I thought the strange formatting captured the disorienting nature of the house better than anything else. In fact, House Of Leaves as a whole will probably not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you enjoyed the movie "The Blair Witch Project" (with which the novel's concept has many similarities) and have a high tolerance for experimental fiction, you'll probably love this book as much as I did. It kept me up well past my bedtime for several weeks, not only because of needing to read "just one more chapter," but also, because at times, it's utterly terrifying. This is a book you'll be thinking about long after you turn the last page. I can tell you that since I read it, I've never looked at a closet in quite the same way.