House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

I first read House of Leaves some ten years ago as an impressionable university undergraduate and was understandably taken in by the unconventional presentation and subverted horror conventions. Returning to it again at the age of thirty, I see its deficiencies and pretensions with raw, often cringing clarity. This is not to say it is a bad book however, the core story is a genuinely creepy and unsettling account of a house in Virginia that mysteriously manifests a dark, cold, and infinite labyrinth at the end of an inexplicable hallway. The frame story, that of a psychologically damaged LA playboy stoner who pieces together the notes of a dead old man, is an unwelcome addition that only distracts from the internal narrative. Part of the immersion when reading this book the first time around was that I was staying in the Virginian countryside, in a house not unlike Navidson's. The story is still gripping, but the many footnotes and diversions are more of a nuisance.

Danielewski is guilty of glorying in his role as the intellectual writer, throwing everything he has ever learned into this ten year project whilst claiming to satirise the navel gazing world of academic criticism, at the same time indulging in it himself. Many of the footnotes cite invented sources, leading to dead ends, whilst much of the text is obliterated or constructed in such a way as to be unreadable. The selling point of the book is undeniably the cult shroud of mystery surrounding it, not to mention the wacky, if gimmicky print style. The reader will flick through blank pages, use mirrors to decipher text, and turn the book upside down to read some passages. It makes for a very hefty volume, which is reflected in its high retail price. Despite these rather bitter criticisms, I'm rating the book highly because at the time of its release, it broke some new ground and revived my love of the uncanny, 'haunted' house genre. Unfortunately, the momentum and tension built up all comes to nothing at the end, as it runs on far too long. Avoid the nauseating appendix of Whalestoe letters.

Rating: 4/5