judes
08-15-2006, 02:34 AM
Warning: Although there are no specific spoilers for the plot of this book, I found it difficult not to go into discussion about its style and certain "surprises" from a strictly technical sense that is found within the book that may affect your view of reading it.
Several years after its publication, there are still fans discussing and wondering about this book and the intentions of the author in writing it. Danielewski has said in interviews that there is not an error or a typo that is not intentional within this book. Some of the guesses at the meaning behind each strikethrough and spelling mistake made by readers sound farfetched, but each time the book is read a reader brings another perspective or analysis into the discussion, and shows how complex the story within the book really is. The biggest mystery (or perhaps the most in your face) of all is the reason behind the appearance of the word house within the novel. It is always colored in blue from cover to cover of this book. Even the name of the publisher, Random House is colored in blue, and mentions of a house in the book in any language is also in blue.
The most logical reason to me is because the author wants to draw this to our attention, and fits in with the idea that you should make your own conclusions about whatever is written within the book. The usage of color may have significant meaning, it may not, it may seem pretentious or puzzling, but I believe that his intention is simply to start you on a road to asking questions, to interpreting, and making up your own reasons for the various puzzles within the book. The novel revolves around a house and to take a step further, it also discusses the house as a physical structure but also related to the concept of 'home'. It is the place that Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist Will Navidson, his wife Karen Green, and their two children have moved into. Quoting from the jacket: "...focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree lane where they discover something terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." Their story was written by a man named "Zampano", and found by Johnny Truant along with his friend Lude when they break into Zampano's apartment after he dies. Johnny Truant is the person who wrote the introduction to House of Leaves, and is one of the main narrators.
There are several contrasting voices within the book. The way Zampano chooses to write about Will Navidson and the house on Ash Tree Lane is academic and dry. The story is presented in the style of an analysis, quoting various "interviews" and other texts written by well known critics or authors. The house is introduced by Navidson to the public by a film called 'The Navidson Record', in which the photojournalist attempts to document his new life in his new house by placing cameras in every room except for the bathrooms. The problem is that the cameras document the sudden appearance of spaces in the house that were not there when they moved in. Zampano's analysis provides an insight into the family, both past and present. Even though Zampano appears maintain a neutral and unbiased look at what surrounds the film, his writing reveals a lot about the author himself.
Another voice is that of Johnny Truant, who is the reader of this original story, and is able to read and interpret the two layers behind the analysis into 'The Navidson Record'. In his search for the interpretation of this book. The reader is able to follow Johnny's life and his descent into obsession regarding Zampano, 'The Navidson Record', and how this plays into his own personal life. His words are written in footnotes responding to various parts within Zampano's writing and take on the feeling of a "personal journal" which contrast the academic tone set by Zampano.
The best way I would describe House of Leaves would be to call it a "book within a book within a book". Each story within could stand alone and would be easily followed if taken apart and put together again without the interruptions of the various footnotes/journal entries printed. But in doing so, the stories would lose their meaning, because it is in how the various stories entwine that make the novel so fascinating to read.
There is such an abundance of ideas, themes, details within the book and it would take much longer than one review to discuss the many meanings that spiral from Danielewski's novel. It is a mixture of various point of views, other than the two perspectives I mentioned, there is poetry, "experimental" writing, and even an appendix with pictures and letters. All of these add to the air of realism, a little nagging feeling at the back of your mind that asks: is this true? is this real? could it possibly happen to me?
What interests me about this book is the sense of foreboding that continues throughout. Reading it simply makes my skin crawl and makes me want to check behind my shoulder even though the story within the book is not frightening in the traditional sense. There is no bogeyman or serial killer. It is also not a mystery or supernatural book where you discover what demons live in the basement and the subsequent killing/exorcism of those demons or a simple lead to the conclusion of who was the culprit.
The questions that I asked myself when I read the book were:
Who truly wrote the story of the Navidson Record? Was it Zampano? Was Zampano only a figure of Johnny Truant's imagination? As an extension of that how much of Johnny Truant's record of his life is "true" and how much was only in his head? The uniqueness of this book comes from the fact that instead of solving the riddles that form, the book gives you no definite answer than the one made by yourself.
What remains in my mind after completing House of Leaves is the sense of "space", about how much of our reality is set and how our experiences of the physical is truly physical or perhaps tied in so intricately with our mental processes. It is what is most frightening about 'The Navidson Record' and the accompanying degeneration of Truant's sanity as he attempts to live with possibility of the truth within the text and the film. There are not many books that can make me stand in the shower one day wondering if the walls have shifted and if the taps have moved an inch to the right somehow. It's not the kind of feeling that can be summed up with "fear" or "claustrophobia" or even to wrap up the book with a general "darkness" or "fight between good and evil" or "the triumphs of man over the unknown". It is the sort of unease that prickles at the back of your neck when you think someone is following you even though there is no sound and no shadow behind you. It makes you wonder, which is worse: an evil with a purpose and malicious intent, or an indifferent evil that simply is and will continue to exist for all of time?
- originally written for bookspam (http://community.livejournal.com/bookspam/)
Several years after its publication, there are still fans discussing and wondering about this book and the intentions of the author in writing it. Danielewski has said in interviews that there is not an error or a typo that is not intentional within this book. Some of the guesses at the meaning behind each strikethrough and spelling mistake made by readers sound farfetched, but each time the book is read a reader brings another perspective or analysis into the discussion, and shows how complex the story within the book really is. The biggest mystery (or perhaps the most in your face) of all is the reason behind the appearance of the word house within the novel. It is always colored in blue from cover to cover of this book. Even the name of the publisher, Random House is colored in blue, and mentions of a house in the book in any language is also in blue.
The most logical reason to me is because the author wants to draw this to our attention, and fits in with the idea that you should make your own conclusions about whatever is written within the book. The usage of color may have significant meaning, it may not, it may seem pretentious or puzzling, but I believe that his intention is simply to start you on a road to asking questions, to interpreting, and making up your own reasons for the various puzzles within the book. The novel revolves around a house and to take a step further, it also discusses the house as a physical structure but also related to the concept of 'home'. It is the place that Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist Will Navidson, his wife Karen Green, and their two children have moved into. Quoting from the jacket: "...focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree lane where they discover something terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside." Their story was written by a man named "Zampano", and found by Johnny Truant along with his friend Lude when they break into Zampano's apartment after he dies. Johnny Truant is the person who wrote the introduction to House of Leaves, and is one of the main narrators.
There are several contrasting voices within the book. The way Zampano chooses to write about Will Navidson and the house on Ash Tree Lane is academic and dry. The story is presented in the style of an analysis, quoting various "interviews" and other texts written by well known critics or authors. The house is introduced by Navidson to the public by a film called 'The Navidson Record', in which the photojournalist attempts to document his new life in his new house by placing cameras in every room except for the bathrooms. The problem is that the cameras document the sudden appearance of spaces in the house that were not there when they moved in. Zampano's analysis provides an insight into the family, both past and present. Even though Zampano appears maintain a neutral and unbiased look at what surrounds the film, his writing reveals a lot about the author himself.
Another voice is that of Johnny Truant, who is the reader of this original story, and is able to read and interpret the two layers behind the analysis into 'The Navidson Record'. In his search for the interpretation of this book. The reader is able to follow Johnny's life and his descent into obsession regarding Zampano, 'The Navidson Record', and how this plays into his own personal life. His words are written in footnotes responding to various parts within Zampano's writing and take on the feeling of a "personal journal" which contrast the academic tone set by Zampano.
The best way I would describe House of Leaves would be to call it a "book within a book within a book". Each story within could stand alone and would be easily followed if taken apart and put together again without the interruptions of the various footnotes/journal entries printed. But in doing so, the stories would lose their meaning, because it is in how the various stories entwine that make the novel so fascinating to read.
There is such an abundance of ideas, themes, details within the book and it would take much longer than one review to discuss the many meanings that spiral from Danielewski's novel. It is a mixture of various point of views, other than the two perspectives I mentioned, there is poetry, "experimental" writing, and even an appendix with pictures and letters. All of these add to the air of realism, a little nagging feeling at the back of your mind that asks: is this true? is this real? could it possibly happen to me?
What interests me about this book is the sense of foreboding that continues throughout. Reading it simply makes my skin crawl and makes me want to check behind my shoulder even though the story within the book is not frightening in the traditional sense. There is no bogeyman or serial killer. It is also not a mystery or supernatural book where you discover what demons live in the basement and the subsequent killing/exorcism of those demons or a simple lead to the conclusion of who was the culprit.
The questions that I asked myself when I read the book were:
Who truly wrote the story of the Navidson Record? Was it Zampano? Was Zampano only a figure of Johnny Truant's imagination? As an extension of that how much of Johnny Truant's record of his life is "true" and how much was only in his head? The uniqueness of this book comes from the fact that instead of solving the riddles that form, the book gives you no definite answer than the one made by yourself.
What remains in my mind after completing House of Leaves is the sense of "space", about how much of our reality is set and how our experiences of the physical is truly physical or perhaps tied in so intricately with our mental processes. It is what is most frightening about 'The Navidson Record' and the accompanying degeneration of Truant's sanity as he attempts to live with possibility of the truth within the text and the film. There are not many books that can make me stand in the shower one day wondering if the walls have shifted and if the taps have moved an inch to the right somehow. It's not the kind of feeling that can be summed up with "fear" or "claustrophobia" or even to wrap up the book with a general "darkness" or "fight between good and evil" or "the triumphs of man over the unknown". It is the sort of unease that prickles at the back of your neck when you think someone is following you even though there is no sound and no shadow behind you. It makes you wonder, which is worse: an evil with a purpose and malicious intent, or an indifferent evil that simply is and will continue to exist for all of time?
- originally written for bookspam (http://community.livejournal.com/bookspam/)