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Karen's Reviews > House of Leaves
House of Leaves
by
by
This book starts with, This Is Not For You. Many times throughout my journey through this book, I felt that statement was so true.
This book read like a non-fiction thesis by citing numerous books, quoting professionals and celebrities, and documenting the history. The book also includes an extensive appendix with an index. Oh...and footnotes too! Saying "the author sure did his research", is the understatement of the century!
This book kept me on my toes! As the story of Karen, Navy and their house moves along, the second story of Johnny Truant is written into the footnotes as he reads through the Navidson Record and inserts his own story in the process. We learn that Truant is an unreliable narrator and is slowly sinking into madness. The Navidson Record and movies have an unsettling effect on people.
I feel like this book was brilliant, a true work of art and imagination. The amount of time the author put into it is evident. Also, at the same time, I hated it. The long chapters dealing with physics, the bizarre layout of the pages, following the footnotes and getting lost in the process, the tedious letter deciphering.... maybe this book wasn't for me. Was the book interesting? Yes! Was it worth it? I don't know. Will I remember it for a long, long time? Definitely yes! But will I remember it as something wonderful or something frustrating? That remains to be seen.
Now the question to ask yourself...Is This For You?
This book read like a non-fiction thesis by citing numerous books, quoting professionals and celebrities, and documenting the history. The book also includes an extensive appendix with an index. Oh...and footnotes too! Saying "the author sure did his research", is the understatement of the century!
This book kept me on my toes! As the story of Karen, Navy and their house moves along, the second story of Johnny Truant is written into the footnotes as he reads through the Navidson Record and inserts his own story in the process. We learn that Truant is an unreliable narrator and is slowly sinking into madness. The Navidson Record and movies have an unsettling effect on people.
I feel like this book was brilliant, a true work of art and imagination. The amount of time the author put into it is evident. Also, at the same time, I hated it. The long chapters dealing with physics, the bizarre layout of the pages, following the footnotes and getting lost in the process, the tedious letter deciphering.... maybe this book wasn't for me. Was the book interesting? Yes! Was it worth it? I don't know. Will I remember it for a long, long time? Definitely yes! But will I remember it as something wonderful or something frustrating? That remains to be seen.
Now the question to ask yourself...Is This For You?
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Reading Progress
October 14, 2015
–
Started Reading
October 14, 2015
– Shelved
October 15, 2015
–
3.67%
""Sure, I say, but I'm still shaken and quickly lose hold of the details when I realize I've just forgotten something else as well, something very important, which by the time I hang up, no matter how hard I try, I can no longer remember what I'd meant to remember when whatever it was had first entered my head. Or had it?""
page
27
October 16, 2015
–
84.1%
"Johnny's mom is totally crazy but smart too. What they say must be true; there is a fine line between genius and madness. Now I need a pen and paper to figure out her convert message. This should be interesting."
page
619
October 22, 2015
–
15.63%
"Chapter IX is confusing. I feel like I'm reading in circles as I jump from footnote to footnote only to revisit the same footnotes later on. Maybe this was done on purpose since the topic is about labyrinths."
page
115
October 22, 2015
–
16.3%
"The writing inside the blue squares is like a mirror image or window. Interesting. This layout is becomming bizarre."
page
120
October 22, 2015
–
33.42%
"After struggling through Chapter 9, Chapter 10 was a literal breath of fresh air... but only in reference to the ease of reading it. The content was pretty amazing, shocking and, thankfully, somewhat hopeful."
page
246
October 23, 2015
–
45.52%
"This book is something else.... only a few more pages of missing letters and text to go. Lol!"
page
335
February 6, 2016
–
71.6%
""Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati. It does not mean to flow with exuberance. It means to suffer.""
page
527
February 6, 2016
–
Finished Reading
