Buy on Amazon
|
Trying to describe this
book in words is like attempting to explain my pure hatred for George
Bush in plain English--it's twisting, complicated and ever-growing.
The best I can do to summarize this thing is it's the story of a man
who stumbles across a book written by a crazy blind man about a fictional
documentary film, which, in turn, is about a photojournalist and his
family who live in a house that has constantly expanding and contracting
hallways and labyrinths inside it. The book written by the blind man,
Zampano, comes complete with footnotes citing non-existent texts and
non-existent people. The man who finds the book is his neighbor, Johnny
Truant, who is slowly overcome by the power of the words, and who
interjects pieces of his own life in footnotes and endnotes throughout
the book. On top of that, an imaginary editor corrects and
clarifies things throughout the text which supposedly found its way
from Johnny Truant to the Internet and eventually to a publishing
house, which leaves us with House of Leaves. Where Danielewski
comes into this whole thing, I have no idea, but in this era of post-post-modern
literature, I don't think it even matters. As the book progresses
we are sucked into the madness of both Zampano and Truant and the
narrative, footnotes and actual text on the page disintegrate the
same way the twisting hallways in the Navidson's house do. As his
exploration of the house in the documentary become labored and confusing,
as does the actual reading of this book. Sometimes there will be one
word per page, upside-down passages and paragraphs that are completely
crossed-out. This is most assuredly not easy reading for a summer
vacation. It also reminds me, with its descent into oblivion, of a
Stephen King story I remember reading a long time ago about a guy
deserted on an island who slowly goes mad and starts raving about
Vienna Fingers, only to end up eating his own fingers to stave off
starvation. Anyway, while I enjoyed about ninety-percent of this book,
I have to salute Danielewski for the effort, but know that this thing
would infuriate most readers--those that would bother to pick it up
in the first place.
|
Booze
& Grub
Hipster Movie Reviews
Music