House of Leaves Review

House of Leaves defies the conventions of the modern horror novel.

The novel has gained a cult following after Author Mark Z. Danielewski originally had his book published back in the year 2000. It is chock full of footnotes, appendices and references to books, some real, some not. The story itself is simple: unsuspecting family moves into house, house turns into an evil entity, fear and death ensue. But to leave it at that is a disservice.

The core of the novel revolves around two different stories, which anchor various subplots. The main story is that of the Navidson family, and their Pulitzer prize-winning photographer father Will (referred to as Navy). Their misfortune in the house is all captured on tape by Will and released as a “Blair Witch” type documentary, met with skepticism by those calling it an elaborate hoax.

The family’s story begins and ends with a mysterious hallway that appears in their countryside house after they have moved in. As Will reluctantly explores the hallway, it is found to have no end, and is constantly shifting shape and length. Eventually an exploration team is sent in to the monstrous labyrinth with disastrous results.

The second storyline of the book is that of the troubled young man Johnny Truant, who is compelled to edit and narrate alongside the unfinished work of the recently diseased scholar Zampano. Danielewski’s book is supposed to be fictitiously penned under Zampano’s name within the book and focuses on the literary criticism of Navidson’s movie. Truant’s story is found in lengthy footnotes accompanied to Zampano’s description of “The Navidson Record,” during his editing of the work.

Readers have proclaimed the novel the scariest ever due in part to the style in which it is written. Danielewski often slips into narratives that run off the page, go backwards, or simply have one-sentence pages that better help illustrate the different feelings of the novel. When a character is having the walls close in on him, the text suddenly jams together; and likewise, when someone is falling, the text drops off the page.

This aspect has been explored many times before in horror stories before (House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting); however Danielewski provides a sharp psychological aspect to the story. One of the byproducts of the house includes Navidson’s previously forgotten demons resurfacing. He also explores the toll that spending numerous days in a dark place takes on the human psyche

This book may not appeal to the common reader, but those looking for a more refreshing experience into the realm of horror will be pleased.

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