Jim’s Reviews > House of Leaves > Status Update

How're you liking this so far?

Well -- I was moving along through it until Terry went into the hospital. Very odd. The heart of the book is a scholarly dissertation on a fictitious famous documentary, complete with thousands of fake references, wrapped inside the narrator rambling about his life. I am not a fan of long dissertations (one entire chapter is devoted to the history and meaning of the phrase "Labyrinth") or documentaries, but the writing is good, and I am I am enjoying the massively complex undertaking that this book represents. Some of it gets a little excessive, like 10 pages of sidebars listing names of famous buildings! The subject of the documentary is an exciting story, and that story unfolding underneath all the other text is what holds everything together. Still only about 25% complete -- so I'll see how I feel in another few hundred pages.

I read the book many years ago. Soon afte it came out I believe. It's one of my favorites just because of how strangely it's laid out - a fake book about a fake book that includes the writer's notes.

Why would you have read this? I only heard about it through some English-teacher types recently. Found it at the library (full size paperback with all the "house" words in red) for 25 cents. Couldn't resist!

I found it at Barnes and Noble and picked it up because it looked interesting. Also, the author is related to the singer "Poe." Apparently her second CD, "Haunted," is supposed to mirror the book.