Lyme’s Reviews > House of Leaves > Status Update

Pretty much hooked on the book at this point, and trying to find time to read it wherever possible (at least one chapter at a time, can't really stop partway through one).

Book's moving a lot quicker now due to the changes in formatting. Still a good read

Kept trekking forth, even though I'd initially planned to stop for the night, and have now finished chapter IX. Surprised by how easy this was to read, given its incredibly weird formatting. It also surprisingly dropped a list of thematically-relevant films, which will be added to my watchlist 🙂‍↕️

Kinda sick of Johnny's escapades, but at least his experiences with the (¿Minotaur?) are spooky

Have just finished Chapter VII & VIII. Tone was a bit more mellow than the last couple of chapters that I read, but still enjoying the book so far. Flicked ahead to check out how long the next chapter is, and it seems like the book's structure is going to become truly WEIRD in the next chapter.

Although it may seem I've made no progress since my last update, I've actually just finished the Whalestoe Letters, an emotional sub-story about Johnny's relationship with his mother. As somebody who's had a loved one succumb to dementia, I found this to be a particularly confronting read.

May 8th, 1987 might be one of the hardest reads of all time, truly horrific stuff.

Have just now finished the incredibly long and arduous chapter 5. This chapter was a masterclass in tension, and the way it managed to weave the seemingly irrelevant tangent on echoes into the later parts of the chapter was crazy. Not a great book to read in the lead-up to bedtime.

Undecided whether I'm going to continue on to the next chapter or read the Whalestoe Letters when I next pick up the book.

Have now read the prologue and the first 4 chapters. The final few paragraphs of the prologue were genuinely spine-chilling. The way Danielewski utilises fonts and footnotes to simultaneously tell multiple interlinked stories is really impressive. Definitely a slow-burn sort of horror, but it's managed to freak me out at least a few times so far.

Very keen to continue reading