House of Leaves--Mark Danielewski

This one is on my list of books to read. HSV has told me many many times that it is a must read book, but I balk at the length, and density, and seemingly confusing plotline. Regardless, it is on my list of books to read, right near the top!

House of Leaves was a bestselling novel after its release in 2000, but only in the past couple of months have I really heard a whole lot about it. It seems like a couple people I know read it around the same time, and all had good things to say about it. I will include a brief plot synopsis taken from this detailed wikipedia entry in a minute. But more interesting that the plot (which seems to take on 3 or 4 co-existing stories) is the layout of the book. I have never before seen a book presented in such a unique and interesting way. When I looked at it in Heather's presence, she tried to stop me from flipping ahead and looking at these things, but I snuck a few peaks. To enhance the story the text is laid out in all different ways to make the reader feel what is happening more. Some paragraphs are written in little boxes and typed backwards, some pages contain only one word. I remember at one point a character in the book is crawling through a tunnel and the text on each page is written in a small tunnel shape (with the rest of the page blank) to create the image of you crawling through this tunnel. The font for each of the four characters' narrative is also different (maybe as an aid to keep them all straight). There are also footnotes, and footnotes to footnotes all over the book. The only color other than black is blue, and it is only (and always) used for the word "house". Also, the front cover is slightly smaller than the rest of the book, so the pages sort of seep out over the edges of the cover.

This doesn't even begin to cover all of the innovative design elements of the book, but I haven't read it yet so I don't know all of them. Even if the story is terrible, which I hear it isn't, it would be fun to read just for all of this extra stuff. It must be good for the publisher to print all this blank space for art's sake. Here is a brief plot rundown, followed by some screenshots from inside the book (and don't mind the links, that is wikipedia's doing):

House of Leaves begins with a first-person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee. Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend Lude tells him about the apartment of the recently deceased Zampanò, a blind, elderly man who lived in Lude's building.

In Zampanò's apartment, Truant discovers a manuscript written by Zampanò that turns out to be an academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record.

The rest of the novel alternates between Zampanò's report on the fictional film, Johnny's autobiographical interjections, a small transcript of part of the film from Navidson's brother, Tom, a small transcript of interviews to many people regarding The Navidson Record by Navidson's partner, Karen, and occasional brief notes by unidentified editors, all woven together by a mass of footnotes. There is also a fourth narrator, Johnny's mother, whose voice is presented through a self-contained set of letters titled The Whalestoe Letters. Each narrator's text is printed in a distinct font, making it easier for the reader to follow the occasionally challenging format of the novel.