House of Leaves
 

Has anyone read this? I've been hearing a lot about it, as a horror novel. It's weird "visual" writing style has me interested. I've done a bit of research trying to find out if it's worth reading, or actually scary, but all I've found is literary criticism, and essays galore.

I have searched my public library's catalog, and apparently it's not there. I can usually convince a librarian to order it for me but my favourite librarian who usually orders comics for me no longer works there. I just want to know if it's any good before I buy a copy.

Let me know if it's a good read.

In the lyrics to "Poe"'s song "Haunted" it mentions the title:

"There's always a way
Here in November in this house of leaves
We'll pray"

I don't know if there's any relation to the book though.

Picture of Poe
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...pater/poe3.jpg

Oooh Poe is a singer of some kind. I assumed Edgar Allen Poe until I saw the picture.

Anyway downloaded the book to read a few chapters, then deciding if it's worth buying. Longest torrent ever btw.

Gimmicky horseshit.

Really? Guess I'll take your advice over the couple of indie kids who swore by it. I have read 20 pages so far, and my worry is that I have already figured out the plot. It's gonna be the same as every short story I've read. Someone dies solving a mystery and leaves a journal or something, someone finds that journal and obsesses over the mystery behind the death, they die and leave behind a journal etc. etc.

Of course some Indie kids swear by it, but a lot of these kids haven't read Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow. Check that out instead. Danielewski uses a lot of smoke and mirrors to compensate for his lack of talent and did not invent metafiction, contrary to the beliefs of the red plaid Hot Topic pants community. For a similarly puzzling and intellectually playful book with more heart, a lot of laughs and a bigger mindfuck fact6r, I'd recommend Eckhard Gerdes' My Landlady the Lobotomist. But, if you're looking for that kind of creepypasta style scare go with Chambers. He was the first and the best. The feeling in your spine when you put down that book isn't "somebody has cheated me" but one of crossing a threshold. Another book prized by the Indie set that I feels delivers a bit more is The Raw Shark Texts.

I'll read all of them! Compare and contrast. I'm excited :D

My friend just lent me a book I have to read quick and get back to her though, then the creepy stuf.

It's a good idea to read things that people tell you are brilliant or are crap I find. I read House of Leaves because in On Writing Horror, I think it's Nick Mamatas says it's sublimely creepy. Also metafictional and weird is my book Archelon Ranch. It features dinosaurs, zombies, a mall ravaged by dollar store hotsauce wars and a character who has turned against the narrative and will destroy it no matter what the cost. Consistent five star reviews from critics. Sold FOUR copies in the states that I didn't sell myself (I sold 20). Sorry, had to bring it up in the House of Leaves thread because it's about writing and reading but still has fun shit happen and deep emotional content.

i actually liked the 'core' narrative of House of Leaves (the pieced together story that is in the documentary) and have long thought that the core narrative of the house and the extra door could be a great movie. however, like doc, i got exhausted by the endless frustrated-grad-student literary meta-fiction, which seemed to me to just diminish rather than enhance the story. i liked raw shark texts but wish it had a bit more comic (cause it wasnt' any kind of scary) - i could see it as a film with simon pegg but really played for laughs

Definitely. Raw Shark texts sort of feels like an episode of Futurama. The premise at least.