House of Leaves

I finished House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski this week. It's a post postmodern book, using the structure of the book and the text as part of the story. Maybe the main character for one storyline is going through a tunnel that keeps getting smaller, and each page will have less and less text on it. There's at least three storylines, as well as clues and puzzles you're encouraged to take time for throughout the book. But you can read it without stopping for these distractions, and still follow the story pretty well. It's a 700-page book, so I did find that after I'd put some significant time into just reading it I did get some sense of satisfaction out of decoding a couple of things. At the same time, when I realized at the end just how many things I may have missed, I was perfectly happy to say "Oh well" and move on.

So without having solved every puzzle, or even being completely sure I solved the major puzzle of the story lines themselves, it is a good book. It's a scary book, and I definitely had bad dreams the night I finished it. I've read comments from people who said the constant interruptions the book provides in the main story arc keep it from being truly frightening. I'd have to disagree. What was scariest about the book was the thing that might possibly always be around the corner, and the breaks served to heighten my anticipation about what might happen next.

You do have to let go a little of reality and structure in order to not get angry with the layout of the book. But breaking that fourth wall takes you out of control, and certainly added to my sense of fear.