3 Review(s)

House Of Leaves is a complex novel of horror and romance. Summary Of The Book House Of Leaves is a novel about a young family that moves into what seems to be a lovely country house, and their later experiences in the house. It is also the story of the film the owner of the house made relevant to their experiences, The Navidson Record. The only information about the film is the notes written by a blind old man, Zampano, who seems to have been obsessed by the film. The old man’s elaborate notes are found by a young Tattoo shop apprentice, Johnny Truant. Truant is the character that holds the story of the House Of Leaves together, for he is the main narrator in a book that is layered and complex. Truant is searching for an apartment and is directed to the house once occupied by the now dead Zampano. In that apartment, Truant finds an elaborate manuscript on a documentary film called The Navidson Record. The film records the experiences of Will Navidson in an attractive country house in Virginia. Will Navidson, a photojournalist, had purchased the house in an attempt to save his relationship with Karen Green and keep his family together. House Of Leaves then narrates what happens to the Navidson family in that house. Will Navidson had fitted his house out with cameras to create a nice home movie. But, what gets recorded soon turns out to be weird and horrible. The house seems to have a life of its own. Rooms, spaces, and corridors suddenly appear and disappear inside the house. These new spaces take up a lot of room, yet the outside dimensions of the house do not change. Navidson first discovers a little discrepancy between the inside and outside dimensions and soon calls his close friend for help, and then his estranged twin brother. The house and its shape shifting soon begins to affect everyone including Will and Karen’s two children. As Truant reads this record of the documentary, he himself begins to get affected. Already a drug user, and with unhappy childhood memories, Johnny’s mind is further disturbed by the manuscript. As the story progresses, the reader is faced with several puzzles. Johnny confesses to himself that he is an unreliable narrator. Moreover, he cannot find any proof of the existence of the film anywhere else, it can only be found in Zampano’s manuscript. So, was there ever a real film called The Navidson Record? Did it really record such weird happenings? Was Zampano lying, or is Truant as unreliable as he already confessed himself to be? About Mark Z. Danielewski Mark Z. Danielewski is an American author from New York. Other books by Danielewski are The Whalestoe Letters, The Fifty Year Sword, and Only Revolutions. His writing style is experimental and belongs to the style known as ergodic literature. Mark Z. Danielewski was born in 1965 in New York City. After studying English Literature at Yale, he attended a summer program at the University of California in Berkeley, where he studied Latin. His debut novel, House Of Leaves, won many awards and acquired a cult following. He released a follow up book called The Whalestoe Letters. His second full novel, Only Revolution, was published in 2006.