I have read reviews of House of Leaves and seen lists that name it, “the scariest book they have ever read”. The last book I can remember reading that legitimately scared me, or at the least creeped me out, was probably the Goosebumps series from R.L. Stine. However, while reading House of Leaves there was … Continue reading Appendix II in House of Leaves Read more →

I got so scared reading Nabokov’s Pale Fire for my other English class. I was afraid the similarities between the books was going to suddenly tear down my love for House of Leaves by making it seem derivative and stolen. We finished Pale Fire right before this class started House of Leaves. I was very […] Read more →

I must admit, I don’t know what to make of House of Leaves. It’s so drastically different from anything I’d previously read, so instead of talking about all its weird things, I’ll just talk about one thing: how the senses are deceiving, fake if you will, in the real world, while more concrete in Zampano’s imaginary Navidson […] Read more →

I have to say, House of Leaves is one of the more interesting reads of the semester. Unlike the other books and collections of poetry we read as a class, House of Leaves is too interesting to lose focus on. Having never read a frightening novel, I scoffed when we were told that House of Leaves was full of horrors. However, forty pages into the book and I am hooked…. Read more →

Such frequent mentioning of the “uncanny” in House of Leaves reminded me much of Freud’s work. As someone who theorized about this phenomenon, he used the uncanny to explain the manifestation of fear. Exploring the conflation of the strange and familiar, Freud studied the resulting human tendencies. The characters seem to be overcome by a […] Read more →

When reading House of Leaves, I found the multiple layers of narrative and overall layout of the novel to be confusing and often found that attempting to keep up with both layers, inhibited my understanding of each story. Nevertheless, both of the narratives have piqued my curiosity and I am trying my best not to […] Read more →

I don’t even know how to begin describing House of Leaves. It’s really disturbing, but not in the way I found Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Sexy” disturbing way back in January. It’s more like a super long episode of Unsolved Mysteries, down to the lack of any satisfying resolutions/conclusions. I guess Johnny Truant describes my feelings as a reader best when he… Read more →

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This question may have been asked a billion times before in reference to House of Leaves and answered quite easily, but I still have to ask: Why is the word “house” blue throughout the book? At first I thought it was… Continue Reading → Read more →

I’m not sure how I feel about House of Leaves so far. As a horror-movie enthusiast, I live for these creepy happenings occurring throughout the Navidson household. I’m actually picturing The Navidson Record to be fairly similar to one of my all-time-favorite movies, Paranormal Activity. While I don’t think the entirety of the supernatural within the house has revealed itself yet, […] Read more →

House of Leaves is a breath of fresh air for me. I didn’t start the book with any high expectations. I actually thought the book was a little sketchy. I was put off by the different fonts, the excessively long introduction, and the book’s leading note that “this is not for you.” But then I … Continue reading The Relief of a Contemporary Novel Read more →