House of Leaves :is a novel told through multiple layers of text rather than a single narrative. At its center is an academic analysis written by Zampanò, an elderly blind man who studies The Navidson Record, a documentary film that may not exist.
The film follows a family that discovers their house contains an impossible interior space. Rooms appear where none should exist, hallways shift, and the interior measurements begin to exceed the exterior of the house.
After Zampanò’s death, the manuscript is edited by Johnny Truant. His footnotes start as informal commentary but gradually turn into a second story as his mental state deteriorates, as Johnny becomes consumed by the manuscript, the boundaries between the house, the film, and his own life begin to blur.
The book’s layout reinforces this instability. Footnotes multiply, text fragments, and pages force the reader to turn, flip, and navigate constantly. The physical act of reading mirrors the characters’ attempts to map and understand the house.
The novel offers no clear resolution. The house is never explained, the documentary remains uncertain, and the narrators cannot be trusted. House of Leaves ultimately explores obsession, documentation, and the limits of measurement, language, and perception.
Does the book need to be understood, or just experienced?
This has that slow, unsettling vibe where the unease builds the more you think about it. Feels like something that sticks with you long after you’re done.
It's a must read, better than the title description trust me
I love that book and it leaves (hehe) with a feeling of pending doom in the belly for years! but it's so worth it I think it's just one one of those books that just is!