Such an odd read. I need some time to get thoughts together on this one.

Reading this book can feel like losing your sanity a little at a time. It is physically a book, but it's not really a book like you would expect it to be when you approach it as a coherent story. In fact you can probably read it a number ways and take away totally different impressions, which I guess is true of a lot of books but it's surely a hell of a lot more true of this one.
I think people probably read it for the same reasons people climb mountains and jump out of airplanes.

The complexity and details Mark Danielewski has managed within this novel is truly mind-boggling - combined with an ergodic structure that perfectly mimics and enhances the story as it unfolds, this is a true masterpiece that will leave you wanting to reread it immediately after finishing.

By no means is House of Leaves an easy read. This is not summer reading, nor something that will relax you.

It will make you confused, crazy, questioning, bored... and a whole cornucopia of feelings. Or should I say thoughts?

Sometimes you’re reading a novel, but most of the time you’re research papers, dissertations, analyses.

Symbols, shmymbols. Too much analyzations, too much looking into the subtle nuances, even nuances of the nuances. It’s a bit too much.

On the other hand, this book was written creatively. I have to give an additional star for that.

“House of Leaves” is a book I’ve been wanting for ages but never got around to it - I remember starting it once about ten years ago, but I’ve found it’s the kind of book that is best read in one go with very little distractions. After a friend suggested we read it together I turned off my phone and read it over the Easter holidays.

I had a blast reading it - it is very clever and knows it, but it manages not to be annoying. It’s unsettling and ends up blurring reality for the reader in a very intriguing way. It’s a book that rewards thinking about it and prodding it repeatedly (or, from what I gleaned online, decoding it) while also being a rewarding read in itself.