This is not a review: A mind-bending read that I cannot recommend enough. Stunningly creative, brilliantly executed; bone-chilling, soul-touching. Pile on the superlatives.

The synopsis is compelling. As is the opening page’s warning: “This is not for you.”

After reading the intro and some of the first chapter, then flipping through the rest if the book to see what lay in wait, I decided to turn the book back in to the library.

In my 20s, I probably would have stuck with this book because it’s clearly intended to be a challenge. A challenge in the form of a big middle finger to the reader. As a previous spinster-cat-lady-turned-stepmom-of-3, I cannot devote the attention this gauntlet requires. Maybe one day, I’ll give it another go, but until then, one less book on my list of almost 2,100 to read!

I plowed through this book while on a cruise through Ukraine with my grandparents. Reading this book while living in a tiny space moving through a beautiful country side dotted with soviet industrial artifacts was highly surreal.

An absolutely unique reading experience.

Unsettlingly weird. A book about a guy who finds a manuscript of a dissertation written by a crazy man about a documentary film that seemingly doesn't exist about a family that moves into a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

At one point, pages upon pages of sidenotes compare all the things that a certain quality of the house does NOT compare to. The footnotes are exhaustive.

As soon as the book started to go anywhere, I was taken on a way-too-long rant by the character Johnny (I think that was his name, I really don’t remember and don’t wanna go check) that almost always involved some highly detailed sex scene. Like I get it, he has a lot of sex. Why do I need all the details and why is it not even good?? I was so excited to read this but it almost felt like a chore. I thought all the text placement was so original and how there were 2 or 3 stories going on at once was interesting, but in the end it was too much and also not enough at the same time. I read halfway and had to DNF. If you enjoy a story that doesn’t really go anywhere but some things are kinda interesting and we also have a character who’s described like he looks and smells homeless but somehow has sex with every woman he meets, along with the constant ramblings to read, this is for you!

Had a Normal Time reading this book.