I’m so mixed because I love conceptually the interplay and levels of (un)reality and questions of authorship and its reliability, the signs and symbols, the book itself as labyrinth. i love the playing with format and the mysteries strewn through abt that (like the morse code?? ooo creepyyyy…) and i liked the navidson storyline a lot!! but johnny truant was lowkey my enemy throughout and made this such a SLOG to get through. so i think i have to sit and think about it a little more for my thoughts to properly solidify but right now what im feeling is that this was a liiiiitle overhyped for me, not even by anyone but just bc of its reputation. kinda like if i was told i should climb Mount Everest for the most gorgeous view ever and when i got up there it was pretty beautiful but not really something i NEEDED to climb fucking Mount Everest for. And like the climb was definitely fun but also sometimes miserable…. You get me?