More sex than I remembered (and my comfort level there has dropped), but it’s still fantastic.

***

Okay, I came back here and read a bunch of the comments and had to revise mine. It’s amazing how much this book inspires love or inspires hate. Either you “get” it or you don’t.

Here’s the thing. House of Leaves is about trauma. It’s about the trauma of a photojournalist and his family. It’s about the trauma of an old blind man. It’s about the trauma of a young man who grew up in an abusive foster care system who gets sucked into the other two stories. And it’s the trauma of Danielewski working through his own father’s death. My job involves some research on sex addiction, and the top-level story is textbook Body-Keeps-The-Score trauma lived out. It’s also the literary equivalent of a conspiracy theory pin-board, all within the framework of an academic analysis of a movie about architectural horror.

If that sounds fascinating, pick it up. If it sounds terrible and pretentious, don’t. You do have to be willing to embrace it for what it is. I did 20 years ago as a surprisingly naive undergrad, and I did now, as a researcher of very heavy topics. Because this book will allow you to plumb the depths of your own soul—shallow or dark and deep as it may be—but you have to let it.