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The fact that your library's copy of "house of leaves" had annotations by random readers which you have now used and propagated in your own 'annotations' of the book (i.e. this video) is just so ridiculously meta???? i love it
Right? That seems like the kind of book that'd be fun to pass around with like minded people. Random people adding to the story and reading their interpretations of it would be so interesting.
omg i hadnt even thought of that! and even just mays video is different enough from what i got from the book that im sure anyone i recommend the book to now has a different first impression than anyone who i recommended the book 2 years ago when i first read it... and so on and so forth damn i love house of leaves
There is an amazing forum with many excited fan ramblings and theories. I forget what it's called, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I remember it's within the first google search page.
actually the scariest thing about house of leaves is that I’ve read it twice and still haven’t been able to fully read the chapter about echos without skimming
I'm literally reading that chapter now and procrastinating reading it by watching this video, so I'm glad I'm not the only one affected in such a way by the narrative style of Zampanó's writing.
It's a book that's literally about absurd media overanalysis, that tricks you into overanalyzing the media to an absurd degree. Quite genuis really. With Zampano's insanely granular analysis of every minute detail of this film that may or may not even exist at all, and Johnny's obsession with trying to put it all together despite it destroying his life in the process, it is telling you what it's doing to you the whole time but you're powerless to stop it.
It's also kind of cosmic horror, the idea is that it in a post modern way has no meaning, like there's constant analysis of this black labyrinthian void and none of it means anything - the void, death, longing, just swallows it all. It's about the meaninglessness of everything and being trapped inside it desperately searching for something that never comes.
🔵house🔵 of leaves is a labyrinth that I've gotten lost in several times. I'm stunned you finished it, since I've never managed to. This vid is definitely making me want to try again, though.
Definitely worth it! I read it in high-school. I was about the same age as her in about 2 weeks and to this day I don't know how I managed to do it. I didn't know how to approach the book when I got to those weird pages tho. It's my favorite book but I don't think I'd be able to re read it again. 😅😅
My specific rabbit hole with 🔵house🔵 of leaves is the checkmark on pg 97. Just the whole process of learning about the letters from Johnny's mother, and then decoding her letters and her calling for help, and then to get that checkmark acknowledgement in the SOS chapter.... I will probably always low-key wonder what it means and why it appeared where it did. If I were to get a 🔵house🔵 of leaves tattoo it would be of that checkmark
The first time I read House Of Leaves, I remember the moment when the title clicked and I was literally screaming aloud "The book is the house! They're leaves of paper!"
19:29 the funny part is that the final page containing Johnny's story isn't the end of his story. It was actually a few pages earlier but the narrative fit so seamlessly that it's hard to notice the time skips. The book purposefully traps the reader by the end of its narrative. And it relishes in its deceit.
As someone who knew House of Leaves had a reputation but didn’t know what that reputation was before reading it for myself, I find this video interesting because my experience was kind of the inverse of what May describes here. I read the book in a week (every footnote and appendage except some of the Pelican poems) and I didn’t really get that obsession angle. I just had a fun time. I don’t need to look further into it. I guess for me that’s because I saw all the labyrinthine elements as not being representative of the audience but the characters. Whenever Navy is the most confused, the format of the page becomes the most complicated and obtuse. Whenever he figures something out, the prose becomes more simple and clear. All of the book’s weird eccentricities remain within the characters and extend into the prose. Obsession is the point of the book but that obsession is expressed through Navy and Johnny. Interesting to hear this more meta reading of the book.
RE: the comment that HoL was the biggest and most ambitious thing he'd done I wanna mention that MZD is actually currently working on a baffling and super large thing called The Familiar, currently in 5 ( LARGE ) volumes with 27 planned ( but currently on hiatus due to lack of public interest ), and he also did an incredible epic poem called Only Revolutions, I'd recommend him as an author in general if you enjoyed HoL.
When I read HoL, I enjoyed the Navidson Record portion so much that I almost ignored everything else and found the footnotes annoying. Retrospectively I find that pretty funny - I guess the labyrinth didn't appeal to me?
I knew that House of Leaves itself was the labyrinth, but for some reason never put two and two together that it was also the house (book) of leaves (pages). 😅 I had my original obsession with it over 15 years ago. And now I have Poe's Hey Pretty (supposedly sung from the perspective of the house? Or is it the book itself?) stuck in my head. Probably time to get lost in the labyrinth and read it again... 👀
This video reminded me of my days in the House of Leaves boards. The one on Mark Z Danielewski's site is still up with posts going back to 2001. I also remember an urban legend of sorts from one forum was that if you took all the pages out of the book and put them in a certain order, you would have a blueprint of the house. Sadly, my version doesn't have Minotaur in red, just House in blue. There was also a version with a word that is in purple. I believe the purple word is only in the letters from the mother.
I just always remember reading this book as a teen and throwing it across the room when I read over this one part--something to do with Johnny in a closet and getting a vision of some horrific monster making this weird sucking sound? I wish I can remember exactly what it was, only that it terrified me so badly that I didn't pick up the book again years later lol
@@aidangould6216 YESS! I didn't wanna say it had to do with tattoo ink in case I was wrong but dang, glad to know my memory isn't completely crappy lol
@@QuillC I remember reading that part while I was on my best friend's floor, then throwing the book across the room, and struggling to sleep all night lol
The obsession I had with this book in my teen years absolutely changed how I read books. It opened a door for this whole universe of bizarre fiction I never would’ve found if I didn’t read House of Leaves. Before I even read it, I was enamored by photographs of the pages and quotes from it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, my copy is currently on my coffee table right now and the spine is split down the middle. It’s one mishandle away from being split in half entirely. One of the things I cannot get over that I got out of the story is, with fiction you read it with the express belief that at least the explanations going on in the book, are happening in the book. With House of Leaves, it tells you that the main story isn’t even happening. The Navidson Record isn’t real, the family isn’t real, the home isn’t real. People have theorized that Johnny is such an unreliable narrator that we might as well not believe him either. Total mindfuck. I could go on and on forever about this damn book. I read the book in a day when I was 17. Which was pretty easy to do given some pages have five words maximum. But I’ve heard stories about how it took some people ages cause it’s a lot to take in. To anyone who wants a ridiculous ride in book format: read it. Any explanation of it isn’t enough.
I was happily listening to this until we got to Poe. I tried House of Leaves a couple times and couldn't get into it, no big deal. But as a teenager, I was OBSESSED with Poe for a minute. I had no idea she was the author's sister and that her albums were about the book! Wow. Damn.
Haunted is the only one that relates to HOL her first album Hello is more general songs. I prefer Haunted though someone stole mine, and finding an actual CD replacement is hard AF
I'm late to the discussion, but I heard somewhere that the book and Poe's Haunted album were ways for her and her brother to deal with the death of their dad and the complicated relationships they had.
I got myself the full colour version during lockdown and it was an absolute delight. You best believe I read all the footnotes backwards and forwards through the lists of building materials and Johnny's gross obsession with Thumper. The colour coding is so good because it kinda sits in your peripheral vision so you *know* your gonna see a word that means house up ahead but it might not even be in English. Honestly one of the best reading experiences I've ever had. Good video, May!
I read the book during a greyhound ride from LA to Santa Cruz. I literally did not have time to go through the footnotes if I wanted to finish the narrative. Giving myself a deadline for things to avoid spiraling inward is a lesson I needed to get from the book but never thought about until now.
I was honestly terrified of learning about this book bc I have an obsessive personality and hyperfocus a lot bc of ADHD so thank you so much for giving me the key so I don't feel an UNCONTROLLABLE need to know the secret.
I'd never heard of House of Leaves, but when you were describing the format and basic plot I was like oh cool so the book itself is basically the labyrinth it's describing... 😆
This makes me think of Animorphs. I'm currently 34 and a half & that series will never leave my mind. Yes, I have read and own the whole collection. ✌️
when this video popped up in my recommended I said yes out loud under my breath like ten times, your disturbing movie video sent me on a movie and book collecting craze and now I have possibly the most insufferable bookcase imaginable with more on the way, thank you so much :)
I've had this book collecting dust on a shelf for years, always telling myself I'll get to it eventually. This video makes me want to actually get around to it.
Saaaaame I have owned the book for a decade and I keep starting it and have never ever finished cause I have hella ADHD and the rabbit holes get me every single time. I think I need an audio book version or like maybe a workbook if such a thing exists?
The way I sell 'House of Leaves' to people, is it's the only book I've ever read that broke the 5th wall and actually was fucking with my perception of reality. The matryoshka doll format of it, really pulls you in and you're just the big egg consuming the smaller egg but contained within an even bigger, infinite egg.
I, too, read HoL a decade ago and was obsessed with it. Your last video prompted me to pick it back up again. I bought a house (a WEIRD house built 102 years ago with a WEIRD layout) and I considered re-reading it when I first moved in, but I was too scared. But now, I am ready. 😩
I've liked House of Leaves every time I've read it, and I recommend it to everyone, but I do feel like it owes a big debt to Pale Fire. Having read both makes me appreciate both more.
Ah yes, House of Leaves. My favorite book I've ever read, and the only book I've encountered that DEMANDS an active participation/form of play with it. I wound up reading it like it was a factual retelling of actual events (event though I knew darned well it was all fiction...hence the creative play aspect. The book even offers some spaces for you to record your own thoughts or notes). This aided in the horror aspects of the novel. When I wound up at the first 'Labyrinth' chapter, I wound up reading my way back to the beginning of that chapter and had to put it down for A LOOOOONG time before I finally decided to try to tackle it again. The book gives you directions on how to read it, and it helps if you follow those directions. I remember near the end, I forgot if I was reading the book front-to-back or back-to-front, if the book was right-side-up or upside down. I had to put it down and walk away for 5 minutes so as to re-acclimate myself to my surroundings (Most disoriented a book has ever made me). Very fond memories of my time spent with the book (6 months, if not longer), and I look forward to reading it again some day.
Last time I was in Barnes and Noble I gave that book a hard look and came REAL close to getting it. But I got the vibe I would be opening a big can of worms if I got it, so I put it back. But I promised myself I would get it the next time I was there.
Years ago my friend found a copy of house of leaves in a charity shop. I don't know much about its editions but it was apparently an expensive/rare print she managed to get for very cheap, so naturally she was upset when she got home one day to find out that her (intelligent if occasionally superstitious) mother had given it away because it was "evil". As I understand, her mum didn't know anything about the book, she'd just vibe checked it and deemed it cursed or evil in some way and needed to get it out of her house.
I found House of Leaves when I was about 11. I immediately looked it up when I got home, and it's been stuck in my mind since. I finally found it and bought it again last year. I haven't been able to finish it yet - it's so much, I just haven't had the time to give to it.
One thing that has really fed into my strange and sometimes obsessive relationship with this book is that I've lived blocks away from where Johnny lived here in Los Angeles at three different points in my life. The first was when I was in high school and spent a lot of time hanging out in Book Soup here in West Hollywood where I discovered HoL in the horror section and subsequently purchased and read it for the first time. The second was a few years after I graduated high school and read the book for a second time, this was when I truly became obsessed with it and began retracing Johnny's steps in real life and even found that a character in the book is named after a street here in WeHo, Holloway Drive, which fed even more into my theories about the book. It sometimes felt as if I was living within the pages to a certain degree. Now I'm living in the same neighborhood again, just off Holloway this time, and have been contemplating reading the book for a third time. The timing of this video could not be any spookier, May!
While House of Leaves is incredible, I really recommend people go read The Familiar, his book series from a few years ago that is even more experimental and ambitious, but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to low sales. It's like the Finnegans Wake to House of Leaves' Ulysses, way more abstract and free-flowing. I will always be mad that we aren't getting the full 20-volume epic I was getting so excited over.
I only had one disappointment with House of Leaves… When I suggested it for my brother, he hated Johnny Truant so much, finishing the book had him like “thank god that’s over” He hated the book, which really saddened me.
There is this sort of absurdist comedy to the book where you're reading about this inscrutable, endlessly complex labyrinth only for Johnny to suddenly hijack the pages with "HEY I FUCKED ANOTHER GIRL AND THEN CRIED"
Hey There! Thank you so much for making this. I’m having my BF watch this because this book is very important/personal to me.. and to have someone else my BF enjoys watching, talk about it.. it kinda validates myself to him. I’m not gonna go to far.. because I don’t (expect this to be read anyways) But let’s just say.. I’m 34 years old, house of leaves was INSANELY popular around my goth/stoner/artsy clique I was apart of in 99-04 in high school.. but none of us finished it. I read it a year ago. Again.. 34 years old.. have NEVER been interesting in writing. But did ALOT of journaling.. after reading it.. I wanted to write a book. It gave me passion to use an entire medium I was never interested in creating… Now I’m writing a book. Just for fun.. no plans to publish.. just to write. That’s pretty damn powerful.. If I could make one suggestion you check out. The Divine Comedy (inferno/purgatory/paradise) is my favorite work of literature. And I’m an atheist. It’s just the most epic “poem” ever. Even the creation of it is cool. (Gots some real death metal shiz in it too haha)
I first tried to read house of leaves when I was 12 years old. I stopped reading house of leaves after the book gave me anxiety attack during silent reading time. I am now in my 20's and this book still haunts me nightmares. 10/10 would recommend. gonna try to read it again this summer
the elusive nature of the narrative and its meaning makes me think Guy Maddin would be the perfect director to adapt, but because it's a spooky house with multi level narratives we'll probably be stuck with a fantastic Flanaghan adaptation
ahh i’m so hyped see you do all this book content as of recently (including your own ofc!)!!! i just started reading grotesque but i’m trying to rush through it to get to this next!
I started watching this video having never heard of the book before. As you were describing the documentary and the series of notes on the documentary, I was thinking "oh hey, kinda like the house itself, that's neat," but just thought it was cool how that seemed to match. And then when you mentioned the key I got so excited because I realized that I accidentally stumbled across the key earlier and it was a delightful moment! I've already decided that I'm buying a copy of this book this afternoon and nobody can stop me. If I get lost in this for the next decade of my life I'm totally blaming you for it lol
PERFECT ANALYSIS! Omg you said ALL the things I would of said! Especially the secret.. guys.. FOLLOW THE FONT.. when you’re deep in it.. you have to follow the font.. THEN go back down the “hallway” and follow the next part. Also I LOVE you found a copy with notes, and it’s WILD.. because I felt *compelled* to leave notes in my copy! The book invites it without ever once mentioning it… I would love for someone to find it and add to it themselves
That’s what I’ve been doing with my copy lmao. My dad used to teach it too, so I have his copy- he has a phd in lit, so seeing his notes is interesting.
An example of its genius perhaps, is that after hearing your analysis and being very convinced by it, I still want to jump in, get lost and experience it for myself.
Glad to see you post about this book! Been a fave since I was a teen too. There was also a few scripts Danielewski wrote for a potential tv version that are a trip in a very different way.
the way i SCREAMED when i saw this come up in my subscription feed. i’ve read this absolute nightmare like six times. i have a house of leaves tattoo. the second time i read this book was in a psych ward. this book is stapled onto my brain. mark z danielewski liked my instagram post with my tattoo when i got it edit: i think the reason i’ve fallen into it and honestly found myself weirdly comfortable with being lost in it (thus having read it an unreasonable amount of times) is that i’ve read it during points in my life where i feel a loss of control or just a general sense of disconnection with the world and reality, and i think there’s something comforting about chasing something both elusive yet incredibly contained like house of leaves when you’ve got bigger minotaurs in the labyrinths of life and trauma
I recommend writing short fiction or your own commentary on the book given that you have read it six times. Perhaps there could be something of an autobiographical frame to how you situate yourself when doing your critique and admit to how _House of Leaves_ felt to you during your stay in a Psychiatric ward. You may find it healthy to allow what could reasonably be described as a literary obsession some form of output of your own, so that your were transforming your experience into new insight that could help you disengage from it by birthing another work that would be your brain child, and then gain some psychological distance, as your text would mediate between you and the text Mark had designed to cause obsession. In this way you could exorcise yourself of what is akin to cult thinking, where the cult pretends to offer answers to the questions about the cult in a circular manner designed to entrap cult members. Permit me to clarify. I am not saying _House of Leaves_ is a BAD book, or a Satanic text, but merely that it may have been unsuitable reading matter for you. I had plans to write a novel within a novel without these ergodic devices Mark uses, but hide numerological codes throughout by only allowing numbers whose digits summed to have a significance in witchcraft and a fictional unified field theory that explained the current structure of our universe, all of which could be entirely missed by the average reader as it wouldn't call attention to its deliberate design. Reading your comment makes me think I ought to bear a responsibility to not put something out into the world that could fuel obsessions in minds that ought to focus on recovery. I say this as someone who has spent a year in psychiatric hospitals throughout my life for identifying as God.
There's a Robert Heinlein short story "--And He Built a Crooked House" that has some similarities to this, at least re. the changing layout of the house. It's funny. I wish shows like the Outer Limits were still around, because it would make a great episode.
Watched your live stream of your book "fluids" and I have already bought many books to read, I am hoping to snag a copy in the near future with my hoarding titles of "most disturbing", as I owned many of what you mentioned…. To me hilariously because I was like "wow I already own disturbing books?" I read and still read from 12 years ago…. I’m old
ok queen love you, love your videos, saving this one for later since I am CURRENTLY reading this book (skipped the section of your last video where you discussed it). Back in about a year, love u bye xx
two favorite anecdotes about house of leaves -i got a copy from my library and it was FALLING the fuck apart. just coming apart at the spine as if it is actually legitimately all insane notes glued together. OBSESSED that your library also had notes scrawled all over it. - when i finally got to go purchase it, I asked a barnes and noble worker where to ind it and he very cryptically went "that is my favorite and scariest book of all time. Have fun." THANK YOU for giving the full Key and analysis it's making me want to reread it so badly, truly the best summer of my life was when I would bring this to the beach with my mom and she would keep asking why I was flipping my book upside down :)
Fun fact. Zaniwelski has a couple of scripts he wrote for a proposed series adaptation on his website to purchase. There’s also an earlier draft of a first episode written available online for free that is apparently substantially different from the ones behind the pay wall.
I love your take! I read this pretty deeply about a decade ago too. I have a different take, though. I've always thought that Johnny was a writer whose mom was institutionalized, and that the house of leaves was the story of Johnny's own psychological breakdown (at the same age as his mom's occurred, if I recall correctly) as he wrote the narrative of the old man and everything below that, which is why he can run into the book in the real world, but there are also wild inclusions from his personal life. The home and the minotaur, all the crazy design choices, are his own notes to himself, like some deeper layer of himself imprinting on the narrative. I think it changes things thematically, since it becomes a story about disconnecting from reality and getting lost in one's own fictions. Either way, I super love this video and it's good to see this book talked about, it doesn't get near enough attention.
Excellent video! You offered some insight into themes I didn't pick up on (how the book is a test of handling obsession, how labyrinths are designed to keep something inside like the reader). Now I'm going to look for HoL in every library I visit to check for liner notes lol
I remember getting to the end of House of Leaves, which by some miracle I had more or less managed to navigate on my initial reading, suddenly realising that the events of the book were not, in fact, some blind man's transcription of an obscure documentary, but the fabrication of a drug abusing tattoo artist. I actually felt angry that I had been tricked in this way, until it hit me: this, as May says, is a book. It wasn't written by a blind man or a tattoo artist or even the additional editor who occasionally undercuts the mania in which we are embroiled. It is a book, written by a real person about fictional people. It's a fucking book. Never before has a piece of fiction confounded me to the extent that my lasting impression is, "This work of fiction had to remind me that it is a work of fiction." If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to do so. Test the tensile strength of your own consciousness; go on, I dare ya!
This book gave me legit nightmares. I'm one of those people that lets myself get completely lost in a book. As a result, I got completely lost in this book. I got out and have been unable to go back because I don't want to get lost again. But now I might just go back. I prefer hardback to paperback normally, but after reading the first few pages in the bookstore, I realized the paperback copy would be more appropriate given the content. I like that it feels the way the book was presented in the backstory.
Thank you for this! I never could finish it. I bought it shortly after it came out when I was 16. My bookmark still somewhere in the pages. I was reading the whole pages, foot note stories and all and got so lost but never wanted to "give up". I found it because I was obsessed with Poe's album Haunted. Still one of my favorite albums of all time.
Your explanations blew my mind and it all makes soooo much sense considering how meta the book is. And a house of leaves! Literally!! I can't believe I didn't realize that, I've been wondering about the title for so long! Thank you!
I started reading this book a while ago. Unfortunately my library loan expired before I got to the bit where the page layouts get really weird; the way the Johnny Truant sex scenes are written just icked me out and there are so many of them. The horror stuff I did reach had the intended effect though; maybe I’ll pick it up again and just skim everything written in monospace font
May, I love this video so much! I am crazy about this book, and it's so refreshing to see someone so smart talking about it in the best way possible. Thank You! I am gonna go back to my labyrinth now.
Ah! I was prepared for this book when I read because I've already read the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, that warns you about books and labyrinths, and you know what the both have in common? They reference Borges, the writer. Which is funny because in Spanish, Leaves and Pages are the same word: Hojas.
Thinking about it more I bet if this book came out in the mid 2010's instead of 2000 it would have *absolutely killed* because it is basically a book about an SCP that is, itself, an SCP. Internet would have gone fuckin' bananas for it. Hell even if it released today, the analog horror elements would guarantee a pretty big following.
TBF SCP and the analog horror genre probably wouldn't exist without House of Leaves, SCP wears its influence basically in the exact ways you mention and various works in the Slenderverse (something that absolutely influenced modern day youtube analog horror) make references to House of Leaves (Everyman Hybrid being the most obvious example).
Love this video! I started reading this book some years ago, but never finished it. Guess it's time for a second attempt! Really loved your thoughts on this book. Wish there were more cool books like this one where you can go down the rabbit hole deciphering it.
thats so cool that you found a copy of the notes on notes on notes book with people who added their own notes to it !! dopest art moment imaginable like house of leave has to be the only valid library book to have scrawling in it
MAN house of leaves is incredible. i bought it secondhand when i worked as a camp counselor to read through it. unfortunately, it had been weakened and the cover and first few pages fell off, so i ended up having to buy another copy. i was always worried that the kids would read over my shoulder, catch a few sentences of a sex scene, and i'd get in trouble this analysis of it is INCREDIBLE and makes me want to go get lost in the labyrinth again.....
I have adhd and dyslexia and I honestly have zero idea how I managed to get through the whole thing. Also this is the only book to ever make me feel claustrophobic. Really really weird read.
I don’t want to put a damper on things, but House of Leaves is about complex grief. The through line in Haunted (the companion album) are recordings of Mark and Poe’s dead father’s voice, in fact one of those recordings is where the title “House of Leaves” comes from. Grief is large, confusing, and touches everyone differently, especially when your relationship with the person you lost was fraught. It can be genuinely terrifying to face, and it’s so painful and lonely that it’s hard to believe anyone else has ever felt what you feel. There isn’t a moral, there isn’t a cure, it’s a labyrinth with no exit.
Omg thank you so much for being my figurative Ariadne by making the ball of twine that is this video. I'm reading HoL for the first time & could literally feel myself getting lost, making it through maybe a page a day at best. I had actually seen that you had uploaded this a month ago but thought in my hubris that I didn't need to hear anybody else talk about it to "get it". Boy was I wrong! I just kept falling in deeper without making much headway, without really realizing what what happening.
I'm really glad you touched on Poe's album. When I first read the book, the song "5 1/2 minute hallway" came on right at the end of the Navidson report and I cried. In public. It was so relieving getting to that point in the book. I love this book so much. I feel bad because I haven't been able to get into any of his other books like I have this one, but I want to support his art. Please keep talking weird books, I need more of them :,3
Great video May! I actually just bought house of leaves despite having a bunch of books piled up, wanting to be read. I can’t wait to try and read it once I finish my others and will try and keep in mind of what you said about not becoming obsessive over it. 😊
I never finished reading this book but I recall Vividly, being in the Night Mind discord when they started reading it aloud together and identifying the correlation between the labyrinth and the minotaur like the Second there was mention of a monster lmao Baller video, makes me wanna sit down and read it For Real
I'm so old that my copy of this book doesn't have the red highlights, only blue. And "MZD *is* the Minotaur *and* he's killing these characters for our entertainment" is a simply BRILLIANT take which has been HAUNTING me for over 20 years now. It's explicitly supported by part of the collage on the inner front cover of the book-the typed piece of paper that starts "Perhaps I will alter the whole thing," and then discusses altering things that only the real-life author could possibly alter, like which characters die, and how. And it's typed in red.
From what I was able to piece together, Mrs. Truant suffered a massive break with reality after her kid died shortly after birth and all this mess... her son's life, his discovery of the notes and what the notes are about... all of it? Her mind trying and failing to come to grips with the death of her infant. The house is less a labyrinth and more her womb. At least, that was my read after my own grappling with it. This book's the literary equivalent of an art house film about moviemaking but in spite of that it has some of the scariest moments in in ever. That feeling of surfing creepypasta at 3am and getting the certainty something's behind your chair and you shouldn't look behind you IS A THING THAT HAPPENS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT TO JOHNNY WTF AND IS PERFECTLY DESCRIBED..
What i love is the one segment of purple text in the book. If red is the hostile minotaur and blue is home and safety, what does "what i'm talking about right now" (paraphrase) mean in purple? HMM
God, I wish I could just churn out killer content at the same pace as you. Great analysis! My first attempt at reading House of Leaves didn't go super well (didn't get very far at all), but now I'm extra hyped to give it another try!
I also think “leaves” is a little meta pun. Like “LEAVE” “JUST LEAVE.” And every page is a chance to get out, hence the plural. But instead we keep reading, like idiots.
Every time you've mentioned this book I've been mildly interested but intimidated by photos of the pages, I think a friend might have even shown me his copy in passing years ago, but this video has fully convinced me to read it. The meta-horror aspect and the nested plot you described sounds so interesting! I definitely want to find a used copy and/or make my own notes with your analysis in mind. Hopefully I won't fall victim to the labyrinth with how slowly I read nowadays lol
I just read this book this January! And I was so bummed to see how many forums and discussions are inaccessible now. Your analysis and summary are Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you May!
I know its easy to say that in hindsight: "House of Leaves" being a metaphor for a convoluted book/the book being the labyrinth for the reader was one of my first guesses when starting to read it. So I stopped, because I didnt want to put more of my time into something that I was very certain would be just a very elaborate version of that single sentence. I feel very stupid, but also kind of glad about that decision, because I would have wasted days and weeks of my life analyzing every single page :D
The fact that your library's copy of "house of leaves" had annotations by random readers which you have now used and propagated in your own 'annotations' of the book (i.e. this video) is just so ridiculously meta???? i love it
Right? That seems like the kind of book that'd be fun to pass around with like minded people. Random people adding to the story and reading their interpretations of it would be so interesting.
@@iamwooth1729 yeah now i really want to see if they have the book at my local library & add my own notes! (Should i manage to read it, that is)
Zampano would’ve wanted it this way.
omg i hadnt even thought of that! and even just mays video is different enough from what i got from the book that im sure anyone i recommend the book to now has a different first impression than anyone who i recommended the book 2 years ago when i first read it... and so on and so forth
damn i love house of leaves
There is an amazing forum with many excited fan ramblings and theories. I forget what it's called, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I remember it's within the first google search page.
the hot grandma is right, House Of Leaves is extremely A Book
actually the scariest thing about house of leaves is that I’ve read it twice and still haven’t been able to fully read the chapter about echos without skimming
Lmao same, I love that book but I'm too dumb for that shit
Me too lol. My dumbo adhd brain cant deal with......all of *that* .
@@floppavevo5920 same, I just don’t care enough to put the effort into it. I don’t know what that says about me
I'm literally reading that chapter now and procrastinating reading it by watching this video, so I'm glad I'm not the only one affected in such a way by the narrative style of Zampanó's writing.
It's a book that's literally about absurd media overanalysis, that tricks you into overanalyzing the media to an absurd degree. Quite genuis really. With Zampano's insanely granular analysis of every minute detail of this film that may or may not even exist at all, and Johnny's obsession with trying to put it all together despite it destroying his life in the process, it is telling you what it's doing to you the whole time but you're powerless to stop it.
It's also kind of cosmic horror, the idea is that it in a post modern way has no meaning, like there's constant analysis of this black labyrinthian void and none of it means anything - the void, death, longing, just swallows it all. It's about the meaninglessness of everything and being trapped inside it desperately searching for something that never comes.
🔵house🔵 of leaves is a labyrinth that I've gotten lost in several times. I'm stunned you finished it, since I've never managed to. This vid is definitely making me want to try again, though.
Definitely worth it! I read it in high-school. I was about the same age as her in about 2 weeks and to this day I don't know how I managed to do it. I didn't know how to approach the book when I got to those weird pages tho. It's my favorite book but I don't think I'd be able to re read it again. 😅😅
same, it's so good to get lost in it
My specific rabbit hole with 🔵house🔵 of leaves is the checkmark on pg 97. Just the whole process of learning about the letters from Johnny's mother, and then decoding her letters and her calling for help, and then to get that checkmark acknowledgement in the SOS chapter.... I will probably always low-key wonder what it means and why it appeared where it did. If I were to get a 🔵house🔵 of leaves tattoo it would be of that checkmark
The first time I read House Of Leaves, I remember the moment when the title clicked and I was literally screaming aloud "The book is the house! They're leaves of paper!"
'In short, it's a book that is a labyrinth' . . .
19:29 the funny part is that the final page containing Johnny's story isn't the end of his story. It was actually a few pages earlier but the narrative fit so seamlessly that it's hard to notice the time skips. The book purposefully traps the reader by the end of its narrative. And it relishes in its deceit.
As someone who knew House of Leaves had a reputation but didn’t know what that reputation was before reading it for myself, I find this video interesting because my experience was kind of the inverse of what May describes here. I read the book in a week (every footnote and appendage except some of the Pelican poems) and I didn’t really get that obsession angle. I just had a fun time. I don’t need to look further into it. I guess for me that’s because I saw all the labyrinthine elements as not being representative of the audience but the characters. Whenever Navy is the most confused, the format of the page becomes the most complicated and obtuse. Whenever he figures something out, the prose becomes more simple and clear. All of the book’s weird eccentricities remain within the characters and extend into the prose. Obsession is the point of the book but that obsession is expressed through Navy and Johnny. Interesting to hear this more meta reading of the book.
I’ve always figured that it’s both. (Also, the pelican poems lowkey suck I feel you)
RE: the comment that HoL was the biggest and most ambitious thing he'd done I wanna mention that MZD is actually currently working on a baffling and super large thing called The Familiar, currently in 5 ( LARGE ) volumes with 27 planned ( but currently on hiatus due to lack of public interest ), and he also did an incredible epic poem called Only Revolutions, I'd recommend him as an author in general if you enjoyed HoL.
When I read HoL, I enjoyed the Navidson Record portion so much that I almost ignored everything else and found the footnotes annoying. Retrospectively I find that pretty funny - I guess the labyrinth didn't appeal to me?
Hi dear
absolutely exactly what i experienced as well :)
I knew that House of Leaves itself was the labyrinth, but for some reason never put two and two together that it was also the house (book) of leaves (pages). 😅 I had my original obsession with it over 15 years ago. And now I have Poe's Hey Pretty (supposedly sung from the perspective of the house? Or is it the book itself?) stuck in my head. Probably time to get lost in the labyrinth and read it again... 👀
So cool that the documentary crew was able to film May talking about the book, but interesting that they uploaded it!
This video reminded me of my days in the House of Leaves boards. The one on Mark Z Danielewski's site is still up with posts going back to 2001.
I also remember an urban legend of sorts from one forum was that if you took all the pages out of the book and put them in a certain order, you would have a blueprint of the house.
Sadly, my version doesn't have Minotaur in red, just House in blue. There was also a version with a word that is in purple. I believe the purple word is only in the letters from the mother.
I just always remember reading this book as a teen and throwing it across the room when I read over this one part--something to do with Johnny in a closet and getting a vision of some horrific monster making this weird sucking sound? I wish I can remember exactly what it was, only that it terrified me so badly that I didn't pick up the book again years later lol
Ah yes, Johnny and the monster. It's almost as if the monster is tied more to the idea of the house than the physical location.
You’re referring to when Johnny is at the tattoo shop and goes upstairs to get some more ink, yeah? Had the same exact reaction lol.
@@aidangould6216 YESS! I didn't wanna say it had to do with tattoo ink in case I was wrong but dang, glad to know my memory isn't completely crappy lol
@@QuillC I remember reading that part while I was on my best friend's floor, then throwing the book across the room, and struggling to sleep all night lol
@@caadam87 Relatable. Definitely makes you look at the shadows different.
The obsession I had with this book in my teen years absolutely changed how I read books. It opened a door for this whole universe of bizarre fiction I never would’ve found if I didn’t read House of Leaves. Before I even read it, I was enamored by photographs of the pages and quotes from it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, my copy is currently on my coffee table right now and the spine is split down the middle. It’s one mishandle away from being split in half entirely.
One of the things I cannot get over that I got out of the story is, with fiction you read it with the express belief that at least the explanations going on in the book, are happening in the book. With House of Leaves, it tells you that the main story isn’t even happening. The Navidson Record isn’t real, the family isn’t real, the home isn’t real. People have theorized that Johnny is such an unreliable narrator that we might as well not believe him either. Total mindfuck. I could go on and on forever about this damn book.
I read the book in a day when I was 17. Which was pretty easy to do given some pages have five words maximum. But I’ve heard stories about how it took some people ages cause it’s a lot to take in.
To anyone who wants a ridiculous ride in book format: read it. Any explanation of it isn’t enough.
I was happily listening to this until we got to Poe. I tried House of Leaves a couple times and couldn't get into it, no big deal. But as a teenager, I was OBSESSED with Poe for a minute. I had no idea she was the author's sister and that her albums were about the book! Wow. Damn.
I got introduced to Poe from the book. She deserves ALL the credit.
Haunted is the only one that relates to HOL her first album Hello is more general songs. I prefer Haunted though someone stole mine, and finding an actual CD replacement is hard AF
I'm late to the discussion, but I heard somewhere that the book and Poe's Haunted album were ways for her and her brother to deal with the death of their dad and the complicated relationships they had.
I got myself the full colour version during lockdown and it was an absolute delight. You best believe I read all the footnotes backwards and forwards through the lists of building materials and Johnny's gross obsession with Thumper. The colour coding is so good because it kinda sits in your peripheral vision so you *know* your gonna see a word that means house up ahead but it might not even be in English. Honestly one of the best reading experiences I've ever had. Good video, May!
"you possess the secret to leave" is what I'm telling my customers
I listened to Poe "Haunted" reading "House of Leaves"; she's the author's sister.
That album is absolutely heartbreaking, and the perfect companion to HoL.
@@JonTheCow it really hit close to home with my complicated relationship with my father.
I was going through a vicious break-up at the time. It covers so, so much ground... I'm glad it was there for you, like it was for me.
I could literally listen to you talk about House of Leaves for hours. I'm compelled.
I read the book during a greyhound ride from LA to Santa Cruz. I literally did not have time to go through the footnotes if I wanted to finish the narrative. Giving myself a deadline for things to avoid spiraling inward is a lesson I needed to get from the book but never thought about until now.
I was honestly terrified of learning about this book bc I have an obsessive personality and hyperfocus a lot bc of ADHD so thank you so much for giving me the key so I don't feel an UNCONTROLLABLE need to know the secret.
I'd never heard of House of Leaves, but when you were describing the format and basic plot I was like oh cool so the book itself is basically the labyrinth it's describing... 😆
This makes me think of Animorphs. I'm currently 34 and a half & that series will never leave my mind. Yes, I have read and own the whole collection. ✌️
when this video popped up in my recommended I said yes out loud under my breath like ten times, your disturbing movie video sent me on a movie and book collecting craze and now I have possibly the most insufferable bookcase imaginable with more on the way, thank you so much :)
I've had this book collecting dust on a shelf for years, always telling myself I'll get to it eventually. This video makes me want to actually get around to it.
Saaaaame I have owned the book for a decade and I keep starting it and have never ever finished cause I have hella ADHD and the rabbit holes get me every single time. I think I need an audio book version or like maybe a workbook if such a thing exists?
The way I sell 'House of Leaves' to people, is it's the only book I've ever read that broke the 5th wall and actually was fucking with my perception of reality. The matryoshka doll format of it, really pulls you in and you're just the big egg consuming the smaller egg but contained within an even bigger, infinite egg.
I, too, read HoL a decade ago and was obsessed with it. Your last video prompted me to pick it back up again. I bought a house (a WEIRD house built 102 years ago with a WEIRD layout) and I considered re-reading it when I first moved in, but I was too scared. But now, I am ready. 😩
I've liked House of Leaves every time I've read it, and I recommend it to everyone, but I do feel like it owes a big debt to Pale Fire. Having read both makes me appreciate both more.
Pale Fire is fucking amazing
Ah yes, House of Leaves. My favorite book I've ever read, and the only book I've encountered that DEMANDS an active participation/form of play with it. I wound up reading it like it was a factual retelling of actual events (event though I knew darned well it was all fiction...hence the creative play aspect. The book even offers some spaces for you to record your own thoughts or notes). This aided in the horror aspects of the novel. When I wound up at the first 'Labyrinth' chapter, I wound up reading my way back to the beginning of that chapter and had to put it down for A LOOOOONG time before I finally decided to try to tackle it again. The book gives you directions on how to read it, and it helps if you follow those directions. I remember near the end, I forgot if I was reading the book front-to-back or back-to-front, if the book was right-side-up or upside down. I had to put it down and walk away for 5 minutes so as to re-acclimate myself to my surroundings (Most disoriented a book has ever made me). Very fond memories of my time spent with the book (6 months, if not longer), and I look forward to reading it again some day.
Last time I was in Barnes and Noble I gave that book a hard look and came REAL close to getting it. But I got the vibe I would be opening a big can of worms if I got it, so I put it back. But I promised myself I would get it the next time I was there.
Years ago my friend found a copy of house of leaves in a charity shop. I don't know much about its editions but it was apparently an expensive/rare print she managed to get for very cheap, so naturally she was upset when she got home one day to find out that her (intelligent if occasionally superstitious) mother had given it away because it was "evil". As I understand, her mum didn't know anything about the book, she'd just vibe checked it and deemed it cursed or evil in some way and needed to get it out of her house.
I found House of Leaves when I was about 11. I immediately looked it up when I got home, and it's been stuck in my mind since. I finally found it and bought it again last year. I haven't been able to finish it yet - it's so much, I just haven't had the time to give to it.
One thing that has really fed into my strange and sometimes obsessive relationship with this book is that I've lived blocks away from where Johnny lived here in Los Angeles at three different points in my life. The first was when I was in high school and spent a lot of time hanging out in Book Soup here in West Hollywood where I discovered HoL in the horror section and subsequently purchased and read it for the first time. The second was a few years after I graduated high school and read the book for a second time, this was when I truly became obsessed with it and began retracing Johnny's steps in real life and even found that a character in the book is named after a street here in WeHo, Holloway Drive, which fed even more into my theories about the book. It sometimes felt as if I was living within the pages to a certain degree. Now I'm living in the same neighborhood again, just off Holloway this time, and have been contemplating reading the book for a third time. The timing of this video could not be any spookier, May!
House of Leaves is an scp. A cognitohazard, if you will.
While House of Leaves is incredible, I really recommend people go read The Familiar, his book series from a few years ago that is even more experimental and ambitious, but unfortunately had to be cancelled due to low sales. It's like the Finnegans Wake to House of Leaves' Ulysses, way more abstract and free-flowing. I will always be mad that we aren't getting the full 20-volume epic I was getting so excited over.
The problem with that is you have to be able to read Japanese and several dialects of Chinese literally at the same time.
I could not get into the Familiar, the writing was interesting but it felt like the plot was meandering.
I only had one disappointment with House of Leaves…
When I suggested it for my brother, he hated Johnny Truant so much, finishing the book had him like “thank god that’s over”
He hated the book, which really saddened me.
Honestly I’d probably hate it too.
The real horror of this book is all the sex scenes
There is this sort of absurdist comedy to the book where you're reading about this inscrutable, endlessly complex labyrinth only for Johnny to suddenly hijack the pages with "HEY I FUCKED ANOTHER GIRL AND THEN CRIED"
Hey There! Thank you so much for making this. I’m having my BF watch this because this book is very important/personal to me.. and to have someone else my BF enjoys watching, talk about it.. it kinda validates myself to him.
I’m not gonna go to far.. because I don’t (expect this to be read anyways)
But let’s just say.. I’m 34 years old, house of leaves was INSANELY popular around my goth/stoner/artsy clique I was apart of in 99-04 in high school.. but none of us finished it. I read it a year ago.
Again.. 34 years old.. have NEVER been interesting in writing. But did ALOT of journaling.. after reading it.. I wanted to write a book. It gave me passion to use an entire medium I was never interested in creating… Now I’m writing a book. Just for fun.. no plans to publish.. just to write.
That’s pretty damn powerful..
If I could make one suggestion you check out. The Divine Comedy (inferno/purgatory/paradise) is my favorite work of literature. And I’m an atheist. It’s just the most epic “poem” ever. Even the creation of it is cool. (Gots some real death metal shiz in it too haha)
Huh, so it really is "spooky Infinite Jest"
I first tried to read house of leaves when I was 12 years old. I stopped reading house of leaves after the book gave me anxiety attack during silent reading time. I am now in my 20's and this book still haunts me nightmares. 10/10 would recommend. gonna try to read it again this summer
the elusive nature of the narrative and its meaning makes me think Guy Maddin would be the perfect director to adapt, but because it's a spooky house with multi level narratives we'll probably be stuck with a fantastic Flanaghan adaptation
This was a formative book for me. Post-modern introduction! Thanks for the spotlight! I love that you do books as well as film.
ahh i’m so hyped see you do all this book content as of recently (including your own ofc!)!!! i just started reading grotesque but i’m trying to rush through it to get to this next!
I started watching this video having never heard of the book before. As you were describing the documentary and the series of notes on the documentary, I was thinking "oh hey, kinda like the house itself, that's neat," but just thought it was cool how that seemed to match. And then when you mentioned the key I got so excited because I realized that I accidentally stumbled across the key earlier and it was a delightful moment! I've already decided that I'm buying a copy of this book this afternoon and nobody can stop me. If I get lost in this for the next decade of my life I'm totally blaming you for it lol
PERFECT ANALYSIS! Omg you said ALL the things I would of said! Especially the secret.. guys.. FOLLOW THE FONT.. when you’re deep in it.. you have to follow the font.. THEN go back down the “hallway” and follow the next part.
Also I LOVE you found a copy with notes, and it’s WILD.. because I felt *compelled* to leave notes in my copy! The book invites it without ever once mentioning it… I would love for someone to find it and add to it themselves
That’s what I’ve been doing with my copy lmao. My dad used to teach it too, so I have his copy- he has a phd in lit, so seeing his notes is interesting.
@@raddestoflads7771 Oh wow! That would be an awesome treat!
An example of its genius perhaps, is that after hearing your analysis and being very convinced by it, I still want to jump in, get lost and experience it for myself.
I seriously love your content so much. I love your approach and how raw your style is. You’re absolutely charming, my dear!
Glad to see you post about this book! Been a fave since I was a teen too. There was also a few scripts Danielewski wrote for a potential tv version that are a trip in a very different way.
the way i SCREAMED when i saw this come up in my subscription feed. i’ve read this absolute nightmare like six times. i have a house of leaves tattoo. the second time i read this book was in a psych ward. this book is stapled onto my brain. mark z danielewski liked my instagram post with my tattoo when i got it
edit: i think the reason i’ve fallen into it and honestly found myself weirdly comfortable with being lost in it (thus having read it an unreasonable amount of times) is that i’ve read it during points in my life where i feel a loss of control or just a general sense of disconnection with the world and reality, and i think there’s something comforting about chasing something both elusive yet incredibly contained like house of leaves when you’ve got bigger minotaurs in the labyrinths of life and trauma
I recommend writing short fiction or your own commentary on the book given that you have read it six times. Perhaps there could be something of an autobiographical frame to how you situate yourself when doing your critique and admit to how _House of Leaves_ felt to you during your stay in a Psychiatric ward. You may find it healthy to allow what could reasonably be described as a literary obsession some form of output of your own, so that your were transforming your experience into new insight that could help you disengage from it by birthing another work that would be your brain child, and then gain some psychological distance, as your text would mediate between you and the text Mark had designed to cause obsession. In this way you could exorcise yourself of what is akin to cult thinking, where the cult pretends to offer answers to the questions about the cult in a circular manner designed to entrap cult members. Permit me to clarify. I am not saying _House of Leaves_ is a BAD book, or a Satanic text, but merely that it may have been unsuitable reading matter for you.
I had plans to write a novel within a novel without these ergodic devices Mark uses, but hide numerological codes throughout by only allowing numbers whose digits summed to have a significance in witchcraft and a fictional unified field theory that explained the current structure of our universe, all of which could be entirely missed by the average reader as it wouldn't call attention to its deliberate design. Reading your comment makes me think I ought to bear a responsibility to not put something out into the world that could fuel obsessions in minds that ought to focus on recovery. I say this as someone who has spent a year in psychiatric hospitals throughout my life for identifying as God.
I love how folks scribbled notes on the walls of the labyrinth to help you find your way out.
There's a Robert Heinlein short story "--And He Built a Crooked House" that has some similarities to this, at least re. the changing layout of the house. It's funny. I wish shows like the Outer Limits were still around, because it would make a great episode.
Watched your live stream of your book "fluids" and I have already bought many books to read, I am hoping to snag a copy in the near future with my hoarding titles of "most disturbing", as I owned many of what you mentioned…. To me hilariously because I was like "wow I already own disturbing books?" I read and still read from 12 years ago…. I’m old
ok queen love you, love your videos, saving this one for later since I am CURRENTLY reading this book (skipped the section of your last video where you discussed it). Back in about a year, love u bye xx
two favorite anecdotes about house of leaves
-i got a copy from my library and it was FALLING the fuck apart. just coming apart at the spine as if it is actually legitimately all insane notes glued together. OBSESSED that your library also had notes scrawled all over it.
- when i finally got to go purchase it, I asked a barnes and noble worker where to ind it and he very cryptically went "that is my favorite and scariest book of all time. Have fun."
THANK YOU for giving the full Key and analysis it's making me want to reread it so badly, truly the best summer of my life was when I would bring this to the beach with my mom and she would keep asking why I was flipping my book upside down :)
Fun fact. Zaniwelski has a couple of scripts he wrote for a proposed series adaptation on his website to purchase. There’s also an earlier draft of a first episode written available online for free that is apparently substantially different from the ones behind the pay wall.
Been really loving your videos lately.
I love your take! I read this pretty deeply about a decade ago too. I have a different take, though. I've always thought that Johnny was a writer whose mom was institutionalized, and that the house of leaves was the story of Johnny's own psychological breakdown (at the same age as his mom's occurred, if I recall correctly) as he wrote the narrative of the old man and everything below that, which is why he can run into the book in the real world, but there are also wild inclusions from his personal life. The home and the minotaur, all the crazy design choices, are his own notes to himself, like some deeper layer of himself imprinting on the narrative. I think it changes things thematically, since it becomes a story about disconnecting from reality and getting lost in one's own fictions. Either way, I super love this video and it's good to see this book talked about, it doesn't get near enough attention.
I LOVE your book analysis content it's so much fun
Excellent video! You offered some insight into themes I didn't pick up on (how the book is a test of handling obsession, how labyrinths are designed to keep something inside like the reader). Now I'm going to look for HoL in every library I visit to check for liner notes lol
I remember getting to the end of House of Leaves, which by some miracle I had more or less managed to navigate on my initial reading, suddenly realising that the events of the book were not, in fact, some blind man's transcription of an obscure documentary, but the fabrication of a drug abusing tattoo artist. I actually felt angry that I had been tricked in this way, until it hit me: this, as May says, is a book. It wasn't written by a blind man or a tattoo artist or even the additional editor who occasionally undercuts the mania in which we are embroiled. It is a book, written by a real person about fictional people. It's a fucking book. Never before has a piece of fiction confounded me to the extent that my lasting impression is, "This work of fiction had to remind me that it is a work of fiction."
If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to do so. Test the tensile strength of your own consciousness; go on, I dare ya!
This book gave me legit nightmares. I'm one of those people that lets myself get completely lost in a book. As a result, I got completely lost in this book. I got out and have been unable to go back because I don't want to get lost again. But now I might just go back. I prefer hardback to paperback normally, but after reading the first few pages in the bookstore, I realized the paperback copy would be more appropriate given the content. I like that it feels the way the book was presented in the backstory.
Thank you for this! I never could finish it. I bought it shortly after it came out when I was 16. My bookmark still somewhere in the pages. I was reading the whole pages, foot note stories and all and got so lost but never wanted to "give up". I found it because I was obsessed with Poe's album Haunted. Still one of my favorite albums of all time.
Your explanations blew my mind and it all makes soooo much sense considering how meta the book is. And a house of leaves! Literally!! I can't believe I didn't realize that, I've been wondering about the title for so long! Thank you!
I started reading this book a while ago. Unfortunately my library loan expired before I got to the bit where the page layouts get really weird; the way the Johnny Truant sex scenes are written just icked me out and there are so many of them. The horror stuff I did reach had the intended effect though; maybe I’ll pick it up again and just skim everything written in monospace font
May, I love this video so much! I am crazy about this book, and it's so refreshing to see someone so smart talking about it in the best way possible. Thank You! I am gonna go back to my labyrinth now.
Ah! I was prepared for this book when I read because I've already read the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, that warns you about books and labyrinths, and you know what the both have in common? They reference Borges, the writer. Which is funny because in Spanish, Leaves and Pages are the same word: Hojas.
Thinking about it more I bet if this book came out in the mid 2010's instead of 2000 it would have *absolutely killed* because it is basically a book about an SCP that is, itself, an SCP. Internet would have gone fuckin' bananas for it. Hell even if it released today, the analog horror elements would guarantee a pretty big following.
TBF SCP and the analog horror genre probably wouldn't exist without House of Leaves, SCP wears its influence basically in the exact ways you mention and various works in the Slenderverse (something that absolutely influenced modern day youtube analog horror) make references to House of Leaves (Everyman Hybrid being the most obvious example).
Someone prolly has already said it but leaves and sheets, in Spanish, can be called by the same word: “hojas”.
Love the vid!
Love this video! I started reading this book some years ago, but never finished it. Guess it's time for a second attempt! Really loved your thoughts on this book. Wish there were more cool books like this one where you can go down the rabbit hole deciphering it.
thats so cool that you found a copy of the notes on notes on notes book with people who added their own notes to it !! dopest art moment imaginable like house of leave has to be the only valid library book to have scrawling in it
MAN house of leaves is incredible. i bought it secondhand when i worked as a camp counselor to read through it. unfortunately, it had been weakened and the cover and first few pages fell off, so i ended up having to buy another copy. i was always worried that the kids would read over my shoulder, catch a few sentences of a sex scene, and i'd get in trouble
this analysis of it is INCREDIBLE and makes me want to go get lost in the labyrinth again.....
I specifically looked for a copy not in good condition. I feel it adds to the creep factor!
I have adhd and dyslexia and I honestly have zero idea how I managed to get through the whole thing. Also this is the only book to ever make me feel claustrophobic. Really really weird read.
I wanna see her look into clive barker's fantasy novels (imajica, weaveworld, etc.)
“A book is a house of leaves.” This blew my mind.
i read house of leaves as a teenager and it took me a year to get through and occupied my every waking thought. it's my favorite book of all time
I don’t want to put a damper on things, but House of Leaves is about complex grief. The through line in Haunted (the companion album) are recordings of Mark and Poe’s dead father’s voice, in fact one of those recordings is where the title “House of Leaves” comes from. Grief is large, confusing, and touches everyone differently, especially when your relationship with the person you lost was fraught. It can be genuinely terrifying to face, and it’s so painful and lonely that it’s hard to believe anyone else has ever felt what you feel. There isn’t a moral, there isn’t a cure, it’s a labyrinth with no exit.
I think this is a “yes and” situation
Yes, it’s definitely about that, too!
Omg thank you so much for being my figurative Ariadne by making the ball of twine that is this video. I'm reading HoL for the first time & could literally feel myself getting lost, making it through maybe a page a day at best. I had actually seen that you had uploaded this a month ago but thought in my hubris that I didn't need to hear anybody else talk about it to "get it". Boy was I wrong! I just kept falling in deeper without making much headway, without really realizing what what happening.
I just got my copy of 'Fluids'. I love it and the new album as well!!!
I'm really glad you touched on Poe's album. When I first read the book, the song "5 1/2 minute hallway" came on right at the end of the Navidson report and I cried. In public. It was so relieving getting to that point in the book. I love this book so much. I feel bad because I haven't been able to get into any of his other books like I have this one, but I want to support his art.
Please keep talking weird books, I need more of them :,3
Great video May! I actually just bought house of leaves despite having a bunch of books piled up, wanting to be read. I can’t wait to try and read it once I finish my others and will try and keep in mind of what you said about not becoming obsessive over it. 😊
I never finished reading this book but I recall Vividly, being in the Night Mind discord when they started reading it aloud together and identifying the correlation between the labyrinth and the minotaur like the Second there was mention of a monster lmao
Baller video, makes me wanna sit down and read it For Real
'Its just a piece of media' OMG I really needed to hear that line. This book got under my skin so bad!
I'm so old that my copy of this book doesn't have the red highlights, only blue. And "MZD *is* the Minotaur *and* he's killing these characters for our entertainment" is a simply BRILLIANT take which has been HAUNTING me for over 20 years now. It's explicitly supported by part of the collage on the inner front cover of the book-the typed piece of paper that starts "Perhaps I will alter the whole thing," and then discusses altering things that only the real-life author could possibly alter, like which characters die, and how.
And it's typed in red.
From what I was able to piece together, Mrs. Truant suffered a massive break with reality after her kid died shortly after birth and all this mess... her son's life, his discovery of the notes and what the notes are about... all of it? Her mind trying and failing to come to grips with the death of her infant. The house is less a labyrinth and more her womb.
At least, that was my read after my own grappling with it. This book's the literary equivalent of an art house film about moviemaking but in spite of that it has some of the scariest moments in in ever. That feeling of surfing creepypasta at 3am and getting the certainty something's behind your chair and you shouldn't look behind you IS A THING THAT HAPPENS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT TO JOHNNY WTF AND IS PERFECTLY DESCRIBED..
What i love is the one segment of purple text in the book. If red is the hostile minotaur and blue is home and safety, what does "what i'm talking about right now" (paraphrase) mean in purple? HMM
one of my favorite voices in horror media talking about one of my favorite books period?? uh thank you Santa???
God, I wish I could just churn out killer content at the same pace as you. Great analysis! My first attempt at reading House of Leaves didn't go super well (didn't get very far at all), but now I'm extra hyped to give it another try!
I also think “leaves” is a little meta pun. Like “LEAVE” “JUST LEAVE.” And every page is a chance to get out, hence the plural. But instead we keep reading, like idiots.
Great. The best review of all on this book. Can u do a longer review on this please
I think maybe the most basic and laconic description that is still apt and useful might be 'It is a hallway filled with doors.'
Every time you've mentioned this book I've been mildly interested but intimidated by photos of the pages, I think a friend might have even shown me his copy in passing years ago, but this video has fully convinced me to read it. The meta-horror aspect and the nested plot you described sounds so interesting! I definitely want to find a used copy and/or make my own notes with your analysis in mind. Hopefully I won't fall victim to the labyrinth with how slowly I read nowadays lol
I'm working my way through this book right now, I'm not that far in and I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it May!
I just read this book this January! And I was so bummed to see how many forums and discussions are inaccessible now. Your analysis and summary are Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you May!
I don't watch a lot of your videos but this is definitely the most normal one I've seen yet.
Poe's albums are great and I was so glad when you brought them up.
Just finished the book last night and your video has saved me hours of online searching for answers ❤
my favorite quote is "AW man, it's a real House of Leaves in here!"
I know its easy to say that in hindsight: "House of Leaves" being a metaphor for a convoluted book/the book being the labyrinth for the reader was one of my first guesses when starting to read it. So I stopped, because I didnt want to put more of my time into something that I was very certain would be just a very elaborate version of that single sentence.
I feel very stupid, but also kind of glad about that decision, because I would have wasted days and weeks of my life analyzing every single page :D