Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

Has anyone here read this book by Mark Z. Danielewski?
I just started it and it's fascinating, but slow reading as it's provoking a lot of thought.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: seattle-ish
Posts: 11267

Haven't read it; but I've been meaning to for quite a while.
Keep forgetting. Thanks for the reminder.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

Here's what the Literary Journal says about the book...

When Johnny Truant attempts to organize the many fragments of a strange manuscript by a dead blind man, it gains possession of his very soul. The manuscript is a complex commentary on a documentary film (The Navidson Record) about a house that defies all the laws of physics. Navidson's exploration of a seemingly endless, totally dark, and constantly changing labyrinth in the house becomes an examination of truth, perception, and darkness itself. The book interweaves the manuscript with over 400 footnotes to works real and imagined, thus illuminating both the text and Truant's mental disintegration. First novelist Danielewski employs avant-garde page layouts that are occasionally a bit too clever but are generally highly effective. Although it may be consigned to the "horror" genre, this novel is also a psychological thriller, a quest, a literary hoax, a dark comedy, and a work of cultural criticism. It is simultaneously a highly literary work and an absolute hoot. This powerful and extremely original novel is strongly recommended for all public and academic libraries.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: MadCo
Posts: 1801

I read the first half....and I found I liked half the book. I loved the Navidson Record part, but I hated the other part...I found my self skipping the other parts just to get to the next riveting part about the house. I never finished, I had been borrowing it from a friend, and then he was leaving for the summer, so I gave it back. Still, fascinating book...at least half of it.

Melesse

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

I want this book.
Anything with dark tunnels.
I hate Freud.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

It's slow going because of the way it's laid out, but I'm halfway through and enjoying it quite a bit. So far I have no problem with Truant's side of the story, I've found it an interesting counterpoint to the Navidson accounts.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

So is it horror, psychological thriller, a quest, a literary hoax, a dark comedy, and a work of cultural criticism?

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

I'd have to agree with all those adjectives, yes.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

Are they all adjectives?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Cambridge
Posts: 7113

I read the first half then someone borrowed it from me. It was rather good.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Are they all adjectives?

---

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

Cool. The more I read about it, the better it sounds.

"Had The Blair Witch Project been a book instead of a film, and had it been written by, say, Nabokov at his most playful, revised by Stephen King at his most cerebral, and typeset by the futurist editors of Blast at their most avant-garde, the result might have been something like House of Leaves."

- Amazon.com

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35561

'Stephen King at his most cerebral' could still lose a game of chess against a groundhog.

Last edited by Smug Git on 05-18-2004 at 02:07 AM

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

I winced at that, too. He is a shallow writer, but very entertaining.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

Stephen King's strength lies in charcterization. I can think of NO other author that can make a character come to life as he does. He even does this for incidental characters that pop up through his books.
It never ceases to amaze me how involved I can get with a fictional character when he does this.

And if you want to read him at his most cerebral, I'd suggest Hearts In Atlantis.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: baton rouge, la
Posts: 4101

forgive me, but i crusade against this book at every chance i get. it's pedantry and pointless verbosity at its worst. it was created solely to generate some perverse form of "underground" success that relies on people's thirst to be seen as intelligent and fresh. the content is postmodern to the post of being commercial. it's quirky not for the sake of quirk or content but simply for the sake of being different. as far as meaning goes, it's completely hollow.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

Aren't you saying that simply for the sake of being different?

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

Nah, it's his way of saying he wasn't able to follow it and dissing those that did.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Dublin, California
Posts: 3186

I think logan is saying that it wasn't a soul searching life affirming type book.
Not every book I read has to leave me weeping and wondering if this is the answer to the big ole question.

This book was fun. At times creepy. At times mind boggling. Always interesting. it kept me interested. I think I finished it in 4 days, which is why I'm re-reading it. I skipped a lot the first time like Melesse in order to get to the "good" parts. Often skipping over the footnotes because I didn't think they meant anything.

Anyone know where I can get the Whalestoe Letters? Anyone have it and wanna let me borrow?

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

I finished the book, took a while because I read it carefully.
Life affirming? I don't recall seeing a claim for that. It did give me pause for thought in places, mostly about how we perceive things.

And it was creepy in places. And funny.

Overall it was a very enjoyable read.

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Does it really matter?
Posts: 7

I've read it three times, it's the best book i've ever came across. I've yet to find any books like this anywhere. Oh and sorry about the post up there with the same name, for some reason this BBS wont allow me to delete it.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

Is this book anything compared to, say The Illuminatus! Trilogy or The Boomer Bible?

We don't delete things on this forum. Let it sit.

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Insatiation
Posts: 8980

The Boomer Bible I haven't read, but the only resemblance I see to the Illuminatus trilogy is the fact this book directs and redirects often.

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 8650

im pretty convinced rokkr is just a smaller cocked version of kayla

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Registered: Jan 2003
Location: mediocre apartment
Posts: 2614

I'm surprised how people skip stuff to get to the good parts. That just seems bizarre to me. Though I haven't read this book, from what's been said it seems to be in the same vien as Dhalgren by S.R. Delany. Am I a nut for thinking so?

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