Shade · doesn't · help · here...

Yes, people, that's right. I finally, completely, totally finished... House of Leaves. It took a while, but through perserverance, I finished it. And here is what I thought... (spoilers will be marked, so you can read them only if you really want to read them. If I were you, I wouldn't, though)

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN CAUTION!

The academic rambles were tolerable at best. One was about the origins of the word 'echo', another about a story in the Old Testament, and some others about things I don't entirely remember. I think there was a chapter about the history of Virginia. (That one, for the record, was actually highly informative, if not super-related to the book.)

Johnny's story also got a little bit tiresome after a while. He kept envisioning his own death, except it wasn't actually happening. He also talked incoherently through about half of his 'entries' (I guess he kept a journal or something...) It was also pretty obvious from the beginning that he was out of the loop. His sleeping with, like, 20 or so girls, all while he was in love with Thumper, also kinda wierded me out. But really, those were the only two complaints I had about the book.

I liked and didn't like the end - I thought it was just a little bit anticlimactic. They get married. La de fricken da. Really, I kept waiting for the ending to surprise me, completely shock me, something to happen - something big. But I suppose that a really big ending would be very Hollywood-cliche, and throughout the entire book, they refute Hollywood cliches. And, come to think of it, they surprised me with that kind of ending. What I like is the fact that they never explained the house. They left you to infer why it disappeared, and why it even appeared in the first place. The age is never explained. Nothing about the house is ever certain, which is yet another form of symbolism, I guess. The house is always changing, no one is ever truly certain of what it will be like when they go inside. They give you some facts, but never explain them.

Tom's death almost made me cry, as well... He was an awesome character.

SPOILER ALERT NEUTRAL - IT IS SAFE TO RESUME READING!

My opinion of the book in general: I loved it. Danielewski is an amazing writer. He weaves irony, suspense, and mystery with mastery throughout his entire tale. He has some amazing characters, who are very much real people. They have faults, they know their faults, and their faults make the story what it is. Had they all just been scared out of their wits (like in a lot of horror movies), there would be no story. They would leave the house, and be happy and fine. Their personalities not only make them, but make the story. The character I had the most trouble seperating from reality is Johnny Truant. It seems like you could go to California, and find the man who screams in his sleep, who worked at the tattoo shop, whose mother is the link to all his screwed-up-ness. The man who dared read Zampano's book.

And then the character interactions are the rasberry filling in the cake. They make it, no, not great - not great, but exquisite. The tension between Karen and Will, the unconditional love between Will and Tom, every character has a special interaction with another. There are no characters who mean nothing. And there is no word printed in the book that means nothing. Just look at the 'typos' - they tell a lot.

Ja ne
Hikari-chan