The arts
Get your fix of music, movies, art, fashion, and more in these artistic articles
by Jessica Yu ![]() Ghosts, bloody murders, and exorcisms are the classic components of horror stories that everyone loves to read. After a while however, these stories all begin to sound the same. If you’re looking for a horror story that will send chills down your spine in a way that you may not expect, then perhaps you can add House of Leaves, written by Mark Z. Danielewski, to your reading list. The novel tells the story of a young man, named Johnny
Truant, who discovers a pile of manuscripts in the apartment of a blind man who had recently passed away. Upon inspection, Johnny realizes that the manuscripts were written by the blind man himself about the film The Navidson Record, which actually never existed. The Navidson Record tells the story of a family who moved inside a new house, only to discover that the house is alarmingly larger on the inside than it is on the outside. The manuscripts follow the family’s slow descent into madness as they discover massive stairways inside dark hallways that seem to be appearing out of nowhere. Alongside the story of the manuscripts, is Johnny’s story, which are written in the footnotes. Here we can see Johnny lose his grip on reality as he begins to read the manuscripts. His own life begins to take a turn for the worst, as he begins to experience vivid hallucinations and extreme paranoia. The novel tells two stories that are strangely linked together. The most interesting aspect of the novel is its format and structure. In some ways, the novel is considered an art form, with pages contain words structured in different shapes and in different directions. Parts of the novel require you to hold the book up to a mirror, and in other parts you must turn the book upside down in order to read it. One section of the novel contains only one word per page, while another has random words in color ink. This novel is extremely complex and lengthy, but the journey that it will take you might possibly change your life. There is truly no other book out there like it, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
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