A Unique Horror Story: House of Leaves

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.

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​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.