House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski | Johnny Truant | Zampanò
One man’s discovery that his new family home is larger on the inside than the outside, by one inch. When a mysterious doorway appears, leading to a maze of smooth, ash-grey walls, Will Navidson – the house’s owner, a Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist – goes in to investigate. The Navidson Record, his film of these explorations, becomes the intense focus of a blind man called Zampanò, who writes about the footage with lengthy, academic precision. When Zampanò is found dead in his apartment, troubled tattoo artist Johnny Truant discovers his notes and inherits the fixation. As Truant becomes increasingly obsessed with the story, so too does the reader.
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Review & articles
I haven’t read this in maybe 15 years, but I remember enjoying it for what it was. It didn’t really strike me as horror, and I remember it feeling very disjointed, which is probably one of the feelings it was trying to elicit?
Anyway, it’s worth checking out. Be prepared for lots of footnotes, addenda, and turning of pages.