(...) and this great blue world of ours seems a house of leaves (...) Este libro es complejo aunque entre más se adentra uno en el mundo de The Navidson Record, la historia de Truant y la casa, el libro parece más sencillo de leer. En corto, nos adentramos en la casa sin darnos cuenta, bajamos por la escalera en espiral siguiendo un fantasma el cual nunca conoceremos hasta que lo veamos. La estructura del libro puede parecer intimidante pero, curiosamente, la historia te lleva de la mano, incluso cuando caemos una y otra vez en los misterios de la casa pero hay que aceptar esa mano, por asi decirlo, porque perderse es fácil y recuperar el camino es difícil. L . a o l v r e a r i d c a e d r p e a s t a a s a o m s a i g m e p n l e s o v n i s o t r a e , p Realmente no es que sea un 5, pero esta más cerca a este que a un 4. La verdad he disfrutado las últimas 300 páginas como muy pocas veces, incluyendo girar el libro, leer por la página y entre diferentes secciones del libro. En efecto, una experiencia. ˙ɐllǝ uoɔ soɹʇosou ʎ ɐpıpɹǝd ɐʇsǝ ɐsɐɔ ɐl

Es fällt mir unfassbar schwer dieses Buch zu bewerten, eigentlich überhaupt erst etwas darüber zu schreiben. Für mich war dieses Buch eine Reise und in seiner Form und Machart so einzigartig, dass man es mit keinem anderen Buch dieser Welt vergleichen kann. Auf wievielen Ebenen hier analysiert und gedeutet werden muss, ist einfach unglaublich und ich bin der Meinung, dass jeder sich hierzu selbst ein Bild machen sollte.

Before reading this book, I already had heard about how unique it was. How with every page, it de- and reconstructs itself through multiple layers of media and perspective. But reading it myself was an experience I can hardly describe. The introduction tells the story of a guy who finds scattered pages of a movie script, "The Navidson Records", in found-footage format, which has already been analyzed by countless fictional reports and essays quoted in the book itself. The Navidson family moves into their new house in that script story, but slowly comes to a realization that not only breaks their reality, but also the one of the book itself. In that house, the laws of physics that make us feel comforted and in control over our world cease to exist, and the book parallels that creeping realization through breaking its own limits of print and text. At the beginning, the story creeps forward slowly, and it feels a bit uncomfortable to read and comprehend, but over time it accelerates through its suspense and broken format in a way as if you were a climber falling under a snapped rope. Reading this book can hardly be put into words for the same reason why there could never be an audiobook, game or movie about it. You have to read it for yourself, turn the pages upside down, mirror them, keep track of different stories told at the same time and when you realize how deep you've already sunken in, you feel the same way the characters feel on their expedition into the depths of this impossible house and its pure liminal horror. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I started to uncontrollable cry towards the end of the book, because my brain was trying to imagine a described scenario that cannot be imagined. We cannot truly imagine it because it would break everything we believe in. It's the best book I've ever read and I doubt that anything will top this experience. There is no other book like this one. PS: if you're like me and listen to music for increased ambient, I highly recommend to listen to Colin Stetson's soundtrack to "The Color from Outer Space". It fits perfectly.

Ich weiß ehrlich nicht wie ich es bewerten soll. Das Buch selber ist wirklich schwer zu lesen, grade die erste Hälfte. Ich fand es furchtbar und hab mich sehr durch quälen müssen. Die Story in der Story in der Story beizubehalten als Autor finde ich jedoch eine top Leistung. Die Story vom 💙 Haus fand ich richtig spannend und super gut gemacht, mit dem Atmosphärischen Lesen durchs geschickte Platzieren der Wörter, ich musste mich jedoch erst dran gewöhnen um es genießen zu können. Die Story von Johnny fand ich sehr manisch und anstrengend, konfus, langweilig und verrückt, aber auch das passte super von der Atmosphäre zu seinem Drogenrausch. Ich bin mit anderen Erwartungen an dieses Buch gegangen. Ich habe eher mit einem Rätsel gerechnet, wie ein Krimi, den man selber löst. Ein Rätsel war es auch jedoch auf einer ganz anderen Ebene wie ein Bild von Jackson Pollock. Es lädt zum fühlen ein, zum analysieren und lässt einen verwirrt zurück. Ein Stück Kunst zum Lesen.

I really have no idea how to rate this book. It is a lot of things: Scary, touching, confusing, absorbing (just like the house itself?!) I loved it but I was also frustrated by a lot of the...well, the space in between the different interwoven stories and the many, many unanswered questions. Then again: This is not an easy book. It does not hand you answers easily. It does not give certainties. That is seriously so cool. You'll need to have this book as a physical copy to really enjoy it. There will be footnotes. You will stumble over layout choices and it will be an awesome experience. You'll probably turn pages left and right quite a bit, (the book does not like to spill its secrets easily), and you will need to bring your utmost focus. But, and I enjoyed that very much, it will not by like anything you've read before. The atmosphere sucks you right in.

This book and I, we had a love-hate relationship but i tend to love it more than I hate it. It reminded me of a mix between creepypasta, a (very thorough) film analysis and found footage. It wasn't a relaxing read, big parts of it reminded me of the texts I read back at university ... also there are footnotes eeeeeverywhere. Sometimes it was like a little puzzle, that's one of the things I like about the book. Johnny was a big part of why I was annoyed. His ramblings and random stories had my eyes rolling out of their sockets. His role in this book, just didn't quite work for me. Some of his digression were interesting to read though. Another thing, but that's more my fault, is that I am a bit disappointed. I was getting hyped up by the praise about this book and the people who were saying it was the scariest book they ever read but for me ... i don't know, there were some creepy moments but I was never really scared or anywhere near it. I hoped to get really spooked by it but oh well .... Still, I think a lot about the book and what it's about or rather what it's not about. The typography and layout were also very interesting and fun. I think i would recommend it to some very specific people but it's certainly not for everybody, it can get very dry. so for me 3/5 stars seem adequate. Maybe 3.5 even.

Das war intensiv. Das Buch lässt sich wirklich schwer beschreiben. Eine Geschichte in einer Geschichte, grafisch dargestellt. Man wird richtig reingezogen. Teilweise ist es anstrengend. Sehr spannend. Für mich ein Meisterwerk aber ich kann auch jeden verstehen, dem das ganze zu komplex ist. Bin auf jeden Fall froh es, nachdem das Buch seit ungefähr 7 Jahren in meinem Regal stand, gelesen zu haben und werde es noch eine Weile verdauen müssen.

The book is a story within a story within a story and therefore makes it complex to understand everything at the first read. There are many hints to decode. The style of writing is on an acedemical level with a whole bunch of footnotes. Within the house, the writing style depicts the situation the characters have to go through, especially because of the visualisation and order of the text. It was interesting to read but - as I said - it is difficult to stay through and with an open ending

Absolutely LOVED all the formatting and layers of meta. I even like some really unpopular parts like the Echo chapter. But I just don't care at all about any of the stories. They never captivated me fully. Both endings were also really not up my alley for very different reasons. Overall a book were I don't care about its actual content but just how cool it was structured.

Multiple exclamations of, "ThIs EfFiNg BoOk!!!" were witnessed by my husband and our dogs. LOL! It was weird. I'll give it that. I almost felt like it was trying too hard to be weird though. I liked the core story-line about the house. JT's story-line was ehhhhhh, a little wild and manic which I'm interpreting as the point. I'm confused as to why this is classified as horror though. I wouldn't classify it in that genre, but I don't think there's a genre for weird. :)

Verstörend. Etwas mühsam zu lesen aber cooles Konzept. Die Side Story mit Johnny find ich etwas zach größtenteils. Aufwühlend. Mein Herz rast. Musste immer Mal wieder Lesepausen machen. Man hat das Gefühl man verliert wir Johnny langsam den Verstand. Bin froh dass es ausgelesen ist ^^ Aber gutes Ende.

It has been some time since my feelings about a book have been so mixed. Some days I just carried this heavy thing around in my bag but didn't want to read it. Some days it totally consumed me and demanded my attention for a long time. Fortunately it was not too hard for me to manage the footnotes and references because I majored in literature. I think if I hadn't it would've confused or frustrated me big time. Maybe I'll write more about this experience later. It's not just a book, it's really an experience. I can not really review this because there are a lot of personal feelings involved - I can just say that it pays off to stay with this book. It got me thinking and I'll definitely check out the HoL forum to unravel the mysteries of this book.