House of Leaves - Summary and Analysis

[@Commentpeon]

Karen saving Will by going back into the house is the most pivotal moment of the book. No amount of logical analysis or knowledge could stop the trauma and emotional pain from growing inside of the house. The book postulates that only someone loving you in spite of all the pain and trauma can make it go away/ or allow you to move on from it and live fully. To me this embodies what it means to truly experience love. No matter where you and the other person have been. You both walk into the other person’s emotional mess and say i’m here to stay and love you even tho its overwhelming and a mess. Only then will the mental gaps recede and two can live a full life in spite of the trauma.

[@anthonybryson533]

Highly recommend checking out the album "Haunted", by Poe (Anne Decatur Danielewski), this is Mark's sister's 2nd album and is seen as a companion piece to the book, each reference one another and were created around the same time. Both deal with similar themes, as they were both dealing with some level of trauma relating to their parents, if memory serves. It's all echoes of one another.

[@katriona8534]

Thanks so much for the tip! Will be listening

[@sobitasadullah4517]

Oh wait, the Sheriff writing off the hallway as a hunting accident EXACTLY parallels how the authorities would react to Johnny's injuries from his stepfather in the woods. Damn.

[@nevadakirin1923]

I was honestly absentmindedly clicking on summary links for House of Leaves and thought it said something around 500k views on your video and was honestly shocked it was only 6K views. While I usually have video essays on as background noise, I was completely absorbing everything you said throughout the entire time. Not only was this a really good and straight to the point summary about the plot and themes of the book but I would absolutely listen to you talk about other books in a similar way too. This video was really well-organized and kept my attention the entire way through. I've owned this book for years and was never able to crack it and you put it all out there really well. I watched another video that said you're just doing this as a hobby but I would absolutely love a series of you talking about quite literally any book like this.

[@SerenaBates]

This is a great analysis! I read House of Leaves probably 5 or 6 years and a friend recently picked it up - your video helped jog my memory and frames the information in a way that doesn't feel snobbish or unapproachable.

[@balfizan]

As a note the Navidsons and their experience are semi autobiographical to MZD his father was a film maker and photographer, his mother a model/actress, he has a sister who is a singer. From what I've been able to find the internal story also might be Mark reflecting on his dad's career change to be more of an academic/critic in order to spend more time with him and his sister. He also doesn't talk much at all about his mother in interviews so there might be something going on there or possibly just a desire to keep his mother's private life private.

[@alexloriau6245]

The atmosphere, narration and analysis in this video were all on point. Keep making great stuff, this was awesome.

[@kjdubs5877]

One thing about the hallways is that the closet space between the rooms only appears after the rift of going to a wedding. The kids no doubt asked their parents why they weren't married, furthering the emotional rift.

[@marcop5400]

Someone watched night mind

[@PeenWeinersteen]

I appreciate YOUR time.

[@phantomleaves]

I just finished the book last night, I think you gave a very good summary and analysis. You got a sub from me!

[@oksanarose6879]

i think what i really liked about this book is the way the formatting enhanced the content. there’s a lot of content that appears to serve no purpose other than to change your reading speed. some passages are formatted such that it mirrors the claustrophobia that the characters experience, or conversely, the wide spaces that they find themselves in. i don’t know if every detail has a deeper meaning or intention, but the book utilizes a lot of rules of composition very effectively, and overall is a great example of how content and form talk to each other. i really like it for that alone, even though it’s a complex mammoth of a text that spirals and dead-ends and meanders. certainly unconventional but it works so well for what it is.

[@oksanarose6879]

also, super useful video- i can have pretty shit reading comprehension and it’s useful to have a summary/framework. i’m rereading the book after a year but this video made me realize i missed a lot of content during the first round

[@socaltoobie8984]

@@oksanarose6879 Exactly! Case in point… Chapter IX (labyrinth). 🤯 As I was reading it I was thinking “how am I going to remember where I left off and how to get back there?” And leaving a post it (as a breadcrumb) to help me find my way back. Then I literally laughed and realized… I GET it!! That chapter was chef’s kiss.

[@RedKnight56]

Just finished the book and this brought it all together wonderfully! Thanks so much! Great job!

[@Halsyan]

I really enjoyed this. It was a great way to revisit the book without having to read it again. That formatting, interesting & creative as it was, could be a little grueling to get through.

[@t5styles333]

I like how you did this. Your voice, the music and your articulation are appreciated. Thank you.

[@t5styles333]

PS I'm looking forward to your Infinite Jest video. ;)

[@timothybina3604]

Brilliant analysis. I’ve read a lot of commentaries on HOL. This was refreshing in its insights. I feel like I finally understand what the book was about. Anxious to read the book for a third time after listening to the way you’ve framed your analysis. Nice going!

[@a_doggo]

Thank you for the helpful explanation. I enjoyed your piano playing, too. Really nice. I'm getting the hardcover tomorrow, and want to go in strong.

[@ricoperez9252]

He did a really good job on the video, my attention span is pretty poor, so much so that I can’t even do audiobooks sometimes but I managed to track everything u said so that’s awesome, I wouldn’t have been able to absorb any of the story at all if it weren’t for you so thanks

[@clareisnotadalek]

I liked your interpretation a lot! I think your point about the importance of sitting with something yourself is very valid. You definitely had some interesting insights that I hadn’t noticed. I particularly liked your thoughts on how certain characters in the film portrayed different aspects of Johnnys life!

[@AlejandraHernandezVallejo]

Fantastic review and interpretation; truly deep and insightful! I really hope you do more reviews of this kind!

[@GiraffeDGod]

I enjoyed your video from start to end , and for your first longer format video it was very well put together. If you decide to continue this as hobby then I look forward to what you do next

[@layla_does_stuff9318]

I finished the book and I really liked your analysis. I hope you continue this sortve thing. I thought your recap was really well done!

[@layalialsudairy9992]

Great analysis and up to the point. You brought up the most important things. And like you I loved Johnny’s mom letters. They were beautiful and disturbing . Johnny probably got his talent for writing from her.

[@claytonwyatt9780]

This is my favorite HOL analysis.

[@weskoas]

Heres a twist for u. Zampano is Johnnys pen name. And the whole book is a letter from Johnny to his mother. There is evidence for this theory in the book. Zampano and Johnny both use the code his mother uses later in the book.

[@cyrusr2209]

I don't think Johnny could write that well as a 25 year old guy going crazy

[@weskoas]

@@cyrusr2209 Johnny is a great liar/writer. There's so much to back this idea.

[@harrysumption430]

Fantastic video, you brought so much clarity and thoughtful analysis to a Seemingly impenetrable piece of art. Thank you.

[@Goldjohney2]

This was an amazing video. Thank you so much for the work you put into making it

[@deadchannel8431]

Great vid! Btw I don’t think Johnny actually killed Kyrie and Gandks man. He says later in the book he let them go

[@fznda]

Thank you for your insight. All of your essay was well thought out and eloquent.

[@harrystirland9256]

Thank you for your analysis. It was very good and helped me have a deeper understanding 😊

[@dementedavenger2784]

Love the music in the background

[@pillmatik4239]

Thank you! I gave up on the book and thanks to your video I need to revisit it I think. And the music fit the ambiance of the story well.

[@coryc1904]

Awesome video man! This was a real treat. I'm in my second readthrough now. Definitely feels like new game plus. Probably going to read it once every Summer now. 😂❤ I Love your video, thank you for making this for us!!!!!

[@tukkek]

I've already looked into Infinite Jest, would you recommend other novels (or anything else really) in the same vein or remotely similar? I'd love to hear your more recent thoughts after doing some research on the book, as you mention early in the video! I'm not sure if you're looking for insights on your analysis and the meaning of the book (and on top of that I read the book quite quickly and years ago) but the two things that immediately come to mind are: 1. "The beast" potentially existing outside the Navidson Report [sic] and house; and 2. Mark's auto-biographical relationship with his own mother, which is something often mentioned in analyses of the book (which I'm not an expert on, other than looking up videos like this sometimes) but it does seem to fit in perfectly well by being yet another narrative layer blending reality and fiction in a meta-textual manner, which is the bread-and-butter of the book(s). You do mention the unique layout of the book but mostly by showing examples and saying it's confusing and cool. Sharing how it impacts the reader's feelings, interpretations and how it relates to the on-going narrative could have been a next step! Please don't apologize for your analysis and review, your video is fine; Nothing sounds particularly odd to me and the production value is great and the music fit very well in the background, especially as a glue to the recording breaks throughout!

[@NimrodWildfire555]

Thanks for the kind words! I read a lot, but I don't usually dip my toes into anything that is too experimental. Neal Stephenson's Anathem is the first thing that pops into my head that I have read already (and may read again soon) that I really enjoyed. It's not as abstract as House of Leaves or Infinite Jest, but it has an interesting format that puts it in a similar category, you might enjoy it! I appreciate anything you want to talk about or bring up about the book! I did read a bit more about it after the video, but really I just needed a break. The thing I missed that you mentioned was that the book formatting mirrors the house, making the reader feel kind of anxious the way the characters do. I registered it subconciously, but that was the blunt "Oh, duh," thing that just didn't connect for me. A book has a format it's supposed to follow, like a house has a structure it's supposed to follow, and the rules are broken in parallel. To the other points you brought up, Johnny's relationship with his mother has some clear ties to the story he is telling, and I feel like if I talked through the things we find out about his mother, more would become clear. Like I realized that his mother and Halloway both lose their minds and try to kill loved ones/co-workers and they both take their own lives, but I don't know that I hit that point in the video. Now that it's been a bit, I might find some other youtube videos on it and see what I missed from other sources. I've been putting off making another video, even something simple, because this was a lot of work. But I have all of the equipment and I will get better if I continue to make them. Thanks for your kind words again, and next time I am bored I may set things up to record something else. Have a great day!

[@tukkek]

@@NimrodWildfire555 Thanks for the reply but just to make things clear: 1. I meant the part about the formatting as a further level of depth you could have included in the video. 2. I meant Mark's mother as in the author's mother - it's something you'll probably come across if you do look up analyses. Since I didn't mention it earlier, let me say I hugely appreciate your "first impressions" approach. I'm the kind of guy who eats up all the extra material I can find right after finishing an intricate work like this - so it's great to be able to re-live again that (very short, for me) period between my own takeaways and diving into the more in-depth general public discussion, even if it's through someone else's eyes and first impressions! This is a fantastic deliberate approach to making videos about books (and anything else). People are too afraid to put out an hour-long video that might turn out to be naive or woefully wrong in retrospect, so I applaud your bravery to bring us an honest first take like you've done! All the best, sir.

[@NimrodWildfire555]

@@tukkekAh, I was light on the formatting other than "it's pretty cool" like you said, and I didn't realize that Mark Z Danielewski himself had issues with his mother that were reflected in the book. I really need to check out some other videos/articles people have made on it, it's been long enough to do that now :) Thanks for the insight on the first impression idea as an angle for videos in general. We live in a world where questions and further understanding of almost any subject are a few google searches away. Another book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" springs to mind for me, and I actually might make my next video on this subject. The ability to find the best information out there makes people "google smart," they get the rewards of the hard work other people have put in almost instantly. This is seen as a pure positive, but there are downsides, and exploring that is interesting. As a meta-narrative for the video I could have my first ideas about the pros and cons, then see what kind of research there is out there beyond the what I already know, doing a bit of research, then doing a deep dive, perhaps recording a summary at each step. If I do end up following this idea through, I'll give you a shoutout for the back and forth that lead to the idea. Thanks again!

[@tukkek]

@@NimrodWildfire555 And the "give your initial impressions then (possibly) do a deep-dive later" is perfect in that you lose nothing by delaying the deep-dive, it's not like all the information will be lost in time or something. The only downside is literally the risk of getting things dramatically wrong - but that doesn't invalidate one's first reaction, even misinterpreted (as in "death of the author").. I know I will never refrain myself from reading up on all the discussion as soon as I finish a work of art that I'm intellectually invested in - but again, perhaps this is exactly why this format is interesting to me, as someone too eager to get the full-picture rather than let those initial ideas sink in. There are many ten-minute-long reviews of the book on KZbin and a few full-course analyses. This was a refreshing in-between! I'd highly appreciate a ping if you do upload a follow-up video, thank you for the kindness!

[@FWWM0000]

Great video!

[@MemphisJones]

I plan to read this book on vacation. Thank you for your analysis.

[@coaldoubt2879]

You won't regret it

[@noot3427]

@@coaldoubt2879 will look crazy reading it in public turning it in a circle while flipping pages

[@Batmansplumber]

It would be awesome if you would continue your examination on house of leaves. Maybe go into fan theories or different interpretations you have? Great content btw!

[@dia_exclamation_point]

Wow you reviewed it in under an hour. World Record!

[@SleepyJonAllen]

Holy shit, it just hit me how Johnny could come up with all these amazing stories randomly. So maybe that’s a hint that the whole thing is one of Johnny’s tall tells that he would use to impress girls.

[@NimrodWildfire555]

Yea, the beat of Johnny spitting out a story of him boxing for a russian money launderer (I think that's the gist) is important and makes everything that he's the only anchor for suspect. Zampano might exist, but maybe not. A monster probably didn't kill him though, escaping from a book he was working on. Our narrator is not only unreliable, but very good at building worlds that seem like they might be real, which is fun. Kind of reminds me of "Synecdoche, New York", a movie you might like if you liked the book.

[@majukun]

I think him attacking kyrie afterwards was all in his mind because at one point in the book I remember him basically admitting that, that in the end kyrie just ran away and all the violence was, again, all in his head. Personally I think that what's real and what is not is left intentionally vague and there is no real answer..which on one side is cheap, but it works well with the themes of the book being dishorientation, both spacial and about your own feelings and your place in life. It's a shame for me that the most interesting part of the book, the navidson report, is clearly fiction and doesn't even attempt to explain its lore...which on one side makes it scarier, on the other, at least for my tastes, cheapens it a bit, because if the author can put whatever he wants in the story without that neededing to make sense, then nothing actually matters. the rest is just a clear descent into schizophrenia..I think zampano really existed since we get photos of the snippets he left behind...but it's also true that nothing "strange" surrounding zampano ever gets explained...the dead cats, the claw marks near his body, the strange snippets that appear burned in seemingly random spots...zampano could be real and those could have mundane explanations that we will never know, or zampano could be made up, and thus the explanations don't really matter.

[@rb-44]

This is so relaxing 😌

[@MoLena0303]

Does anyone else think the entire thing is written by johnnys mom? She mentions numerous times "when the government kills me". I think she killed johnny when he was 7 and is institutionalized/ on a death row type situation. I think shes telling the story through multiple personalities. The way her letters deteriorate are very similar to the rest of the book. Karen being sexually abused could be her own trauma?

[@coaldoubt2879]

Fantastic video. Well done

[@SHLVideos]

This is great - I'd love to hear your thoughts on Mother Horse Eye's Flesh Interface Series.

[@MissMayuri]

I feel like the house itself is a book. Books contains worlds, or in this case a house, but when you close it its just a book, it never changes, it always look the same. And the labyrinth reminds me of greek mythology with the labyrith that changes size and form, and in the middle the minotaur resides.

[@abemudokon9497]

Wut

[@fadd6895]

Thank you .

[@seandalziel7414]

House of Leaves is one of my favorite reads in recent memory.

[@michaelewald9195]

Wow you either didn't read it or you only read garbage.😂😂😂

[@secondrule]

Very interesting book. Took me a while to figure out the structure of the book as i was reading it but once I did the book became easier to read and to get through. I don't have an interest in reading it again any time soon ( i read it like 10 years ago) but i found it good enough to remember it and to be glad i had read it. A very interesting, disturbing, and gloomy book, but a good/great read. A good mind twister. I give the author a lot of credit.

[@robgabe3984]

Good video man. I agree the book is about johnnys descent it no schizophrenia. It’s a schizophrenia stimulator

[@stevegoodson9022]

Sure you already know this - there's a companion album to HoL by MZD's sister, who records under the name 'Poe'. When Johnny hears a song coming from a bar with lyrics about a 'five and a half minute hallway' - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJC0XpejqLaHl9Esi=W362JMPADP1OfbOa

[@adriennewalker1715]

I enjoyed your post very much, thanks for posting!

[@_comment]

I forget, do we have anyone's word other than Johnny that be became famous? Did that band even exist?

[@reidhatcher4573]

Nice video!

[@Digitaleducation711]

Its like 1408 room movie

[@wyattcar4071]

10k views and only 80 subs? SUBSCRIBE TO THIS MAN!

[@incarnateflame3462]

How does electrity cut your legs

[@F91RPG]

Dont have earpods with me at the moment but I turned my laptop speaker 100% and video volumn to 100% still cant hear anything :( shame I am pretty sure THIS is the video I must watch, maybe I should get a new pair of pods!

[@DaisyChaine]

Minotaur could be johnnys trauma / fangs personified (?)

[@adityakalaskar1845]

Well explained 👍👍

[@QueenOfFails]

Thanks for the trigger warnings and general info about the book. I'll stick to listening to your explenation

[@say.yes.]

I’ve owned this book since I was 16 years old… simply because I love circa survive. Without knowing what it’s about… I was very intimidated by the format. So much so I still have never read it.

[@dawidskrodzki]

Thank you for doing this. I just wanted to object to calling some of the characters "losers" just because they don't have a great career, family and perhaps make questionable choices. It is unnecessarily judgemental. Some people have difficult lives and it doesn't matter how hard they try they are not as perfect as others` for many reasons. For me it almost feels like calling someone in a book that is challenged mentally a "retard". In particular, I really have no idea why you would consider Tom to be a "looser".

[@goodjibesonly_]

*loser

[@pookie247]

Because Tom is a foil to Will

[@eeyoreofborg]

Does no one else find an analysis of this book...ironic?

[@TimoNaaro]

I am still working on the book. Its very hard to get clear idea because I feel formatting here is crucial key to solving this puzzle. I have not been able to get hold of hardcover book. Mostly been listening to audiobook and playing myhouse.wad. Doom mod. lol I still feel the keynotes at the end of the book are crucial. I think by analysing them in detail you could get even better handle what is true and made up since some of the quotes and stuff are totally made up. Would love to watch your another video on this topic if you ever made one.