I have a love/hate relationship with this damn book, leaning heavily towards the hate side of things. I can't stand Johnny's narrative at all. I got to a point where I skipped over his sections because I did not care about him or whatever he had to say. I also didn't really like the ending, which... I won't say anything beyond that if you haven't finished it. And while I love the idea of it having footnotes and approaching it as if it were an academic book, it was more distracting for me than intriguing. Then again, I also had a hard time reading textbooks in general in college due to the same thing (I was way better at group discussion and thank god art history was mostly that and reading critiques, reviews, and random articles). I really just wanted it to be a narrative about the spoopy house and not... get lost in all these other things. And it felt more like a chore every time I opened it instead of something I enjoyed reading.

At the same time, I love all the typesetting and formatting. It's a damn work of art. And I love how each page's presentation is taken into consideration for maximize the tone in the narrative. Like no other book has scared the shit out of me more than House of Leaves, strictly because the text itself literally evokes that horror and dread and it's beautiful.

And it makes me upset that a gorgeous horror story is lost in some jerk's ramblings. I still love the concept of House of Leaves, but I could never love House of Leaves, if that makes sense. Regardless, godspeed with finishing it! I'm super curious to hear your thoughts on it, even more so with your insight as an academic.