# House of Leaves **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840 "2014-04-11T01:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/21 "2014-04-12T21:28:59Z")
> [@scratch\_llll](#): > > Hey pretty… yeah I reccomend Poe with or without the book. The footnotes/side story was just distraction like a note of comedy in a horror movie to lighten it. If he had doubled down on the crazy and gone all in with an equally bizzare side story it would be great and not just really good. Still quite creepy. > > Not that parts of the side story weren’t good and with some enhancement value. Wait, what are you considering the side story? The story of the guy and the stripper? If so I’d argue that more than anything was the point of the book. In fact, there’s a quote floating around there somewhere about how somebody said they found the book at its heart to be more of a love story than a horror one and Danielewski’s response was along the lines of “that’s actually a very astute observation, and it’s funny how labels and branding can affect the perception of a work.” ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/22 "2014-04-12T22:49:57Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > It’s in your cite, so I’m going to ask you to explain it: > > “If ergodic literature is to make sense as a concept, there must also be nonergodic literature, where the effort to traverse the text is trivial, with no extranoematic responsibilities placed on the reader except (for example) eye movement _and the periodic or arbitrary turning of pages_.” (italics mine) > > What does the “periodic or arbitrary turning of pages” mean? This definition was made by an imbecile. They’re trying too hard, but I think the implication is that nonergodic literature would fall into one of two patterns: the reader “periodically” turns the page when they’ve finished reading it (see: most books) or “abitrarily,” which you might get in a collection of trivia or quotations or even short fiction. In both cases, the author isn’t really guiding a relationship between the reader and the physical text. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/23 "2014-04-12T22:56:32Z")
What other ways of turning a page are there, besides periodically and arbitrarily? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/24 "2014-04-13T02:47:36Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > What other ways of turning a page are there, besides periodically and arbitrarily? As has been mentioned in this thread, House of Leaves requires the reader to move in different directions and at different places throughout the text. You frequently need to, say, read a different page before finishing the first one, or may need to consult multiple appendices. There’s points where it may become necessary to have two or more bookmarks at the same time to avoid losing your place. So, nonergodic literature follows one of two paths: Periodic: Read one page, then turn to the next. Repeat. Arbitrary: Read whatever, whenever, in any order. Ergodic literature basically means the text requires a more complicated, involved, or active path through the text. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/25 "2014-04-13T03:12:39Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Wait, what are you considering the side story? The story of the guy and the stripper? If so I’d argue that more than anything was the point of the book. In fact, there’s a quote floating around there somewhere about how somebody said they found the book at its heart to be more of a love story than a horror one and Danielewski’s response was along the lines of “that’s actually a very astute observation, and it’s funny how labels and branding can affect the perception of a work.” That would be great if I wanted a love story written like a confused college freshman on a year long bender. I’m sure there are people who do but I’m not one. If you want to parallel the stripper story with the main one and say the protagonists rescue at the end was his wish fulfillment for the relationship he couldn’t save then fine, super clever, book of the year, a tour deforce, whatever. I like horror. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840/26 "2014-04-13T03:47:25Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > I heard good reports about this book by Mark Danielewski and found it in a used bookstore, put it on the shelf at home with about three hundred other unreads. I looked at it yesterday, and…good heavens, but it is…opaque! I think I would have to devote at least a week to working my way through it, and I need to ask…is it worth it? > > Have you read it? The reviews and the back-cover blurbs are ecstatic about it, but I have seen this before with books that only a dedicated English professor could enjoy. Or a masochist. Read halfway through it and gave up. It’s a put-on. Complete waste of time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-leaves/685840.md?page=1)