“Finished” HoL, here are my (initial) final thoughts

Alright, so, first things that comes to mind: What the hell did I just read? However, it’s less like how I felt watching “2001: A Space Odyssey” for the first and more like how I felt playing Alan Wake or Control by Remedy for the first time, which is ironically how I came to find this book. Before I get into my thoughts, I do want to warn everyone that I’m not exactly a great reader. What I mean is that I often have trouble visualizing certain scenes, I forget certain details very easily (especially if it’s written in academia-like language), and I base a lot of my opinions on new media I consume on presumptions/revelations I had about other forms of media that are similar. So I might’ve missed some important pieces of info or misinterpreted some things. With that being said, here are my thoughts:

I think the book is trying to show the reader, and the characters within its “narrative”, the extent of their own mortality and humanity. What I mean by this is that things like the House, the Navidson Record, Zampanò’s work, and the “House of Leaves” book that we read are things that we aren’t meant to understand. Yet Navidson, Zampanò, Johnny, and ourselves feel enticed by these things and try to find “meaning” within them, when it’s not our place to find “meaning” (if there’s even a “meaning” that us humans would find satisfying or comprehensible). These things drive us and the characters a bit crazy (or even straight up insane), trying to piece together a story that’s not our place to understand (“this is not for you”). We try to apply our knowledge, our understanding, our experiences, and our boundaries of logic upon something that isn’t at all human or within our constricted logic. These things are things that humans are never going to understand, that they shouldn’t be understood by humans, and that humans should just give up and stop trying to pursue something that they don’t understand. Because the ultimate “threat” throughout this novel, is this imposing darkness that stalks in the steps of our characters and even ourselves. There is no “meaning” or “subject” that this darkness takes, it is something else that humans will never understand. But here is the truth that the novel presents, that’s kinda interesting: it will get you, one way or another. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never stepped foot in the House, that you never heard of Zampanò, that you never even heard of the book “House of Leaves”, the darkness is always riding in your step. It doesn’t matter what arbitrary “meaning” you pin on it, or any thing else you give meaning to, at the end of the day…the darkness will get you. Maybe it’s already gotten you many times, maybe it’s strangling you alive right now, who knows? The point is, the book hates you, it hates its characters, and it’s telling you that your searching and digging through this labyrinth is just a waste of your pitiful life. It’s telling you that you should enjoy whatever bliss you have, that you should spend time with your family to give your life some pitiful “meaning”, and that you should just try to ignore the ever approaching darkness that’s coming straight for your head.

Anyways, that’s just my initial thoughts. I’m sorry if that’s basic or kinda obvious, but I wanted to give my thoughts because I was REALLY intrigued by this book. I love Remedy’s games (as I’ve mentioned before) and I found out this is what Sam Lake based a lot of his own ideas on, so I had to check it out! Overall, I liked it and I definitely will be going back and doing some more in-depth research into everything (helps that I’m making a fanfic about the Remedy-verse, so I definitely an excuse to do so). I haven’t technically completely finished the book, I still have some of the exhibits to skim through (I did Johnnys mother’s letters, the Pelican poems, and a few others already). Although I did end up skipping to see what it had to say about Yggdrasil though.

Overall, 10/10, would go insane again.