House of Leaves / YMMV

Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Not a single character in the book that isn't subject to this, which seems to be the point of the entire book anyway, considering it's one of Danielewski's fortes. The biggest example has to be Johnny Truant himself. Does he lie to the audience, such as when he admits making up a story about recovering because of two friends, or does he lie to himself, breaking the illusion simply because of how broken he is? And better yet: Since the book says he disappears afterwards, did he cease to be once the work was done, did the Minotaur reach him, or was he always dead the whole time and Pelafina mentally created him while in the Asylum?
- Invoked when the book lists three separate reasons as to why Navidson returned to the house: The Kellog-Antwerk Claim posits that Navidson returned to "reclaim" the house as his property; the Bister-Friden-Josephson Criteria claims that he became The Atoner and wanted some form of redemption for the deaths his brother, Delial, and to a lesser extent Leeder and Roberts; and finally the Haven-Slocum Theory, which outlines that Navidson's return was his attempt to calm the house to end both his bad dreams and the long-term physical and psychological impact it had on the nine or so others who had entered the house and survived. In the following chapter, Deacon Lookner offers a far more mundane explanation: that Navidson, being Consummate Professional even in his obsession, was simply dissatisfied with the quality of the footage he had and wanted to get a better picture.
- Is Holloway truly villainous, or was he merely driven mad by the House? Was his suicide out of fear of the minotaur, or guilt from having murdered his friend Jed?
Awesome Art: The visual art in the indices is quite compelling in a Nothing Is Scarier sort of way.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Johnny's digressions about his and Lude's sexual exploits can seem pointless. They come out of nowhere and don't have any bearing on the story. Closer examination of these passages does reveal quite a lot about Johnny's character, however, and they're as filled with subtle motifs and symbols as the rest of the book.
- An in-universe example is discussed in Chapter VI. There is a moment in The Navidson Record where the family's cat and dog take off down one of the house's impossible hallways, only to inexplicably end up safe and sound in the back yard moments later, seemingly indicating that the effects of the house don't apply to non-human animals. Zampanò observes that despite the countless volumes of commentary supposedly published about the film, this moment only ever receives a scant few mentions and no real analysis to speak of. Even the very chapter he writes this in is the shortest in the book, and the incident is never brought up again.
Cult Classic: Its forbidding complexity and dark, sobering themes make it a niche work by default, but the people who love this book tend to love it.
Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: The book can be seen as a straight use and alternatively as a parody, to the point that it features fictitious quotes from real intellectuals like Harold Bloom and Camille Paglia speculating about the meaning of the house.
Friendly Fandoms: With Skinamarink, due to the film's similar premise and tone to The Navidson Record. It's gotten to the point where some fans have proclaimed Skinamarink as the closest thing this book will ever come to having a proper film adaptation.
- My House has also become very attached at the hip by fans with the book, and much like the consideration of Skinamarink, is felt to be the closest the book will come to having to a full-fledged adaptation to the exact Mind Screw style and tone of The Navidson Record part of book thanks to the interactive medium of a video game allowing for the player to experience its unfolding story however they want.
Genius Bonus: A brief section of musical notation is printed late in the book. It is the first line of the refrain of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (a.k.a. "The Ants Go Marching One by One"). The main narrator is called Johnny and he can be considered "lost" during most of the story.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- Very early in the story (page 10 or 11), Navy throws away a bit of Karen's hair that's stuck in a brush, and Karen jokingly states that she'll go bald one day and need that hair. In the story's epilogue, she's in remission from breast cancer.
Hype Backlash: It's one of the internet's most recommended horror novels, and gets a ton of love and praise from its fans as being the scariest piece of literature ever. However, the heavily experimental structure of the book and the constant footnotes and citations leave some readers completely removed from the sense of horror, and many find it to be smug, pretentious, and ineffective, if it's comprehensible at all.
Jerkass Woobie:
- Johnny Truant is a heartbreakingly tragic character, but his downward spiral causes him to become increasingly paranoid and violent, to the point where he brutally beats a man almost to death and contemplates raping a woman in his final chapter.
- Holloway Roberts starts off as an unpleasant Control Freak and progresses to an Ax-Crazy murderer, but he's covering up for a lifetime of depression and suicidal ideations and his ultimate fate is genuinely soul crushing.
Just Here for Godzilla: Yes, there's a depth of material about the life of Johnny Truant and his mother...but the Navidson Record, the most famous aspect of the book, can be read and enjoyed for the most part without even giving the framing device a second glance.
Moral Event Horizon:
- Holloway's murder of Jed, which he himself recognizes as this after coming to his senses and commits suicide in remorse.
- Raymond hospitalizing a 13 year old Johnny in the backstory.
- Johnny himself might have crossed this if he actually did rape Kyrie.
Paranoia Fuel: This book will make you terrified of the dark, wondering what's behind you when nothing's happening, and made you scared so much as look at a house. Probably the most infamous part is Chapter 9, which already is taken over by Johnny's side notes and the inclusion of the red crossed out text. But then it goes into overdrive with the chapter becoming a literal labyrinth with a blue box on each page before eventually ending with..:
Picture that. In your dreams.
- Book's formatting of the later chapters (such as Chapter 12 or 20) is where the book basically screws with your mind. You begin to feel like the characters trapped within a maze.
Realism-Induced Horror: While the house is scary enough in itself, the really disturbing parts of this book tend to revolve around painstakingly detailed portrayals of mental illness and interpersonal abuse.
Tough Act to Follow: Danielewski's later works are well respected, but none are as widely read and acclaimed as this.
The Woobie:
- Johnny. His Sanity Slippage and increasing obsession with the book/house cause him to lose his job and home and descend into drug addiction. There seems a spot of hope at the end of the book when he tells he's recovered, but then turns out he made that up. By the end he's a Broken Bird. And all of this story happens after he had a broken childhood, with his father having died, his mother being put in an asylum, and abusive stepparents. It's more depressing that compared to the Navidsons, we don't know what becomes of Johnny aside from interpretations...
- Pelafina. She loses her husband and can't handle that emotionally, so she's put in an asylum, away from her son. The institution is a hellhole where she's repeatedly raped and abused (though this might also be her imagination... remember that to her it still is real). She tries to let her son know of the abuse in her letters, but he doesn't visit her, or maybe doesn't even write back.
- The Navidsons as a whole are a family of woobies: Will struggles with trying to be with his family but his obsession with capturing everything strains it, Karen suffers from self esteem issues caused by a traumatic rape and a fear of claustrophobia, and Chad and Daisy become Creepy Children due to effects the house have on them.

YMMV / House of Leaves

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