Construction of the house

[vudukerz]

I think it's important not only to scrutinize the individual aspects (characters, plots, etc.) of "House of Leaves," but the overall construction as well, which is why I opened this forum. I've noticed a couple other references to the actual book being a symbol of the Navidson house itself (being "lost" in the book, for example), so I hope everyone's with me.
I think the way the text is formulated, pictures are presented and even musical notation is used have a lot to do with the understanding of the story; most everyone would attest to that. In fact, I think this "construction" says as much about the story as the story itself, and I'm sure it's not all weird for weird's sake.
For instance, has anyone noticed that the text of footnote 123 (page 110 plus the lower half of the footnote from 111)) is in the shape of a key? If you ask me, keys are important things in the context of houses...
Similar "word art" appears on page 336 (struck type and all; not to mention the reoccurance of the 'minotaur' theme), although I'm not quite sure what it is.
Well, I just wanted to kick off this discussion and hear other people's thoughts on this. If I'm not mistaken, this stuff isn't covered anywhere else on this discussion site, and I think it's important.

[Sintina]

Oh, I definitely agree.

I've said this a few times in response to a few posts. And there IS so much cool word art in this book!
The book was written to make us feel like we were a part of it. At first, the affect is cheesy (end of the introduction where Johnny tells us how bad off we're gonna be) it sounds like a kid's horror book: "Okay, now is the time to be scared, you are really scared now, feel scared, OooooOOooooHHhhh"

But then...

Slowly...

And subtlely...

We are drawn into the house and the story and the characters and finally into the way the words appear on the pages. As Navidson struggles to climb up that darn ladder having just lost everything but the book and some water, we have to struggle to read the next words, to see the next image...

We don't even realize our minds are a part of the book at that point. We're used to the twisted-ness, just as Navidson has gotten used to the house images/smiles/icon_smile.gif images/smiles/icon_eek.gif

[OriginalIdea]

We are drawn into the house and the story and the characters and finally into the way the words appear on the pages ... our mindsa are a part of the book at that point.
I was noticing, the first time I read the book, that the chapters kept making examples of themselves. Chapter IV is about the expansion of the room, Chapter V is the essay on echoes. What comes before Chapter VI is an echo. It is a chapter without identification, just like the room still being discussed. It is an expansion resisting (although not completely, I have already said it's an example) explanation. It is in this section that the door appears in the living room, first realized from the suspicious echoes of the two children. Chapter VI is then the single unexplored incident involving the dog and cat. VIII has the Morse code messages, IX has its convoluted net (labyrinth) of footnotes, etc., etc., etc.
Then there's the book itself, as a whole. Simple on the outside: it's a book. So you start reading. Like the house: you move in. But then there are little things, but the little things get bigger, then they add to one another. Then, at some point, maybe you don't even realize it when it happens, but a whole new door has opened. You can ignore this door and just read straight through the book, or you can go through the door in the livingroom and get lost in the labyrinth.
Danielewski, Navidson, Truant, Reston; these guys were no idiots. Although, Holloway certainly was.