There’s something raw, dangerous and downright uncomfortable about this story. See, The Cipher is something completely different from most of the horror novels that I have read in the past few years. This is a tough book to review, for a myriad of reasons, but I promise to do my best. Nicholas says, “We’re not.” But no one is in control, and their experiments lead to obsession, violence, and a very final transformation for everyone who gets too close to the Funhole.
“Wouldn’t it be wild to go down there?” says Nakota. When a strange hole materializes in a storage room, would-be poet Nicholas and his feral lover Nakota allow their curiosity to lead them into the depths of terror. Pure black and the sense of pulsation, especially when you look at it too closely, the sense of something not living but alive.” Dick Award, and named one of io9.com’s “Top 10 Debut Science Fiction Novels That Took the World By Storm.” With a new afterword by Maryse Meijer, author of Heartbreaker and Rag. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and Locus Awards, finalist for the Philip K. Yeah, it’s that bizarre-and that intoxicating.Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Meerkat Press | B&N Of course, Danielewski interweaves these themes in threads that span a fictional documentary, the madness of an angsty twenty-something who reads a manuscript written by a recluse (which also happens to be the book we’re all reading), and even a third layer involving the myth of the Minotaur of Knossos. Like the House on Ash Tree Lane itself, which exists within the realm of the impossible (a house bigger on the inside than it is on the outside), the book swells to include an ecosystem of paranormal investigations which, ultimately, explore the meaning of giving ourselves to others-and the mundane intimacies that occur with those closest to us.
It’s such a strange achievement of literary experimentation that the book itself does not feel of this world. It’s wild that a book with an extensive amount of typography (bordering on asemic writing in some sections), footnotes, and odd experimental choices resonated so well with readers … but maybe that’s the point. Its metaphysical influence has permeated into all corners of literary horror. It has been 20 years since the initial publication of House of Leaves and it remains a contentious touchstone for horror readers, who either love it or hate it.
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