Four Stories to Read Instead of ‘House of Leaves’
Horror that isn’t horrifyingly long!
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski is iconic for a reason. It’s a doorstopper of a book, filled with strangely formatted text, fascinating supplemental materials, and a very 90s surreal horror mental breakdown plot that follows the creator of a documentary that doesn’t exist and a guy reading an academic text about it. It’s also A LOT.
I just finished House of Leaves, and while I enjoyed it, I do feel like it’s a huge commitment to read. So if you’re curious but don’t have the time and energy for it, or if you hated it and want something similar but with a different vibe, here are four stories — ranging from novels to board games — that have House of Leaves energy without being two-pound monstrosities of literature.
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather is a gorgeous short story by Sarah Pinsker that tells a fantasy horror tale through annotations on a folk song. Like House of Leaves, it builds on the found-text format in a cool and mysterious way. Unlike House of Leaves, it’s not 700 pages long! You can read it in one sitting. But it has a lot of the mystery and exploration that gives found text its appeal, including a lyric video for the song on YouTube that accompanies the story. It was nominated for a lot of awards last season, and for good reason! So if you’re in the mood for modern speculative horror, check out Where Oaken Hearts do Gather in Uncanny for free!
Dracula
Because of its proliferation in popular culture, a lot of people don’t know that the original Dracula novel is written in the form of diary entries and letters! Like House of Leaves, there are a lot of different characters whose perspectives are represented through their own POVs. The relationship between Mina and Jonathan also reminds me of Karen and Navidson’s marriage, in a reversed kind of way. Something about loving someone cursed by the story’s main villain is so cohesive within the two stories.
Angels in America
I know what you’re thinking — what? How could this iconic play possibly be related to House of Leaves? But they both have surrealist themes, intense mental breakdowns, and turn of the century anxiety represented strongly in their time period. And I know that calling Angels in America a horror story is a stretch, but it incorporates a similar sense of dread as House of Leaves. Just because one of them is more real than the other doesn’t discount the similar emotion that each represents.
Betrayal at the House on the Hill
If you’re a purist, you might say that a board game isn’t a story. Well, House of Leaves reads like a textbook, so allow me a little bit of fun! Betrayal is an excellent game that involves exploring a house (that often doesn’t make sense! think about the 5-and-a-half-minute-hallway!) and then participating in one of 50+ “haunts” that turn your party upon themselves or some other kind of supernatural entity. Betrayal captures every kind of haunted house story except for the surreal one captured in House of Leaves, which is what I think makes it a perfect companion piece to it. Also, it’s so much fun! Which isn’t something I can say about the middle 400 pages of House of Leaves!
I hope that you check out any of these recommendations! If you do, let me know if you enjoy them. Also, if you’ve read House of Leaves — what did you think?! Do they fit the vibe? What would you recommend instead?
