Skip It

The only parts of the novel I skipped, and I'm being completely honest, were the long lists of references and the scientific garble that appeared a small number times throughout the novel.
For the most part, part of my difficulty reading the book was that there seemed to be so much more to read than the page appeared to contain. I am usually a ridiculously fast reader - no such luck with this bad boy. It took me hours to read less than 35 pages. NEVER IN MY LIFE! It was beyond frustrating!

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Terence tried to find every opportunity he could to read The House of Leaves. From the outset, the book intrigued him, as he quickly flipped through it on the elevator ride upstairs after purchasing it in the bookstore. After reading the back of the text, Terence though for sure, he'd enjoy the book as much , if not more, as he had the others read during his final semester at St. Francis College. That night after class, while impatiently expecting the R train, he finally dove head first into the readings and was immediately concerned. Was this going to be one of those books that doesn't really have meaning but makes you think it does until the very end when you come up empty?

After shaking off such pessimistic thoughts, he started to realize that although it wasn't an easy book to read, he found it surprisingly interesting. At that point, anyway. As he read, Terence began to realize that the analysis of the film, without the footnotes provided by Truant, was reminiscent of an academic paper, a thesis almost, and that sat well with him. When he felt compelled, however, to read the footnotes in courier, he became confuse, discouraged, and annoyed. Why is Truant such a mess?, he thought, while forcing himself to read on. The answer never really came. And that didn't sit well with Terence.
Before he knew it, Wednesday rolled around and the reading had only gotten more difficult. There were fifty pages left to read, and trying to make sense of it all was a painstaking process that Terence almost didn't have time for. "Onward!", he reminded himself, but to no avail, he repeatedly found himself rereading passages that had irked him before, and no change, they did once again. Please God, he thought, please strike lightening on this book and make it disappear! But you do appreciate the book, don't you, the little angel on his shoulder said. YES! Unfortunately I do! But that still doesn't make it any easier, he replied.