Reviews
"[Danielewski is] the most aggressively avant-garde popular writer working today. . . . The Familiar: Volume 1 is as much a narrative story as it is an experiment in visual and typographical forms. . . . It all adds up to something between a graphic novel and a novel-novel." --Cady Drell, Newsweek "I found it helpful to think of The Familiar as less of a 'book' in the traditional sense of the word, and more as a piece of experimental visual art. . . . If you're a House of Leaves fan like me, then this is a book you cannot miss--because there's simply nothing else like it." --Jefferson Grubbs, Bustle.com " The Familiar [is] Danielewski's most ambitious narrative undertaking yet, which is saying a lot. . . . More than any other contemporary writer, Danielewski has blown the door wide open on novelistic experimentation. . . . [He] has shown, emphatically, just how much formal experimentation can truly enhance a narrative experience. . . . His books are freewheeling adventures into intricate depths and wide expanses, and they've helped usher in a new era of the novel." --Jonathan Russell Clark, LitHub.com " The Familiar is performance art as well as book. . . . The Familiar will be a delight to fans of House of Leaves . . . This, like all of Danielewski's work, is a verbal structure made for puzzle solvers." --Lydia Millet, Los Angeles Times "Incontestably the shortest 880-page novel you'll ever read. . . . It flies by with the breakneck surrealism of lived experience." -- Los Angeles Magazine "The House of Leaves author is back with yet another text-art riddled story. The story begins 'one rainy day in May,' when a 12-year-old named Xanther is hesitantly studying up on math while riding in the car with her dad. . . . Xanther's story is the nexus for a score of others, and the author's fragmented means of storytelling proves as fresh and compelling as ever." -- The Huffington Post , "18 Brilliant Books You Won't Want to Miss This Summer" "Most everything about this vast, elusive, sometimes even illusory narrative shouts tour de force." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "This novel goes beyond the experimental into the visionary, creating a language and style that expands the horizon of meaning . . . [and] hints at an evolved form of literature." -- Library Journal (starred review), PRAISE FOR MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI "One of the most gifted and versatile writers of our time." --Steven Moore, The Washington Post "His use of evocative typography--words that visually reinforce their meaning on the page--leaves readers dazzled." --Kim O'Connor, Slate "You hold on for dear life by your fingertips, but the exertion is worth it when you finally get to the top and see the panorama of Danielewski's literary universe." --Dylan Foley, Chicago Tribune
