I'll agree that the Navidson Record itself was the most interesting part of this novel. It could be made into a really amazing horror film of "found footage" akin to the Blair Witch Project. I thought the most innovative aspect was the realistic manner in which the characters in the Navidson Record respond to the supernatural. Navidson does what an educated, worldly artist like him would do when he first realizes his house is unusual: he brings in the most brilliant scientist he knows to methodically study it. I also like the way the tension in the Navidson Record is slowly and methodically ramped up from the creeping uncanniness of the early spatial impossibilities to the harrowing explorations. I was traveling a lot on business when I read this and it genuinely scared me.

The Truant story was okay, but entirely too aimless, and nothing to get excited about. I appreciate the meta-statement Danielewski was making about the ambiguity of a "true story" and the nature of obsession. It just didn't interest me anywhere near as much as the Navidson Record.