Only Revolutions

One criticism I often heard of Danielewski's debut novel, House of Leaves, is that it seemed like there was a good horror story at the center but that it was undercut by all the postmodern wankery going on with footnotes, typefaces, formatting, etc. I count myself a House of Leaves apologist and thought that it was a rather weak argument. However, I now find myself in a similar position. Only Revolutions is an epic poem (or more accurately two epic poems) about Sam and Hailey, two seemingly ageless teenagers, and their wild adventures. The style is experimental, feeling perhaps like some cross between Finnegan's Wake and Ginsberg's Howl, but once I got into it, I found it quite moving, if sometimes a little opaque. I also like the fact that the book is written so that from one direction you get Sam's poem and if you flip it over and start reading, you get Hailey's poem. But much of the other elements, such as the sidebars of cryptic historical events or the colored o's just felt too much, distracting from an already challenging poetic tale.