"It's about a house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," say some reviews, and the same can be said for the book itself. The story (stories) is (are) somehow bigger than the pages that contain it; it's a horror story, a haunted-ish house, a love story, a family struggling against the house--and the circumstances--that tries to devour them all. And it really is amazing. 
 For a book clocking in at over 700 pages (736, if one of the more self-referential passages is to be believed), it's surprising to find how tightly written it is. There are no wasted words here; the passages that feel sprawling are, in retrospect, sprawling with purpose, and not just basic character development. It all ties together, knotted around themes of isolation, obsession, fear, love. 
 There are lots of things about this book that I understand perfectly. I have theories on things I think I pulled out from the text. There's some stuff that I just don't get. This book is either way smarter than I am or incredibly pretentious; I suspect it's a bit of both.