House of Leaves isn't awful, but it's inconsistent and occasionally poorly realized. I'm giving it an extra star for ambition and unique structure. 
 I think I would have enjoyed being part of the internet community that was experiencing this as a new trippy lit puzzle years ago, but this format deadens some of the intended emotional impact. The side story in footnotes and appendices was only fun for a while; became a barrier after a while. A couple of times I got close to being scared, got into the story, but then got pulled out of it by Footnote Johnny. (Johnny comes from a hyper-literate mother, but seems only to have inherited her word-a-day calendar - frequently includes 'should of' or 'could of' despite his academic compulsion to pull together this story and having a second round of fictional editing come after him. Layers.) 
 I would like to see the fictional Navidson film, however. That might be terrifying. 
 [Edit: almost forgot because these bits became less intrusive in the last third of the narrative, but the sexual escapades were such a bother. Major Bechdel Test failure, regardless of the insanity of this book.]