**3.5 out of 5 stars** 
 One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski is a strange book. But that was to be expected. 
 I read Danielewski's debut novel House of Leaves this May and found myself completely submersed in the story. Gritty, horrific, and creepy, the story got under my skin and stayed there for quite some time. The reading experience alone made it so much more enjoyable: Danielewski uses a wide variety of fonts and various styles of formatting to craft weird stories. It's definitely not for everyone - you either love it or you don't - and I happen to love it. 
 So when I saw One Rainy Day in May on Book Outlet recently, I knew I needed to read it. The first in a tentative 27-volume (!!!) series, this behemoth of a novel follows nine different characters on one rainy day in May; the story's main character is a 12-year-old girl named Xanther. 
 This is a difficult review to write because I have such confusing, all-over-the-place thoughts, but I suppose that's suitable for this particular book: One Rainy Day is, in and of itself, incredibly confusing. 
 What Worked: 
 This was undoubtedly the most visually stunning novel I have ever read. A beautiful cover (with mini cats!), full-color illustrations throughout, various fonts - even entire sections where the text looked exactly like rain falling on pavement. 
 Xanther was an incredibly fun character to read about (this is probably due to the fact that her sections of the novel were the only ones that were 100% coherent). A young girl with epilepsy, she was endearing and sweet and interesting, and I couldn't wait to read more about her. 
 All of the characters were completely unique , and surprisingly well-crafted and well-developed, considering Danielewski was working with nine different characters that were supposed to all connect in some way at the end of the novel. There was even random sections interspersed in the text that was supposed to be from an alien race, translating and commenting on what was happening. 
 What Didn't: 
 Large sections of this novel left me 100% confused, despite my best efforts to re-read entire portions and try to decipher what had just happened. For instance, one of the main characters was from Singapore, and the majority of the parts detailing his life were written in Mandarin, or were written in an English/Mandarin hybrid with zero translation. It was bizarre and I understand Danielewski was portraying a man trying to speak English (even though it's not his native tongue), but it was odd. 
 It wasn't as much of a submersive reading experience as House of Leaves. Perhaps this is my fault for comparing these two novels, but it just wasn't as enjoyable. I think this is also partially due to the fact that I was reading about nine different people, rather than just a handful. 
 Ultimately, I am so glad I picked this novel up, and I look forward to reading the second volume, Into the Forest , when it comes out on October 27!