Did I miss something?

[kevinc97]

I finished HoL a week ago and found the ending of Truant's story to be very inconclusive. What was the deal with that band having a copy of HoL written by Zampano with footnotes by Johnny Truant? Was that another story he made up? And what was the deal with the story of the woman who sat with her child who was on life support for four days? Was there some huge revelation at the end? I feel as if I missed something big...

[fearful_syzygy]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum.

There are several threads around here which discuss these particular passages (try searching (http://www.houseofleaves.com/forum/search.php) for "baby story" and "asystole"). As for the Liberty Bell, there are also plenty of different threads about that, which I encourage you to look up (have a look at the List of Useful Threads as well as the Guide to the Forum (which is being renovated)). Here (http://www.houseofleaves.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3153), for instance, is a thread which is sort of about the ending of Johnny's story, but which may or may not satisfy your needs.

Basically take a look around, go wild with the search function and see what you find. We'll be curious to read your comments.

[heartbreak]

I finished HoL a week ago and found the ending of Truant's story to be very inconclusive. What was the deal with that band having a copy of HoL written by Zampano with footnotes by Johnny Truant? Was that another story he made up? And what was the deal with the story of the woman who sat with her child who was on life support for four days? Was there some huge revelation at the end? I feel as if I missed something big...

The band called Liberty Bell is a reference to Philadelphia where Johnny's mother is from originally. They make a joke about the Liberty Bell being cracked, or in other words the Liberty Belle is crazy.

Everything in the book is made up, or rather personal interpretation of actual events. Like hearing the same story from three different people.

Johnny was born on June 21. A Gemini. A twin. The baby that was on life support is Johnny's twin, the woman sitting next to the baby is Johnny's mother. Later she tries to kill Johnny because he should have died too/instead. His father then has to take her to a mental hospital, which then starts a rift between Johnny and his father. Johnny against his father for taking his mother away and the father against Johnny for having to put his wife away. Thus Johnny becomes truant in his father's life.

[Short_Fuse]

Like hearing the same story from three different people.
Like the Bible

I like your theory on this for Johnny's twin, but don't forget that Tom also suddenly disappears.

[heartbreak]

Like the Bible

I dunno if we need to go so far as to compare it to the Bible, but definitely like trying to figure out what happened from three different witnesses.


I like your theory on this for Johnny's twin, but don't forget that Tom also suddenly disappears.

Perhaps it is Tom's skull that ends up in the tree and he's responsible for impregnating Karen with Chad, thus his and Navi's estrangement around the time Chad is born.

Edit: To remove rouge comma.

[Shadow Boy]

The baby that was on life support is Johnny's twin, the woman sitting next to the baby is Johnny's mother.
But I thought that Johnny him self said that the story told to him by his doctor friends wasn't real because he had no doctor friends and thus there was no doctor Nowell.

[heartbreak]

Are you fucking kidding me? Did you really
think any of that was true? September 2 thru
September 28? I just made all that up. Right out of
thin air. Wrote it in two hours. I don't have any
friends who are doctors, let alone two friends who are
doctors. You must have guessed that. At least the
lack of expletives should have clued you in. A sure
sign that something was amiss.

He says that he made up the events that occurred between Sept 2 and Sept 28. The event of the doctor telling him the story is constructed. The story itself could still be actual events since it would have taken place outside of that time frame.

[Shadow Boy]

Damn it. Every time I think I'm on to something it gets crushed by reason,SG does this to me all the time but thank you for clearing that up for me.

[heartbreak]

Damn it. Every time I think I'm on to something it gets crushed by reason,SG does this to me all the time but thank you for clearing that up for me.

hahaha happens to all of us, but its not a bad thing, helps in figuring stuff out and making progress in understanding.

[Shadow Boy]

Yeah good point and again thanks.

[fearful_syzygy]

Perhaps, it is Tom's skull that ends up in the tree and he's responsible for impregnating Karen with Chad, thus his and Navi's estrangement around the time Chad is born.
Wait, what?

Edit: is that a rogue comma there after 'perhaps'? If so I'm significantly less confused.

[heartbreak]

It might be a rouge comma, my punctuation skills are not always that great when it comes to different meanings.

Could you explain the difference in meaning with or without it? (No sarcasm intended. Sincere request.)

[fearful_syzygy]

With the comma, it's a statement (i.e. "perhaps [what you say is true], [but consider also that] it is Tom's skull..."). Without, it's a conjecture (i.e. "maybe it's Tom's skull and he's the father"). I'm hoping it's the latter, because otherwise I really need a page reference!

[heartbreak]

Definitely the latter. Thank you for clearing that up. It will be helpful in the future as well. :)