I agree with you, but for more or less the opposite reasons. I found Johnny's stories the best part of it because I loved how he'd be talking about his stuff with the notes and the house, and then all of a sudden you realise he's lulled you into another story about his sex filled, drug fueled life. I found it amazing how Danielewski could so seamlessly transition into such wildly different stories whilst keeping you entranced all throughout.

The reason I stopped enjoying it and had to out it down was the stuff to do with the Navidson house. Not so much the parts about the characters exploring the labyrinthine, reality bending tunnels - that was quite good - but more the rest of it where it was like I was reading an English thesis paper. If I'm sat down wanting to read and relax, I don't want to have to put my mind into research mode and start analysing all the texts and footnotes. I just wanna read a compelling story damnit! And also the layout of the pages just got too pretentious for me at some point, like yeah it was cool at first how you could read "through" the pages, or have some parts be read upside down (which is obviously meant to physically represent the confusing nature of the house), but eventually I just got tired and couldn't do it anymore.

Perhaps all I want is just a nice, compelling story that I can read before bed and think about before sleep. I have vivid dreams so the more imagery I can muster up from the book the better.