What if Navidsson was right?
When Navidson measured the house on the inside he came up with the house being ”exactly” 1/4” bigger on the inside than on the outside. What if this is because when he is measuring the outside of the house he is no longer inside of it, but Karen, Daisy and Chad still are, thus the inside measure is 1/4“ longer because Navidsson is missing. Later when Tom measures the outside he concludes that Navidsson was wrong, it is 5/16”, but now Tom is also not inside the house and therefore the house has become bigger. adding Tom has changed the inside from 4/16” to 5/16” bigger.
This is important because of its implications for the inside of the book itself being bigger than the cover - we as a reader is outside of the book when we look at the exterior but when we are inside of the book (AKA reading it), we are part of it, expanding it, and intepreting it and it changes due to our experiencing it.
This is probably basic as fuck but I just wanted to share this epiphany because it really gave me goosebumps during my second reading.
Edit: thanks for all the kind words, I might have stumbled upon something which could bring something new to this experience for several!
I wanted to add a few thoughts since yesterday, which I commented below as well. I think my mind messed up a bit when I thought that the measurement being different because Navidson was outside of the house when he measured the outside, changing it that way. However, I do believe that the arrival of Tom increased the size of the interior of the House by 1/16” from 1/4” to 5/16”.
Also, because as Simicrop and Hems_and_haws so kindly measured the book precisely by using inches we know that our book is exactly 8/16” bigger than the cover. not 5/16” like the House at this point in the story. that should mean that there is 7 other souls inside our book other than ourselves.
I couldn’t sleep last night because I realized something more. When Navidson toys with his coffee on page 30, he adds sugar, milk, stirs it, adds more milk until the liquid rises to the rim and then by a fraction exceeds even this limit. Only it does not spill due to surface tension. Just like adding more people to the house exceeds the limit of the exterior of the house. Until suddenly the coffee spills, creating a Nile of caffeine wending past glass and politics eventually making a brown blot on the morning paper.
Just like the five and a half minute hallway in the house, pouring out the souls of the people in it.
This is not for you