Title: The Haunting of Hill House
Author: Shirley Jackson
ISBN: 9780143039983
No. of Pages: 248
Genre: Classic
Synopsis:
” It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers-and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.”
Thoughts: Considered the mother of all haunted house stories and given how often this classic story has influenced other story tellers, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House will be familiar even to those who have never read the story. However, this familiarity does not preclude one’s enjoyment of the narrative. Ms. Jackson has an ability to create the feeling of terror with her well-chosen words even if a reader knows, or suspects, what is going to happen next in the story. In fact, this sense of déjà vu only enhances the tension as a reader struggles to puzzle out the actual events from the psychological events and the true story from countless similar ones.
While Ms. Jackson fleshes out all of the characters to some extent, it is Eleanor with whom the reader becomes thoroughly intimate. Early in the narrative, she is established as a character prone to flights of fancy and sudden mood shifts, and her apparent psychological decline as the hauntings occur make her usefulness as a reliable narrator questionable. Masterfully, Ms. Jackson capitalizes on this unreliability to create a story in which the true horror is the fact that one does not know whether the house is really haunted, if Eleanor is mentally unraveling, or if it is a combination of both.
Of the hauntings at Hill House, a reader is only certain of a few things – the main caretakers refuse to stay there once night falls, no one has been able to live in the house for longer than a night or two, and the history of its original owners is unfortunate. Beyond that, the truth is anyone’s guess. Therein lies the power of The Haunting of Hill House. Ms. Jackson, more than anyone, understood that a person can create a more terrifying story when left to one’s own imaginings than anything an author can put down on paper.
Acknowledgments: Mine. All mine.
Yes, there have been two movies made from this story. I know the modern version was panned, but I am definitely curious about an older version. I'll have to check it out!
No problem! 😉
I've not actually read this but pretty certain I've seen two films adapted from the story. The original, an old black and white, and then remade but I'm struggling to remember who was in it – I think Catherine Zetz Jones might have been in the second and maybe Liam Neeson (but I could be making that up so don't quote me!). Personally I preferred the B&W which was much more atmospheric.
I'm intrigued about the book now and will have to look it up.
Thanks
Lynn 😀
LOL! I have too. This year, it was the first book I grabbed so that I wouldn't forget yet again. It is an easy read, so I recommend that you pick it up. You still have time! 🙂
I keep meaning to read this for RIP but always forget!
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Oh, I can only imagine. I would have been freaked too! That was, to me, one of the most deliberately frightening scenes in the entire book. Were you alone at the time too?
One of my favorites. The first time I read it I was in college, living in the dorms. My dorm room was right across from the door to the stairway. When I got to that one part–you know the one–a bunch of rather loud coeds returned from a late night of partying, banging their way down the hall. Scared the bejeezus out of me!
Thanks, Priya! I think there is something more ominous about being left to decide for myself what happened.
You definitely need to read it, and it is very short. You could easily finish it in an afternoon! It is almost a gimme RIP read. 😉
I read this book some time last year and I totally agree with the last line of the review. People I know didn't like the abrupt ending that left us to decide what happened, but I felt it actually kind of made the book even better! Great review, happy reading!
I've never read this one but I have seen the old movie version. It really is one I need to pick up, especially for this time of year!
Ok good. Thanks for your words of advice.
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You are absolutely correct that it is a perfect read for this time of year. It is so short that it makes it easy to reread and usher in the fall season!
The only other work of hers I have read is The Lottery, and that has stayed with me for years. She definitely knows how to tell a story!
Thanks, Diane! I can definitely see wanting to reread it often. It feels like the type of book that will generate different experiences each time you read it.
Not scary scary at all. Creepy. It will make you uncomfortable in places but I could read it at night and then go to bed without nightmares or having to keep my back from the edge of the bed.
I read this book for the first time last year. Such a great book and so perfect for the upcoming season. Now that the weather is beginning to change all sorts of creepy and spooky stories are working their way to the top of my TBR pile. Perhaps it's time for a reread!
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This is one I will read again and again. Not too long, and it certainly has stayed with me.
I also want to read her other works as well.
One I want to read again and again every October. Nice review.
Wow. Sounds good. Maybe I should check this out. Was it scary scary cause I'm a chicken?