The Haunting of Hill House

182 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 2006 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-303998-3

(2 reviews)

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. 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.

5 editions

tippy bottom reviewed The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Penguin classics)

Review of 'The Haunting of Hill House' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

really good, really thrilling, really fun book. haven't been truly thrilled and creeped out by a horror story in a while and this hit the spot. the start was a bit slow, almost boring, but once you get into it, whew, i couldn't put this book down. jackson had an intense way of writing scenes and interactions and sequences - very bizarre but not difficult to follow; it's jarring in the way that it reflects the setting of the book. and following the character's thought processes as well was fascinating and gripping.

i also thought it was interesting that this book was set in the 60s - it was one of those transitional eras, i think - times were changing, the way characters were interacting with each other was a bit unusual to me; like, okay it was formal-ish, the way they talked was still "old"-ish but not like anything …

really good, really thrilling, really fun book. haven't been truly thrilled and creeped out by a horror story in a while and this hit the spot. the start was a bit slow, almost boring, but once you get into it, whew, i couldn't put this book down. jackson had an intense way of writing scenes and interactions and sequences - very bizarre but not difficult to follow; it's jarring in the way that it reflects the setting of the book. and following the character's thought processes as well was fascinating and gripping.

i also thought it was interesting that this book was set in the 60s - it was one of those transitional eras, i think - times were changing, the way characters were interacting with each other was a bit unusual to me; like, okay it was formal-ish, the way they talked was still "old"-ish but not like anything you'd read from the 20s and for me not TOOOO difficult to understand. all this to say that the writing style reflected the era the book was written, and i appreciated that.

this could maybe be one of the OGs of psych horrors, and im not like, IN LOVE with it, but i highly recommend it.

Jim Rion reviewed The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Penguin classics)

Review of 'The Haunting of Hill House' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It seems strange to review a universally hailed classic, but here it is: this is a truly, deeply unsettling novel. Apart from the ghost story, the social horror they Jackson also brought to The Lottery is what gets under the skin. How much of Eleanor's story is real? How much of Eleanor herself is real?

The doubt is as pervasive as the dread, and the dread runs very deep.

Subjects

Haunted houses -- Fiction.