Book Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Book: The Haunting of Hill House

Author: Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Release date: 1959

Pages: 182

Genre: Horror

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.

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As someone who doesn’t like horror movies, I always assumed that I wouldn’t enjoy horror books either, which turned out to be a lie. Recently, I have discovered that I like a spooky, scary story from time to time. I had never heard about this book or the movie adaptation until recently,  when the Netflix show came out. I really want to watch that show, but I was intrigued enough to give the book a chance before watching it.

I was expecting a really scary book, but that’s not what I got. This is eerie and uncanny, and it definitely made me feel unsettled at times, but I was never truly scared. Shirley Jackson’s writing works perfectly to fuel the feeling that things are not what they seem, her writing not always makes sense and there’s a lot of description to build up the spooky atmosphere.

The story is told from Eleanor’s pov and even before she gets to Hill House, it’s easy to tell that she is a very particular woman. She has always felt trapped and lonely in her life, she gets distracted easily, she is very imaginative and creates entire fantasies in her head, sometimes not very pleasant ones. She is self-consious and doubts herself and from the very beginning you can tell she’s not gonna be a very reliable narrator.  In that sense, even before getting to Hill House, I already had a sense of not knowing what was real.

When Eleanor finally arrives, the other characters are introduced, none of them are very likeable but they are intriguing nonetheless. The book moves slowly, we get to see the characters becoming friends and exploring the house with only a few strange things happening, it takes a while before the spooky events start to happen. I understand that the wait is supposed to increase the suspense, but to me there were points when I was a bit bored and I felt the book was dragging. 

After certain point in the book, once more and more strange events have occured and Eleanor starts to lose her grip in reality, I found the book got a lot more interesting and compelling, because I couldn’t be sure of what was real and what wasn’t. I was especially doubtful about the interactions between Eleanor and some of the other character where the other characters were unpleasant, I couldn’t figure out if the the characters were unpleasant or they just seemed that way because I was seeing them through Eleanor’s eye and she had sucummed to madness at that point.

About the end I’ll say that I saw it coming, but the author managed to make me believe for one second that it wasn’t gonna go as I was expecting. Even if I saw it coming, I found the ending to be fitting with the story.

Overall, I’ll say this is a eerie and spooky book that would make you feel unsettled and doubt what’s real and what isn’t. If you’re just starting to read horror books, this may be a good one to try. 

 Rating: 3,8 stars 

Have you read this book? Did you watch the movie or the Netflix show? Do you have any recommendations for classic horror books that I should read?

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Spooky Books I Didn’t Read in October, But I Still Want to Read

I was planning to read some spooky books in October, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, which doesn’t surprise me, because everytime I make plans related to my reading, I fail to actually go through with them. I was hosting the Latinx Book Bingo until October 15th and my idea was to read the spooky books during the last half of the month, but I had forgotten that Kingdom of Ash was coming out the 23rd of October and that it was 900 freaking pages long, so I spent the last days of the month reading this huge book that was the final installment in one of my favorite fantasy series and there was no time for spooky books 😞

Now, the reason I’m writing this post is because for a lot of people, me included, October is THE month to read spooky books, but I don’t want to wait until next year,  I still want to read the books even if October is over, so here’s a list of some spooky books that I’m hoping to read soon:

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

This is the third book in The Diviners series, which it’s set in the twenties and follows a group of people with different abilities that have to solve mysteries and face ghosts, curses and evil spirits. 

The Diviners series is one of my favorite paranormal series of all times and I can’t wait to read the next book. The only reason I haven’t read it already is that I’m a bit nervous because we don’t even have a release date for the fourth book yet 😭 WHAT IF THE THIRD BOOK ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER?!

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man. Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early. 

I have been hearing everyone and their mother talk about this book and people seem to love it, so I want to know what all the hype is about. Also, the premise sounds creepy and it has me intriged.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. 

I have been meaning to read a Gillian Flynn book for years and I always thought that I would read Gone Girl first, BUT I love Amy Adams and I want to watch the adaptation of Sharp Objects where she plays the main character, so it seems I’ll be starting with this one 🤷🏾‍♀️

 

Miss Peregrine’s House for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 

A family tragedy sets Jacob journeying to a remote island, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive.

I never had any intention of reading this book, I watched the movie and thought it was just alright, but I recently met someone who loves this series and it’s their favorite series of all times, so I kind of want to give it a chance.

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Cass can see ghosts and when she goes to Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead and she tells Cassidy that their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn’t sure about her mission, but she knows the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn’t belong in her world.

I’m a huge fan of Victoria Schwab and this sounds like a fun and fast read. Something like Ghostbusters in a middle grade version. I’m here for it!

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

 It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called 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.

I had never heard of this book and I haven’t watched the movies based on it, but the Netflix show was released recently and I want to watch it, so I thought I could give the book a chance as well.

Have you read any of these books? Did you like them? What spooky books would you recommend? What spooky book are you looking forward to reading?  

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