TITLE: The Haunting of Hill House
AUTHOR: Shirley Jackson
PUBLICATION: 1999 by Penguin
FORMAT: Paperback
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own.
WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT IT . . .
I love the opening paragraph of The Haunting! In fact, I adore most of Ms. Jackson’s prose throughout this novel. I took my time reading this book because I wanted to savor it as much as possible. The way she makes Hill House a very real character in the story is great and chilling because I think a creepy old house would send me running in the opposite direction. Or maybe I’d feel right at home there, I don’t know. Some houses are born bad, and Hill House is very bad. This novel has that delicious build-up of horror that we come to expect of a traditional ghost (or horror in general, I suppose) story. I loved it.
One might say it’s also something of Eleanor’s coming-of-age even though she’s in her early thirties, but so much of her youth has been spent taking care of her ailing mother that she failed to live as a normal person rather than a personal nurse. The little fantasies that Eleanor has as she’s driving to Hill House are the charming daydreams of an adolescent just getting a taste of their world. I love Eleanor, such a little rabbit in the world but I think we’d be the best of friends and enjoy our little fantasies.
It’s been a very long time since I last read this book. I’m glad that I took the time out this weekend of stressing over my TBR pile to revisit an old friend. In fact, it’s safe to say that I enjoyed reading this book more the second time around. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it during our first meeting, but this second date develops our relationship something more akin to love.
MY RATING
My husband loves this book, says it’s one of the best horror books ever written. Between him & you, it sounds like I should read it!
I liked this book, but I didn’t connect with Eleanor nearly as much as you did. I like how you describe her and compare her to a YA. That’s very true.