The Haunting of Hill House

Rating:
Summary: Da Bomb
Review: I FIRST SAW THE MOVIE AND I THOUGHT IS WAS DA MOVIE! NOW THE BOOK IS JUST DA BOOK! I JUST LOVED THE SUSPENSE AND HORROR OF THIS BOOK! IF YOU WANT TO GET A GOOD HORROR BOOK GET THIS ONE!

Rating:
Summary: Evil and Haunting
Review: The title of this book is exactly how this book makes you feel. It is extremely scary, so don't let others tell you otherwise. In a nutshell, the Haunting (of Hill House) is about how an experience makes a certain person (won't tell who) turn into an evil, sinister person. Although the story may be a bit strange, it has twisted plots and people. Also, the ending is a very unexpected, yet foretold, event in itself. I highly reccommend this books to anyone and everyone!

Rating:
Summary: Slight Disappointment
Review: Maybe my mistake was watching the movie before reading this book. I was very interested in the story line and couldn't put the book down right up until the very ending. I guess I just expected the typical house blowing up and everyone dying except for one person kind of ending. Overall, the book was not terrible, it was actually quite interesting and at times suspenseful. Jackson does a wonderful job of describing the kinds of relationships and different characters all placed under the roof of a house that seems to have a mind of its own.

Rating:
Summary: the words... the words...
Review: The flow of Shirley Jackson's words smoothly over the distorted thoughts of her characters is the reason why I can pick this book up at any time, turn to any page, read and be happy.

Rating:
Summary: These other reviewers must have read somethig else
Review: This is absolutely the worst book I have ever read. I was hoping for something that would be genuinely disturbing, and this book just put me to sleep. Don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: one of two books which have genuinely scared me
Review: I saw "The Haunting", the movie version of the book when I was in high school and I remember, quite vividly, how much it scared me. What's so ironic, taken in the context of today's effects and fireworks shows, is that back then, in the early '60s, this movie never shows a monster...or anything else that would OBVIOUSLY frighten. The breathing doors and sounds in the hall were more than ample to illustrate fear. The book is much richer in detail and includes, especially, two scenes which I feel really should have been included in the movie. The first is when Eleanor and Theo take a stroll around the grounds of the house with Luke and Theo and Luke pair off and Eleanor thinks they are right behind her. They are some distance away, yet she senses them (or something) close by. The second is after an altercation one night Eleanor stalks out of the house and Dr. Marquay sends Theo after her to bring her back. The two of them are so wrapped up in their respective inner turmoil they fail to notice how far they've walked from the house(and at Night!) They notice, suddenly, that the landscape has become like a negative photograph, with light and dark reversed...they continue on and come upon a happy scene, in bright color, of a family having a picnic. The description of this made my hair stand on end. The horror is implied and erupts only occasionally but always with tremendous effect. This is truly a modern classic of the genre...the opening lines as memorable as "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" or "Call me Ishamel"..."Hill House, not sane, had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more...within, floors were firm, windows sensibly shut, and whatever walked there, walked alone." My suggestion...don't read this book alone, but read it!

Rating:
Summary: JACKSON'S CLASSIC WITCH'S BREW
Review: THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is one of the most subtle yet disturbing ghost stories ever written. Deservedly a true classic of the genre and a fine piece of modern American literature, the genius of Jackson's writing is in her SUBTLETY. Generally I find that readers who don't like or understand the book don't realize that all the while they're under Jackson's spell. (it's a book many people need to read over again) This short novel is one of the RARE FEW which will LINGER in the psyche LONG after it's been read! In the previous reviews, approximately 90% of the readers who were "disappointed" felt there was SOMETHING unique about the book. Eleanor. Eleanor was never "normal" to begin with; in Hill House she was like a kid in a candy store! Unable to relate to people, the house becomes her lover and her best friend; they become as ONE. I have to admit that I would have liked the book to have been longer, but I suspect Jackson's sudden ending was her style of "shock". Shirley Jackson knew what she was doing; this book is a classic witch's brew of symbolism and, boy, does it prey in the hallways of the mind! Forget what the previous scoffers say: read this alone in bed on a stormy night and I GUARANTEE you'll agree that Jackson was a master of her craft!

Rating:
Summary: Sadly, uninteresting and bland.
Review: I leaned back and thought about this novel after I had finished. What didn't sit well? What was the impact upon completion? There was none, I was indifferent about it and the character outcomes. Prompting this realization was the overall feeling of blandness in the writing. The novel ends rather abruptly, anti-climactically for the slow build up that preceded it. Perhaps the times are dating this 1950's story, but I don't think that's it. It was quite banal, both in terms of character development and descriptions of the plot elements. In brief synopsis, four people from various backgrounds converge on a 'haunted' mansion to spend a few days noting any disturbances. The disturbances themselves are not even portrayed w/ a sense of urgency. One of the party succumbs to madness within its walls. But none of the characters are sufficiently explored. Even Eleanor herself is not given ample space and time to allow us to believe that she is spiraling... and is she even spiraling? The wife of the doctor, and Arthur added in the last few chapters, do nothing to enhance the story and appear mainly for humour and exposition through planchette, of the prior occupants torment. Which is further, never drawn out. This was a very subtle novel; unfortunately, to the point of being uninteresting.

Rating:
Summary: A great book, but the end...
Review: This was a great book. The details on the house and when Nell came to Hill House were excellent. You could really picture everything in your mind. This book has sort of like a silent type of "scaryness" in it that really gave me the chills. The ending was kind of a disappointment though. At first, I though that I had misunderstood it, and I had to read it over before I knew that it had actually happened. I really recommend this book, it's a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful-nothing like the remake!
Review: Shirley Jackson is truly the master of horror. She weaves a dark tale of loneliness, depression, sadness, obsession and fear. Most readers, who have seen the remake, seem to be impressed with special effects and cheesy plots. This story is chilling not because of the supernatural themes, but because of the dark recesses of human nature. People don't seem to realize that the ending (without giving too much away) depicts Eleanor's response towards her feelings of isolation and depression. Who knows if she did what she did because of a ghost or because she was truly mad? was she trying to stay in the only place that understood her or was the house trying to keep her? Please, don't base this literary masterpiece on a REALLY bad movie. read the book and decide WHO was in control-Eleanor or Hill House?