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Summary: a real thriller
Review: don't see the movie (remake)...it's horrible and does not do the book justice...(there aren't many movies that do)read the book...then see the original movie, a real black and white thriller...they just don't make them like they used to....don't blame Jackson...she's an incredible story teller!
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Summary: This book will scare the daylights out of you!!
Review: I first read this book when I was about 14, and had to sleep with the lights on! It looks small, but packs quite a wallop of fright! Don't bother with the newest version of the movie, but read the book instead!!!
Rating:
Summary: forget the movie - read this book!
Review: because i loved this book so much, i had to go out and see the movie the haunting - which i regretted. the movie, in spite of a few neat effects and a somewhat promising beginning, bears no resemblance to the book. the screenwriters for some reason chose to change shirley jackson's chilling and extremely well done plot into a ridiculously contrived cheap thrill. don't let the movie discourage you, read this book! it's excellent.
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Summary: 4 people go to a haunted house to spend the summer and......
Review: This book starts of really boring. It talks alot about the people in the book and about one person for almost the entire chapter.Around the 6th chapter it starts getting a little more interesting. At the end of the story something happens that you wouldn't expect to happen. If you like to read books that start out really boring and then hardly get any better then this would be the book for you.
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Summary: Great Book!!!!
Review: Two thumbs way up!! Great Holiday fun!!!
Rating:
Summary: It was a great read.
Review: A great story and I found it a fun read. I would of perferred a different ending. The movie "The Haunting" that was based on this book had a better ending. Still it's a good book to bad Shirley isn't still here.
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Summary: Decent book, but definately see the 1963 Movie....
Review: I for one saw the 1963 movie far before I read the book. While its rarely the case, I felt the movie edged the book in terror and character developement. I havn't seen it mentioned, but does anyone else see a similarity between this book (and movie) and Richard Matheson's Legend of Hell House? Its obvious Mr. Matheson heavily copied the style and scenario of this book (and later the movie Legend of Hell House which was decent in its day as well). I will say that if you enjoyed this book, Read Matheson's as he did it much better despite the obvious similarities.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have to agree with the reader from San Jose, CA. Where did Jackson come up with that dialogue? I found it to be totally unbelievable. If the characters had been real and honest with each other instead of conjuring up false realities about themselves, and had actually connected in some way, the book would have been far more frightening. The scary scenes in the book were scary, yes, but the poor dialogue and character development hindered my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the rare cases of movie being better than book
Review: I was told this was one of the scariest books ever. When you read this you'll wonder why it was even called the haunting... throughout the entire book I sincerely doubt there was more that 5 pages worth of "paranormal activity." Even then, nothing is ever explained. The houses story is hardly enough to scare you, or explain it being haunted. Phrases are repeated over and over, but they are never explained. Nothing is ever explained. The entire time you read it you will be thinking that something very frightening must happen soon because its a short book and all, and it never does. The ending is extremely disapointining.Still and all, its somewhat interesting if you want a book about someone going insane. The descriptions of the house is well done, but the way the characters go back and forth between thinking it evil and thinking it nice hardly makes it as scary as it was probably meant to be. Also, if you are a fan of dry English humor, and nonsense conversations, this book is full of them.
Rating:
Summary: A classic. Perhaps the Ghost Story of the Millenium!
Review: Reading the other reviews of the book, one can tell that it will not appeal to people whose idea of horror is "Scream" or Freddy Kruger -- it's not bloody -- there are no decapitations, no gore, no scantily clad naughty teenage nymphets soon to be butchered.... it that's your cup of tea, look elsewhere. But for people with taste, who appreciate subtlety, who are looking for eerieness instead of gross-outs, this is an imperishable classic. The writing is -- more than superb, it is timeless -- almost surreal, free-verse poetry, with an atavistic appropriateness like that of unwhitewashed fairy tales. The opening paragraph, the sequences of Eleanor's journey to hill house, her initial reaction on first seeing it, and her slow seduction by Hill House, are beautiful and horrible and unforgettable. A Chateau d'Yquem, a Cristal for lovers of classic horror. Unless the genre itself is not to your taste, you'll be captivated.
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