Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing psychological horror
Review: If you want blood and guts, stick with Stephen King. But for the more subtle and sophisticated reader, Shirley Jackson's book will provide the ticket for the "can't-put-this book-down" syndrome. I admit I had no idea what kind of story this would be. And yes, the beginning crept along at a snail's pace and who cares about Eleanor anyway? But, as the story developed, so did Eleanor's character. There's a definite interconnection between Eleanor's emotional state and the way Hill House seems to torment and then seduce Eleanor. The spirit of the house seems to be after Eleanor and we see Eleanor's initial terror of the house turn to a weird sense of belonging and neediness. Even stranger, even as you see Eleanor seduced by Hill House, the reader also falls under a strange spell as initially, the book starts off slow and alittle boring, and then you get caught up in it's weirdness, and when it ends suddenly and climactically, you wind up brooding about it for many days afterward.
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite what I expected
Review: I found the modern version of the movie much more exciting than the book. This book is an excellent Psychological thriller. If you are looking to get scared fast and stay up all night, I'm afaid this book is not going to do the job. I myself need to have fast action in what I read and this book just seemed to drag on and on. If you can get "deep" into characters and try to get into their minds and what is going on with them, then this book is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting, and it still keeps me up at night.
Review: Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" has been said, by some, to be disappointing and not scary. These ludicrous definitions are clearly given by those who read the book while the sun still shone, or by those who read it in a room filled with sounds that resemble a birthday party. "Disappointing," "not scary?" These definitions, which lack depth for the opinions of a Shirley Jackson novel, in all simple probability were given by those who couldn't handle the subtle structure of terror that stealthily creeps upon them, so they either threw the book down early, not giving it a chance in hell, or skimmed through it, calling it such things as boring, like idiots. Shirley Jackson is a master of structure and navigates her horrors with subtle attention and depth. The Haunting of Hill House is slight and terrifying. Those who say otherwise need time with the book in a dark room, alone, and at night.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I read the book before I saw the movie and I must say that even before I saw the movie I thought this book sucked. It's not scary and even when it did start to get a little bit "creepy", it wasn't enough to make anybody really care. I do believe that the movie is great, but over all this book is not as great as everybody makes it out to be. Don't buy this book, borrow it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Not as scary as I'd hoped, but interesting
Review: This one won't keep you up at night, but it might keep you thinking for a few days. There is a creepy spookiness, an uneasy strangeness that pervades the story, but nothing dramatically terrifying or shocking. In fact, even when the paranormal events start to become more and more overt, there is still a lazy disinterested nature to the narrative.This is one of those books that makes for a good rainy day read, but it isn't the dramatic, gripping horror story the title suggests.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of subtle creepiness
Review: An absolute masterpiece of restrained horror. The author's ability to raise goosebumps through the implication of the supernatural via this tale of paranormal investigators/researchers investigating an "alleged" haunted house is unsurpassed. Highly recommended to fans of literate, restrained storytelling that relies more on hints of the supernatural than graphic depictions of gore and mayhem. The quintessential "Haunted House" novel.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book -- no need to bother with the movie
Review: Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" is one of the classic suspense novels of the twentieth century. Jackson's ability to make the domestic seem alien, dangerous, and insane gives this work in particular its chilling quality. Jackson is one of the few authors of this century who can stand up to the demanding standards set by E.A. Poe, H. P. Lovecraft et al. Don't bother with the 1998 movie unless you enjoy being smothered by special effects. The 1963 version comes much closer to capturing Jackson's subtle and psychologically intricate tale; it's scarier in the first ten minutes than the new film ever manages during its entire length. But Jackson's austere prose style and the ease with which she slips terror into the commonplace make her book the most rewarding experience of all.
Rating:
Summary: Subtly Disturbing
Review: This classic book revolves around a confused and emotionally vulnerable young woman named Eleanor Vance and her time spent in a Hill House, a mansion possessed with its own terrifying and unrelenting spirit. With no solid place in the world to call her own, Eleanor came to Hill House seeking adventure and a change in her stale, uneventful life. Although the others present experience the events of the haunting, it is Eleanor who receives its full wrath. At the same time, she is strangely attracted to the house and unable to leave, staying on until an irreversible tragedy occurs. This book is a classic haunting story which does not need to rely on gore or clearly visible demons. It is a psychological thriller which readers will find memorable and satisfying. I would call the story disturbing rather than frightening. Nonetheless, it is an excellent piece of classic horror genre.
Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing . . . terrifying . . . beautiful
Review: Ghost and horror stories today take the "blunt instrument" approach of trying to scare us with threats of physical violence, or trying to shock and disgust us with blood and guts. They're the "fast food" of the genre, mass-produced, lacking distinction, and bad for us. Anyone can write about chainsaw-wielding demons and other such things. But Shirley Jackson has written a masterpiece. This book gets you where you really live, in more ways than one. It shows that true terror lies in a threat not to the body, but to the sanity, will, mind, and soul. The characters in this book are fully human, the language poetic, the plot a work of art. Half of the chills come from the mounting tension of waiting for something to happen, and when it finally does, we, like Eleanor and the others, live through the terror, and then we (again, like Eleanor) have the further distress of not knowing quite what to make of it. The house catches not just her but us off-guard and then it keeps us there. I only regret that although Hollywood has made two movies out of this book, both of them miss the mark completely. Maybe the third time will be the charm. Be warned: Once you read this book, you'll find that nothing else in the genre, except for _The Turn of the Screw_, can possibly measure up to it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best American writers of this century
Review: Who is better at finding the chill at the edge of "normality"? Certainly not Stephen King (who is now writing 50 pages worth reading out of 732 in "Bag of Bones" for example). "The Haunting of Hill House" concerns itself with loneliness, madness and MAYBE the supernatural. Shirley Jackson found evil and menace in the every day: the small New England town, the picnic by the river. If you need rotting corpses popping up out the cellar to disquiet you, by all means try other "horror" writers.
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