The Haunting of Hill House

Rating:
Summary: This book was promising but disappointing.
Review: I have to say, this book had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it needed to be about 300 pages longer! It's not until almost halfway through the book that 'the cast' finally arrives at Hill House, and by that point I was already worried that a lot would be left out. It turns out my fears were well grounded, because Shirley Jackson only briefly touches on the actual haunting, and in about 100 pages the characters go through drastic changes, the book comes to a staggeringly abrupt conclusion, and you're left with your head spinning and no feeling of depth. I read this book hoping it would be along the same lines as "Nazareth Hill" which scared me to death! But I was never scared and was actually rather annoyed by the time I had finished this book. So, if you only have two days, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: A dream in full color
Review: I first read this when I was 10. My mother handed me a beat up old copy with the pages falling out. I read it over and over as I was growing up. Now I'm 22 and it is still one of my favorite books ever. Shirley Jackson writes with such detail that you must read it more than once; the pictures she creates are at times like confections of the fanciful mind and at others, undiluted psychological terror. What makes this book the success that it is, what makes it *scary*, if you will, is the unsettling realization that this is not blood and gore. It is not cheap horror. It is all played out in the mind of a woman called Eleanor. That just makes it so much more *real*.

Rating:
Summary: Memorable!
Review: It's been years since I read this book and yet so many things about it linger in my memory. I think this is a sign of a good book...it makes an impression...Shirley Jackson excelled at creating unique, whole, fascinating characters for her stories and novels. Eleanor was a particularly good one. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who appreciates literature of substance and quality.

Rating:
Summary: A new novel that feels like an old favorite.
Review: As I read this book, I quickly realized that Connie Willis has the same affection for British fiction that I myself have. I'd never have thought that anyone could pay homage to so many other novelists without creating a big muddle, but Willis not only manages to juggle hundreds of literary allusions, but also does so while creating her own very intricate mystery, and manages to tie all the pieces together in a fairly spectacular knot at the end. The novel begins in the same future Oxford University shown in Willis' Nebula Award-winning novel Doomsday Book, but where that novel brought tears to my eyes a number of times, the only tears that To Say Nothing of the Dog elicited were tears of laughter. I'm not going to try and explain the plot. You have to experience it as it develops to follow it, with characters shuttling back and forth between multiple eras. But somehow Willis manages to create scenes that feel just like your favorite bits from Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Alfred Bester, E.M. Forster, Robert Heinlein, to say nothing of Jerome K. Jerome, and makes them all fit together seamlessly. And adds more than a little humor to the mix. Read this book, and then read it again. You'll admire it even more the second time through.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic book with many applaudable aspects.
Review: This book is filled with a captivating plot, and reveals the twists of a confused woman's mind as she is pulled further and further into darkness. This is a book you shouldn't miss.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of psychological horror
Review: Stephen King considers this work as one of the very finest, on a par with James' "The Turn of the Screw", and he is absolutely right. This is not a bloody gore-fest, and shallow horror fans looking for that should look elsewhere. This is a subtly shaded psychological horror story, where the reader is never sure whether the supernatural events come from outside forces (i.e., ghosts) or from internal forces (i.e., Eleanor, the increasingly unbalanced protagonist). Jackson's deft handling of character interaction (forced gaiety, hiding tension and unspoken motivations), combined with her absolute mastery of narrative techniques (not one wasted word in this novel) make this *the* great novel of the supernatural written in this century. A masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely one of the all time thriller classics!
Review: I originally got this book because there was word that they were making a new modern adaptation of it into a movie. I read this book in ONE DAY! I have never finished a single book in one sitting before. I just couldn't keep my eyes off the pages! I have always believed that there was no such thing as a scary book or novel. Nothing really frightens me enough to say that it was actually "scary". This book however, really gets into your mind in such subtle ways its actually quite eerie. Shirley Jackson has created marvelously complex characters whom she need not tell what they are doing in order for the reader to know what they are thinking or intending. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of a quality read.

Rating:
Summary: A snoozer
Review: This book was silly, boring and childish. I find it hard to believe it scared, terrorized or even entertained anyone. Wast of time.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisite use of language, tone, and atmosphere.
Review: Jackson's masterful use of language makes this book remarkable. Her ability to control the pacing of the narrative, to make it both describe action and reveal the frantic interior life of Eleanor, holds the reader's attention. While it's not an out and out horror novel, with blood drenching the characters at every turn, it provides more than enough chills, and this story's method of frightening is much more disturbing than most, as the house seems to rise to meet its lover. Great stuff. Stephen King claims that this is one of only a handful of examples of truly great horror fiction. Good call by King.

Rating:
Summary: Subtle terror that keeps yanking at you...
Review: When I was a kid some 25 odd years ago, the movie "The Haunting" which was based on this book scared my whole family silly. Years later, in those pre-video days, we were still talking about it. The movie was almost word for word straight from the book. This story slowly gets into your blood, sucking you right into Hill House. Before you know it, you're there too. I'd call it a psychological piece of terror. If I could write one book in my life, this would the style. Get the book, get the videotape, and just TRY to sleep!