The Haunting of Hill House

Rating:
Summary: Psychological terror
Review: Psychological terror. Shirley Jackson introduced the horror genre to numerous themes and concepts (almost like motifs today) that Stephen King has also capitalized on, such as having stones fall on a house (Carrie and Red Rose), an overpowering mother who controls a telekinetic child (Carrie), a large house/hotel isolated in mountains (Shining), a house/hotel that wants a specific person (Shining), use of a scrapbook and/or news clippings to provide historical background (Shining), etc. In this 1959 thriller, Jackson presents the horror of a haunted mansion in the hills that is desperate to claim the life of the heroine. There is no gore or mayhem in this book, but Jackson succeeds in scaring you without it. Typical of Jackson, as in her Lottery story, the ending does not wrap things up cleanly, and leaves the reader's imagination to fill in the details. The first paragraph of this book sets the scene and may be considered one of the best openers in horror fiction. Good stuff.

Several caveats however. Shirley Jackson wrote this book in the 50s. The text has long passages of exposition, is short on dialogue, and frequently delves into the minds of its characters, with viewpoint shifts and tense changes that may confuse the less attentive reader. The book is fairly short, around 50,000 words, as opposed to the 100,000 typical of a King novel. The book is well worth reading, but you will have to work to read and enjoy this story.


Rating:
Summary: Not what I was Thinking...
Review: I will admit I bought this book because I had seen the movie. (I know, I know, not a great way to pick up a book). But I had enjoyed most of the movie and decided to compare the movie to the book.

I shouldn't have been surprised when the book and movie were completely different. The only real similarities was the haunted house and the characters names.

I did enjoy the book, but I was a little dissapointed. I was expecting more. It felt like there was something missing from the book. Or maybe I was missing the whole point. Either way, I was dissatisfied with the ending.

It's a good book, but it could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Quite simply the greatest thing since sliced bread
Review: I've read it a few times. But just because it happens to be the best longfic ever written doesn't necessarily mean that I'm gonna read it yet again. Because the fate of a certain pathetic character is just too damn depressing.

Here's my favorite bit: "In either corner of the hall, over the nursery doorway, two grinning heads were set; meant, apparently, as gay decorations for the nursery entrance, they were no more jolly or carefree than the animals inside. Their separate stares, captured forever in distorted laughter, met and locked at the point of the hall where the vicious cold centered. 'When you stand where they can look at you', Luke explained, 'they freeze you.'"

Rating:
Summary: paranormal spookiness entertains..
Review: 'The Haunting of Hill House' is a compact jewel of a gothic novel, combining both classic horror with a psychological examination of one very troubled ghost hunter. It indeed is the perfect sort of read for a rainy evening (I read it in one sitting, during Hurricane Frances).

In our story we have a suitably creepy, enormous house with a history of strange happenings. An experience paranormal investigator hires a couple of young ladies to join him in staying at this house for a summer (..no 'hanky panky' intended, and nothing of the sort happened). Yes, some very disturbing events occured during this period. But perhaps more interesting is the gradual demise of one of the ladies who we discover has some personal issues. No spoilers, but the ending is both surprising and appropriately ambiguous ... Shirley Jackson leaves the reader with some unanswered questions, to be answered by the reader's imagination.


Bottom line: the usual Shirley Jackson competence swirled into a fun if somewhat old-fashioned haunted house story. A very worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: If you like Stephen King...
Review: ...avoid this book. King commonly 'borrows' from this book, but only to intellectually supplement what could only be called his McNovels. Many people, as evident from the reviews, expected a worded description of the many schlock movies adapted from Jackson's novel. Well, its not. Its more akin to The Catcher in the Rye, than The Shining. The ghosts exist in the psyche of Eleanor Vance, and the demons are in the cold distant pleasantries of the other Hill House guests. If you like Catcher in the Rye, My Idea of Fun, The Belljar, etc, then buy an old vinyl of Love is Blue, and sit down with this Shirley Jackson novel on a dark and stormy night.