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Summary: Even the words on the pages are haunted
Review: The Haunting of Hill House remains one of the most important horror novels of all time and certainly one of the most singular haunted house tales ever written. It is certainly worth mentioning that at no time do we or the characters actually see any sort of visible ghostly manifestation; the phenomena are limited to cold spots, spectral banging on the walls and doors, messages written on walls, and torn, blood-spewed clothing in one room. If Jackson had compelled Hugh Crain (the main who built Hill House) to pop out of the woodwork and say Boo!, this story would have been long forgotten. Still, it quite amazes me that Shirley Jackson has met with such critical success and eternal popularity; I say this only because her writing style is unique and rather off-the-wall. Truly, Jackson's writing itself is haunted, and she herself almost surely was in some manner. There is a degree of insanity in every page; the characters often engage in dialogue that is childish of a sort and certainly different from normal adult conversation. I would think such idiosyncratic writing would appeal only to those like myself who are different, somewhat kooky, outsiders looking at the real world through thick-paned glass that sometimes fogs over or plays tricks with our eyes depending on the angle in which the sun hits it or does not hit it. Eleanor is an especially appealing character to me because I share many of her doubts and fears: I don't belong, what are people saying about me?, are people laughing at me behind my back?, why am I here and where am I going?, etc. No one rivals Jackson in the ability to paint a deeply moving, psychologically deep portrait of the tortured soul. The fact that so many people praise this book must mean that most people are plagued with self-doubt, which I find sadly comforting. In any event, Eleanor is a perfectly tragic heroine; those who can't relate to her must surely at least pity her. The character of Theodora is also fascinating, as she largely represents Eleanor's opposite: a vibrant personality, full of life and a need to be in the middle of it, probably insecure inwardly but strikingly bold outwardly. This dichotomy between two "sisters" is a constant theme in Jackson's work. The Eleanor-Theo relationship is reflected and honed against the relationship of Hugh Crain's two daughters, twin souls who grew up the dark mansion as loving sisters but who eventually came to hate each other and fight for ownership rights to the house. Eleanor and Theo also have a subtle love-hate relationship, the conflict between the two representing a jealousy over the house. Both want to be the center of attention, although Eleanor would never admit such a desire, and the fact that the house itself obviously harbors a strange enchantment for Eleanor bothers Theo and enchants Eleanor. When Theo's room and clothing are painted in blood, the house clearly signifies the soul with whom its sympathies lie, and this marks a turning point in the text. Eleanor's rapid descent into madness seems a little sudden to me at times, and the exceedingly nonsensical conversations between all of the characters strikes me as quite mad. Of course, at the end, one wonders just which of the later conversations actually happened outside of Eleanor's own mind. The introduction of the doctor's wife in the closing section of the book effects a radical change in the mood of the novel. Mrs. Montague and her associate Arthur are incredibly annoying people. Their professed beliefs in the paranormal and attempts to contact spirits by way of a planchette clearly upset the mood of both the house and its occupants (and the reader). Their over-the-top belief in spirits and determination to contact them using parlor-method techniques serve to ridicule the house and Eleanor and quickly usher in the dénouement of the story. Eleanor's sense of belonging to the house takes precedence over everything else in her life; she has come home, and the house's wish in this regard is fulfilled. The ending itself is striking and perfectly fitting, I feel, and does much to keep the spirit of this wonderful novel in your mind and soul for a long time. This is not a novel to cast aside and forget; long after you have finished the book, Eleanor and Hill House will haunt your mind and soul.
Rating: 
Summary: "...and whatever walks there, walks alone."
Review: Jackson's greatest strength was the psychological portraiture of women either on the edge, or over it. Though Hill House is usually taken to be a superior supernatural novel, it is actually far more a study of a woman succumbing to suicidal impulse. The notoriously haunted house has something of a resonant vibration with lonely and unloved spinster Eleanor Vance, who finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into its diseased fabric. Jackson skillfully never discloses whether the ghostly house is itself the cause of Eleanor's ruin, or whether Eleanor's own psyche is simply amplified within its walls to the point that she collapses in upon herself. The Haunting of Hill House is deservedly a classic, and superbly written. It suffers somewhat by comparison to the superior 1963 film version, which better streamlined Jackson's plot and gave the story an added atmospheric dimension beyond even her own excellent descriptive skills. But the book has unquestionably one of the most famous and well-written opening and closing paragraphs in literature, and is worthy of continued readership. Whether you're looking for a good, creepy ghost story, or a brilliantly drawn portrait of a woman fighting incipient madness, this book will satisfy in either case, and provide many hours of food for thought.
Rating: 
Summary: The haunting of Hill House
Review: I did not find this book very scary, I was only mildly amused by this book. If you want a really scary book, I still have not been able to top The Amityville Horror.
Rating:
Summary: Ookily Spookily!
Review: A nice, compact read, with all the traditional ghost story elements we've come to expect. And surprisingly timeless, considering the book was first published in 1959, it could easily be set in any decade of the late 20th century. I liked the sensible female characters, Theodora and Eleanor. They weren't meek and mild, nor where they overtly assertive. A modern horror classic, in my humble opinion.
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Summary: You owe yourself a visit to Hill House...
Review: Rereading the classic haunted house story does not disappoint; I found it just as chilling and engrossing as the first time around. Who can forget the unmistakeable but subtle images of horror: the writing on the walls, clasping hands with some unknown thing in the dark, the doors bulging inward? And the ambiguity of it all -- was Hill House truly haunted, or was it only the product of a fragile mind thinking, at long last, that it had found a home? Do yourself a favor. Visit Hill House again -- or the first time -- on some dark night soon.
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Summary: Nameless Fear
Review: Rather than beat every detail from her subject, author Shirley Jackson performs an astonishing feat by creating a sense of mounting terror not from what is seen, but what might be seen if we could only look around that corner, down that hall, behind that drape. And THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is her masterpiece. In an effect not unlike Henry James' famous "The Turn of the Screw," Jackson presents us with Eleanor Vance, a woman who may or may not be already disturbed to the point of madness when the novel begins. Invited to join a group of researchers investigating a reputedly haunted house, Eleanor--stifled by unhappy memories and an unsympathetic family--leaps at the chance for escape from her humdrum life. She wants adventure, romance, a dash of excitement. And at Hill House, a Victorian mansion of truly evil repute, she finds it in abundance. Is there something--ghost, spirit, or simply mindless evil--at Hill House? Or is it Eleanor herself, empty and hungry for a place where she belongs, who creates the nightmare that swirls about the place? Jackson offers no easy answers in this, the finest American horror novel of the 20th century, a book often imitated but never equaled. It is certainly not a novel for reading alone in the dead of night, but is one that you may wish to read again and again, repeatedly testing the boundaries of reality--and guessing at that which is always just beyond the limits of our vision.
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Summary: Haunting: true fear comes from within
Review: I vividly remember the first time I read this Shirley Jackson tale, one by which I have come to judge all good horror literature. Jackson's strength as a writer of horror is not in what she delineates, but what she evokes from the reader's imagination, that core of our brain that truly is at the root of true horror. Eleanor, the protagonist of "The Haunting of Hill House" is virtually a cypher, having spent most of her 30 years caring for an invalid mother, who has passed away before the opening of the novel. Now living with her sister, she receives an invitation to take part in an experiment in rural New England by spending a few weeks at Hill House, where "doors are sensibly shut, and whatever walks there, walks alone." After literally running away from home, Eleanor is drawn into a relationship with Hill House, and, while we never actually "see" psychic phenomena, we become convinced that this is a house which is, as Dr. John Montague, leader of the experimental team asserts, is "born bad." Truly engaging writers draw one in, and as you read, you too, will become part of the fabric of Hill House, and Hill House shall become the standard by which you judge the most chilling of horror fiction.
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Summary: Shirley Jackson is the best!
Review: I have been a fan of the original movie for a long time. I saw the remake (not great) and decided it was time to read the book. It has so much more texture and complexity as compared to both movies. This is the arcetypical haunted house book. Jackson's style is chillingly clear. Her voice has the same eery quality that her short story "The Lottery" has. Just wonderful. A great way to pass these long, cold nights.
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Summary: one of the better haunted house stories
Review: this story is not only only one of the best renditions of the haunted house theme i've read, but also a haunting glimpse into the unstable mind, and how the unknown can be a catalyst for insanity.
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Summary: Things That Go Bump in the Night (and Our Lives)
Review: Hill House has stood for eighty years, and it waits patiently as a group of four begin to investigate the lurid history and supposed supernatural happenings that surround the dark dwelling.
The group of four is led by Dr. John Montague, whose avocation is parapsychology. There is also Luke Sanderson, a family heir; Theodora, a worldly clairvoyant; and Eleanor Vance, the protagonist of the novel, and a woman who has lived a sheltered life on the fringes of society and whose sanity hangs precariously in the balance.
It is Montague's intention to find the true reasons for the phenomena in Hill House; but he and the others are soon drawn past any type of investigation and caught up in a psychological nightmare, the focus of which is Eleanor herself. It seems that Hill House has found a kindred spirit in Eleanor will stop at nothing until it consumes her.
Jackson weaves her magic expertly in this novel, and other than a weak subplot that involves a potential romance between Luke and either of the women in Hill House, the story is tightly-woven with scares galore, and a literary framing effect which leaves the reader with the certainty that if Hill House was not truly haunted at the beginning of the novel, it undoubtedly is by the end.
A great read anytime.
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