The Haunting of Hill House

Rating:
Summary: Boo!
Review: Boo! What that didn't scare you? I know something that just might. Shirley Jackson's fine novel "The Haunting of Hill House". You will find one of the best first lines in any novel here: "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream." This novel is a pschological terror at times, yet it is much more besides. The dialogue of the characters is very funny and Jackson's prose is always literary. Doctor Montague has rented Hill House because of it's reputation as a haunted house. He wants to do studies on the paranormal and advertizes for assistants to stay with him in Hill House. Eleanor, Theodora, and Luke are the lucky ones and the reader follows Eleanor as she makes her way to Hill House and meets the others after she arrives. I'll not comment on what happens to them in Hill House because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I will say turning out the lights before retiring for the night might be a little more difficult the evening you finish this novel.

Rating:
Summary: The Movie Was Much Better
Review: I first saw the movie when I was a teenager, and twenty years later I am still watching the repeats. They don't make them like that anymore. They tried it just recently, and as always today's Hollywood ruined a good horror story. Although the book isn't quite as scary and interesting, it's still a good read. It doesn't go on and on about trivial things in the character's lives like you read in so many other books. That right there can make a book very boring.

Rating:
Summary: Striking Ghost Story
Review: The novel is very different from other common cheap-thriller ghost stories that I have read before. There has never been any physical appearance of the ghosts in this novel. You read and feel the effects of the supernatural in the house, and Jackson has managed to delineate this with consummate skill and power that you will be spooked by it. Not like the usual grotesque bloody looks of the spectre. The manifestations in the house are subtly expressed too, as you see the gradual, subtle change in Eleanor Vance throughout the story. As Roald Dahl once wrote in his selection of best ghost stories, "The best ghost stories don't have ghosts in them. At least you don't see the ghost. Instead you see only the result of his actions. Occasionally you can feel it brushing past you, or you are made aware of its presence by subtle means." Hill House does just that.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: This is quite simply the best haunted house tale I have ever read, and I have read many. I have read this book again and again and never tire of it. For me, anything in the genre, be it book or film, is measured by this wonderfully written tale.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting...Waiting...Waiting
Review: This is a good ghost story, not excellent, but very good. If you are expecting an Amityville Horror/The Shining-type thriller, you won't find it here. This story is more about the psychological degeneration of the characters, particularly Eleanor Vance, than it is about ghosts. As Eleanor begins to become one w/the house, through internal monologue the reader can see this happen before the other characters. So its not ghostly phenomena that makes this story scary, its psychological obsession--the effect the house has on its occupants. However for all its psychological unnerving, the actual fear factor is very low. This book isn't pee-in-your-pants scary and there is much unfulfilled suspense. Jackson sets up suspense brilliantly but doesn't follow through on it. The reader is constantly waiting...waiting...waiting for something to happen and nothing really ever does happen. W/the exception of some poltergeist activity, nothing overtly scary ever happens in Hill House, leaving a ghost story lover asking, Where's the party? Read this book if you love psychological terror b/c it has excellent characterization, just don't read it expecting a fright fest.

Rating:
Summary: Still haunted by Hill House
Review: I saw the original movie when I was a small child and thought it was the scariest thing I had ever seen! When I was a teenager I read the book and have re-read it many times since. If you are looking for cheap thrills, in-your-face gore and sudden shocks this is not the book for you. If you are a fan of deeper, more subtle psychological terror, you have come to the right place! Every re-reading brings you to a different level of understanding Eleanor's descent into madness. At first the house seems just evil, trying to shake the people out of it like a dog would with fleas. Then you start to wonder--is it the house or is it Eleanor who is causing all of the trouble. Her youthful experiences with poltergeists--which many believe are the manifestations of unbalanced teen-aged minds, awakens the dormant evil of the house. When she becomes angry and jealous of Theo, the house destroys Theo's belongings. Eleanor's insanity becomes woven into the insanity of Hill House. Soon they become deeply intertwined in each other and the rest of the houseguests can only watch in horror. For those that hated or didnt understand the ending, there was no other way out for Eleanor but to have history repeat itself (didnt you pay attention to the beginning of the book?) It was the final struggle between her rational and insane personalities--the rational one screaming in terror as it loses to the insane one which knows where is wants to be...where it must call home. As for the movie versions...The original was a very frightening, somewhat faithful rendering with fabulous performances by Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. The second one was a dreadful pile with little resemblence to the book and a really inane Joan of Arc martyr twist. Dont waste your time!

Rating:
Summary: Creepy and brilliant
Review: The recent movie "The Haunting" had one good moment in it, both funny and frightening. The main characters are told no one in the nearby village will hear them if they scream...they are, after all, "all alone...in the dark." This line is the only line from this brilliant book in that wretched movie. There was no one like Shirley Jackson. Every word, every phrase she wrote had a twist in the end that meant something else. This book goes into Eleanor's head and often you can't tell if something is real or a product of her imagination. The ending is dynamite. This is a book I've had for many years, and I re-read it once a year or so. Yes, I already know the story, but there's always a new phrase that pops out of the dynamic writing that takes you by surprise. Miles better than anything Stephen King ever wrote.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Creepy Horror
Review: If your sole experience of Shirley Jackson was in high school, where most of us were forced to read "The Lottery," do yourself a favor and go buy this book -- now. She's more subtle than Clive Barker, less archaic and otherworldly than H.P. Lovecraft, but still tells a terrifying tale. Make sure you get the real thing, though, and not the adaptation from the recent movie remake.

Rating:
Summary: Journeys end in lovers meeting...
Review: Perhaps the most important haunted house novel ever written. Jackson's smart and witty novel tells the story of a paranormal investigation through the eyes of Nell, who realizes that it may be better to belong in a haunted house than to belong nowhere at all. It is also groundbreaking because of the implied lesbian relationship between the two female characters. It also packs some genuine chills.

Rating:
Summary: Rare
Review: As awful as this sounds, I enjoyed the movie version of "The Haunting" much better than the book...and that is a rare thing for me to admit! Worth reading, for the sake of the author, who is brilliant...but not my favorite Shirley Jackson work.