Julian's House

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning.
Review: I am a reader with a lifetime passion for ghost stories, and Julian's House is one of my all-time favorites.
This one is not to be missed.

Sally and David Curtiss, a young married couple with some unresolved issues between them, lease the house of the title to conduct psychical research. While both are scientists, Sally herself is also psychic; David suspects that she senses something in the house despite the failure of their equipment to record anything tangible. Deep down, he is envious of her ability and wishes desperately to share in the experience of a true haunting.

The narrative shifts seamlessly between viewpoints, and as the mystery of the house's tragic past unfolds we are not sure whose perspective is accurate. The house itself is almost another character - Hawkes weaves the language like a master and creates a place that resonates with past events; an incredibly evocative setting that almost lives and breathes.

The conclusion of the story is intensely satisfying - by then, we know what happened to poor Julian all those years ago. What we do not know is precisely what took place today, in the present. That is Hawkes' genius: the elusive quality of what David and Sally experience in that house is echoed by what the reader is experiencing. The book's impact of quiet terror hits on some deep, almost subliminal level, after having stolen up behind you some time before so that you're not quite sure why you are so afraid.
This, of course, is the very nature of a haunting. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.


Rating:
Summary: Heavy on detail, light on thrills
Review: I'll say this for "Julian's House", it certainly ranks as one of the more well researched haunted house stories I've come across. I think therein lies part of the problem; the author spends so much time bombarding us with the details of parapsychology and psychic research that the story itself seems to get lost in the shuffle. While the book is well written and full of evocative language, the thrill element of a good haunted house story is sorely lacking. What's the point of ghosts if not to give a scare or two? Try "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill for a far better haunted house story.

Rating:
Summary: Heavy on detail, light on thrills
Review: I'll say this for "Julian's House", it certainly ranks as one of the more well researched haunted house stories I've come across. I think therein lies part of the problem; the author spends so much time bombarding us with the details of parapsychology and psychic research that the story itself seems to get lost in the shuffle. While the book is well written and full of evocative language, the thrill element of a good haunted house story is sorely lacking. What's the point of ghosts if not to give a scare or two? Try "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill for a far better haunted house story.

Rating:
Summary: A real thinker
Review: If you are looking for your typical gory, haunted house book then don't read this one. "Julian's House" is much better than the typical book of this kind. I was suprised by the subtlety of it all. Two experts in the field of parapsychology visit a home that has had more tenants than you can shake a stick at. All of the people who have lived in the house report the same phenomena. So Sally and David Curtiss move into the Hawke's home expecting the same. They get so much more. This book is spooky and in a way strange. "Julian's House" makes you think: Do the ghosts really exist? What part of Sally and Davids' expectations explain their experiences?. A thinking man's book-not written from a template. The ending has been debated hotly between my wife and me since we read the book. You read it and see if you can figue out what really happened.

Rating:
Summary: A real thinker
Review: If you are looking for your typical gory, haunted house book then don't read this one. "Julian's House" is much better than the typical book of this kind. I was suprised by the subtlety of it all. Two experts in the field of parapsychology visit a home that has had more tenants than you can shake a stick at. All of the people who have lived in the house report the same phenomena. So Sally and David Curtiss move into the Hawke's home expecting the same. They get so much more. This book is spooky and in a way strange. "Julian's House" makes you think: Do the ghosts really exist? What part of Sally and Davids' expectations explain their experiences?. A thinking man's book-not written from a template. The ending has been debated hotly between my wife and me since we read the book. You read it and see if you can figue out what really happened.

Rating:
Summary: true cliffhanger
Review: It is obvious that Ms. Hawkes has done her research into the field of parapsychology. This is a largely psychological story of a haunted house told through the eyes of two people who are experts and supposed to be prepared for the supernatural. They got more than they bargained for.

Julian's House is resplendant with detail and atmosphere. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A Haunted House minus anything scary
Review: On the inside cover of 'Julian's House' you'll find countless adoring comments on how "frightening" & "evocative" the book is. Upon finishing it, I wondered if I'd read the same book.

If your looking for anything even the tiniest bit scary, steer clear of this one! The book concentrates more on the dysfunctional marriage of the two 'ghost hunters' who decide to live in 'julian's (rumored to be haunted) house'. Their relationship is not among the happiest, most of it stemming from David's sexual dysfunction. There was such a lack of chemistry between them- I didn't understand why they were married in the first place.

The book sets you up with a lot of parapsychology talk, making you think you're about to embark on a frightening journey. Nope. There are a couple of minor thrills, but they don't go anywhere.

It's well researched, so it gets three stars, but if your looking for spooky ghosties, you won't find them.

Rating:
Summary: A Haunted House minus anything scary
Review: On the inside cover of 'Julian's House' you'll find countless adoring comments on how "frightening" & "evocative" the book is. Upon finishing it, I wondered if I'd read the same book.

If your looking for anything even the tiniest bit scary, steer clear of this one! The book concentrates more on the dysfunctional marriage of the two 'ghost hunters' who decide to live in 'julian's (rumored to be haunted) house'. Their relationship is not among the happiest, most of it stemming from David's sexual dysfunction. There was such a lack of chemistry between them- I didn't understand why they were married in the first place.

The book sets you up with a lot of parapsychology talk, making you think you're about to embark on a frightening journey. Nope. There are a couple of minor thrills, but they don't go anywhere.

It's well researched, so it gets three stars, but if your looking for spooky ghosties, you won't find them.

Rating:
Summary: I Cannot Keep Away From 'Julian's House'~
Review: There are some books I reread annually, and 'Julian's House' is one of them. For her first book, Ms. Hawkes has woven a tale so intricate, so provacative and suspenseful that each time I reread it, I find something else to discover that causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up!.

What I love is that when I begin reading 'Julian's House', it is as though nothing really is happening in the house to the inhabitants, when all the while everything is happening very slowly and subtley as the story unfolds.

And as a narrative, Ms. Hawkes description of the play of sunlight entering into a room competing against the encroaching twilight is sheer brilliance. What a writer! I've read other books by this author, but 'Julian's House' is in a class by itself.

I still have the original copy that I purchased when it first was published. The binding is broken and I use a rubberband to hold the now-yellowed pages together. No matter. It's worth keeping this book as is.

In the tradition of Barbara Michaels' supernatural suspense novels which I have been reading Since 1969, and with Ms. Michael's praise of this book , I will keep an eye out for more Judith Hawkes books.


Rating:
Summary: Subtle and elegant
Review: This is a well crafted, gripping read for those who love ghost stories. Evocative of Henry James' 'The Turning of the Screw', this novel is spellbinding, as the past and the present seem to merge into a new reality.

A husband and wife team, parapsychologists by profession, lease a well known haunted house in order to record all paranormal phenomena which may occur during their tenancy. This, however, turns out to be more than they can ultimately handle. The house begins to overwhelm them, and they personally begin a slow metamorphosis over time. Their marriage begins to undergo a change, as well. Whether this is as a result of ghostly manifestations or not, I leave to the reader to decide.

Suffice to say, I trust that this beautifully written ghost story will not disappoint the reader.