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Title: The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics)
ISBN: 0143039989
Author:
Shirley Jackson
Publicate Date: 2006-11-28
Publish: 2006-11-28
List Price: $15.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.30
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.57
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.20
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| Customer Review: |
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1: a horror classic
The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, is one of the classics of the horror genre. Whereas some writers rely on explicit blood, gore, and violence to get across their message, Shirley Jackson evokes horror and supernatural suspense exactly by not being explicit. She creates terrifying moods and images without being hamhanded about the descriptions.
The story centers around a particular house, Hill House, that has a reputation for being haunted. A professor of paranormal psychology wants to conduct an experiment there, and so invites three other people to spend some time there with him so they can record their experiences. Though they all seem to experience strange events that cannot really be explained, one of the party, Eleanor, seems to attract the supernatural manifestations more than the others, eventually leading to a horrible disaster.
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2: Good, Ol' Fashioned, Spine-Tingling Haunted House Story
So, my criteria for Horror books is the same as it is for Horror movies. For me to actually be scared, the book or movie has to be generally scary. It has to be about the chills, not just the thrills. Which means it just can't be a whole lot of gore, because goriness is not scary. The plot has to be a bit understated. And lastly, the mood has to be set. The Haunting of Hill House follows this criteria and does it magnificently.
You have these four characters who are staying at Hill House, and you start to genuinely care about them. So much, that you don't want anything bad to happen to them. But this is a haunted house story, so some trauma to the characters is kind of expected.
The thing I most loved about this book is that the mood is set from early on. Things don't start going bump in the night as soon as they get to the house. They start slowly unweaving and you start getting this sense of dread everytime the dark approaches. I thought this book wouldn't be that scary. I don't why I thought that, but I just did. So, I started reading it at 12 in the morning. I then put it down an hour later because I started getting too creeped out. Plus, I live in a pretty old house and people say that things have gone bump in the night here. I've never had any experiences, but who knows?
This is just a wonderful book. The writing is excellent and the characters aren't one dimensional. Sure, there isn't any gore, no gratuitous sex, and other things that have become the norm for horror books/movies. But it has what any good horror books should have and that is a level of creepiness. I think this is one I'd re-read again, but maybe closer to Halloween.
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3: Loved It!
This book was first published in 1959 but can definitely hold its own in today's market. The characters leap right off the pages; they are fun, a little tragic, a little silly. I didn't find it to be a nail-biting horror tail. Instead, the story was more of an expedition into psychological suspense with an edge of paranormal horror. The characters pulled the story along, with Hill House at its center.
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4: This was supposed to, 'scare' me?
You have got to be kidding me. I found myself glancing at how many pages were left, thinking the suspense would get better.
Nothing. It was very mediocre. I still haven't found a book to scare me just yet.
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5: Spooky
Creepy book. One of the few that I read that actually caused a rise in my personal creep meter. Jackson's literary descriptions were great.
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