The Haunting Of Hill House
5 stars
Best ghost story ever.
Introduction by Series Editor Guillermo del Toro Penguin Horror
Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House (Paperback, 2013, Penguin Books)
5-1/2 x 8-1/4, 288 pages
English language
Published Oct. 1, 2013 by Penguin Books.
Four seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Luke, the adventurous future inheritor of the estate; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. As they begin to cope with chilling, even horrifying occurrences beyond their control or understanding, they cannot possibly know what lies ahead. For Hill House is gathering its powers — and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Best ghost story ever.
Maybe I was just lucky to be in the right mood, but this book made me feel sick to my stomach, with my eyes wide in horror. While some of the choices didn’t work for me - hence the 4 stars - there was no way I could shake the feeling of unease I maintained while reading. Every time a new day dawned and there was a little break in the eeriness, all I could do was dread what was to come in the next night. This is the scariest book I have ever read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good creepy read.
DNF. Writing relied too hard on visual elements and the writing just didn't illustrate it well. The feeling of being watched and the house constantly shifting was good. But things were definitely glossed over.
The Haunting of Hill House was my Halloween read this year, even though I didn’t read much of it on the actual day. Something I love about books from this sort of period is the amount of booze consumed in a casual sort of way. Worried the house is evil? Never mind, have a brandy! It seemed there was a time where a drink solved everything. Or maybe it just helps to distract you from the ghosts…
It’s not a very scary book though. The only time I got a bit creeped out was because I was reading on the bus and then had to walk down the road in the dark and fog on quite a cold evening. The haunting manifests itself in cold spots in the book, so clearly it managed to latch on to one bit of my brain.
I did enjoy it though, more as a …
The Haunting of Hill House was my Halloween read this year, even though I didn’t read much of it on the actual day. Something I love about books from this sort of period is the amount of booze consumed in a casual sort of way. Worried the house is evil? Never mind, have a brandy! It seemed there was a time where a drink solved everything. Or maybe it just helps to distract you from the ghosts…
It’s not a very scary book though. The only time I got a bit creeped out was because I was reading on the bus and then had to walk down the road in the dark and fog on quite a cold evening. The haunting manifests itself in cold spots in the book, so clearly it managed to latch on to one bit of my brain.
I did enjoy it though, more as a period piece about an odd group of people staying in an isolated house. There was a point where I did start to wonder if it were all in Eleanor’s mind; which is scarier, ghosts that can’t harm you or being terrified by your own mind?