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dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I sat down with this book because I was expecting a classic, cozy haunted house story. And I got that. What I also got was intense despair. Eleanor is such a fragile young heroine, whose life thus far has been miserable. In fact, her first real taste of freedom and happiness is on her way to Hill House, and you desperately want this to be the beginning of her story, and not the end. This book is also just so incredibly gay. Like its all buried in the subtext but really, I mean, come on. Those gals are not just pals.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide
Minor: Emotional abuse
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
absolutely loved it. took me a couple of pages to get into but then it tied me in like hill house did with eleanor. will think about it for a while.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide
Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, Alcohol
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Suicide, Death of parent
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm so glad I finally read this one! I thought it would be way scarier than it actually was, although it'll probably make me rethink anything going bump in the night when I'm staying somewhere unfamiliar. I really liked how the reader is brought along on the mental journey of one of the characters being targeted by the house, and how her thinking evolves and changes the longer she's there. It really gets under your skin that way. I kind of wish the book was longer and scarier. I would have happily read something twice as long.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Suicide
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After everything I'd heard about this book, I expected it to be much scarier. Instead, it's just sad and left me disliking most of the characters.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Death, Suicide, Death of parent
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I fell somewhere in the middle on this horror classic. I knew going in it wouldn’t have a fast-paced plot about the strange happenings in Hill house, but it was so repetitive and took too long to reach the climax.
Shirley Jackson is a great writer, but the character relationships in this really brought it down for me. Other than Theodora, the rest of the characters felt too distant for me to care. I get why Eleanor feels flat because she’s trying to find any way to be likable and interesting, but I didn’t personally enjoy reading SO much about this dynamic with the other characters.
I don’t regret reading it, but I think I like Jackson’s dreamy, surreal type of dialogue and plotting better in her short stories because ~200 pages was stretching the limits of my attention. The off-balance, unsettling atmosphere was there, but I wanted more perspective from Hill House itself to get an equal blend of real spookiness and character study.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide
Minor: Blood, Abandonment