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A review by richardleis
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
5.0
Truly one of the best, if not the very best, haunted house novels ever written.
I write this on a sunny Sunday morning around 10:30 AM with pancakes cooking in the kitchen having finished the novel about an hour ago and still I'm feeling frightened. There was a moment while lying in bed when I looked over at the bathroom door and it struck me just how dark it was beyond the gap under the door, and then I realized that the door had also just a few seconds ago settled loudly and my fear was only just catching up to me.
In "The Haunting of Hill House," the house is terrifying. Jackson finds more ways direct and indirect to describe the terror of the house, including how it looks like a jeering face from the front, the way it settles and creaks at night (and during the day), the offsets of its construction, and the way it is hard for the human mind to reconstruct the routes through its interior. When specific manifestations occur, whatever walks there alone seems to be playing the house like an instrument.
Drop into this malevolent house the fragile Eleanor Vance, along with three other want-to-be paranormal investigators, and you have an added level of psychological disturbance. It seems clear that there is something supernatural at work, because the four visitors become a kind of family against the horror the witness, but there is also a suggestion that Eleanor may be experiencing things that the other do not. Is everything really happening? Is some of it all in her head? One of the most expert additions Jackson brings to this line of questioning is two other characters late in the book that forces you to reevaluate everything yet again.
I can see how some readers may not like the characters very much, but I find much to recommend in Jackson's characters. Eleanor is a challenging character, self-conscious, selfish, sometimes really meek, often very disturbed, but I also found her very sympathetic. Theo is not quite as mean as she is in the 1963 film adaptation, but she is still the impetus for Eleanor's growing strangeness. Luke and Dr. Montague have a little less to do but by the end of the book especially Luke's story arc comes satisfyingly full circle. Mrs. Montague and Arthur make a timely and fascinating entrance, and the Dudleys help Jackson make things uncomfortable, and sometimes humorous.
How does the 1963 movie adaptation (forget the horrible 1999 version) compare to the book? It is quite faithful, but I was nevertheless surprised by the differences. The movie has a scene of terror that made me scream the first time I saw it; this is not present in the book. Some of the characters go on a slightly different character arc. As frightening as the movie is (indeed, it is one of my favorite horror films of all time,) the book is even more terrifying, with a few key scenes that really add to the horror, including what happens to Theo's room and several scenes involving outside locations.
Jackson uses lush and beautiful language to weave her story. She also makes fantastic use of surprises, often at the end of sections and chapters, that leave a chill and make it hard to turn off the lights at night. I'm gushing. This is a fantastic novel and now, even though it is morning and the sun is bright outside and I'm about to eat pancakes, I feel I need to turn on all the lights.
I write this on a sunny Sunday morning around 10:30 AM with pancakes cooking in the kitchen having finished the novel about an hour ago and still I'm feeling frightened. There was a moment while lying in bed when I looked over at the bathroom door and it struck me just how dark it was beyond the gap under the door, and then I realized that the door had also just a few seconds ago settled loudly and my fear was only just catching up to me.
In "The Haunting of Hill House," the house is terrifying. Jackson finds more ways direct and indirect to describe the terror of the house, including how it looks like a jeering face from the front, the way it settles and creaks at night (and during the day), the offsets of its construction, and the way it is hard for the human mind to reconstruct the routes through its interior. When specific manifestations occur, whatever walks there alone seems to be playing the house like an instrument.
Drop into this malevolent house the fragile Eleanor Vance, along with three other want-to-be paranormal investigators, and you have an added level of psychological disturbance. It seems clear that there is something supernatural at work, because the four visitors become a kind of family against the horror the witness, but there is also a suggestion that Eleanor may be experiencing things that the other do not. Is everything really happening? Is some of it all in her head? One of the most expert additions Jackson brings to this line of questioning is two other characters late in the book that forces you to reevaluate everything yet again.
I can see how some readers may not like the characters very much, but I find much to recommend in Jackson's characters. Eleanor is a challenging character, self-conscious, selfish, sometimes really meek, often very disturbed, but I also found her very sympathetic. Theo is not quite as mean as she is in the 1963 film adaptation, but she is still the impetus for Eleanor's growing strangeness. Luke and Dr. Montague have a little less to do but by the end of the book especially Luke's story arc comes satisfyingly full circle. Mrs. Montague and Arthur make a timely and fascinating entrance, and the Dudleys help Jackson make things uncomfortable, and sometimes humorous.
How does the 1963 movie adaptation (forget the horrible 1999 version) compare to the book? It is quite faithful, but I was nevertheless surprised by the differences. The movie has a scene of terror that made me scream the first time I saw it; this is not present in the book. Some of the characters go on a slightly different character arc. As frightening as the movie is (indeed, it is one of my favorite horror films of all time,) the book is even more terrifying, with a few key scenes that really add to the horror, including what happens to Theo's room and several scenes involving outside locations.
Jackson uses lush and beautiful language to weave her story. She also makes fantastic use of surprises, often at the end of sections and chapters, that leave a chill and make it hard to turn off the lights at night. I'm gushing. This is a fantastic novel and now, even though it is morning and the sun is bright outside and I'm about to eat pancakes, I feel I need to turn on all the lights.