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A review by nhborg
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
4.0
Second read (11.10.2024):
3.75
«Fear (…) is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway.»
I have a hard time reviewing this book. On one hand, I can see how great it is. I think Shirley Jackson’s project is fascinating and revolutionary for its time, and I love how the horror is simultaneously rooted in something as substantial as a building’s architecture and something as intangible as the human psyche. I have a book club discussion about Hill House coming up, and I imagine it to be a brilliant starting point for analytical discussions. The descent into madness in the book is chilling because it feels almost contagious to the reader.
On the other hand, even upon the second read, I struggle to enjoy myself while reading. I can observe the inherent value in the story, but my lack of emotional connection prevents me from appreciating it fully. I might’ve blamed it on the writing style if I didn’t already love Jackson’s other novel «We have always lived in the castle». It unfortunately seems like the recipe for Hill House doesn’t work for me, and I can’t do much about it. I love the story in theory, but I feel much more inclined to reading reviews/articles about it than to go back to the book itself.
Lastly, I want to include the most iconic quote because how could I not. I love that it’s giving Lovecraftian horror:
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”
First read (10.11.2022):
3.5
3.75
«Fear (…) is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway.»
I have a hard time reviewing this book. On one hand, I can see how great it is. I think Shirley Jackson’s project is fascinating and revolutionary for its time, and I love how the horror is simultaneously rooted in something as substantial as a building’s architecture and something as intangible as the human psyche. I have a book club discussion about Hill House coming up, and I imagine it to be a brilliant starting point for analytical discussions. The descent into madness in the book is chilling because it feels almost contagious to the reader.
On the other hand, even upon the second read, I struggle to enjoy myself while reading. I can observe the inherent value in the story, but my lack of emotional connection prevents me from appreciating it fully. I might’ve blamed it on the writing style if I didn’t already love Jackson’s other novel «We have always lived in the castle». It unfortunately seems like the recipe for Hill House doesn’t work for me, and I can’t do much about it. I love the story in theory, but I feel much more inclined to reading reviews/articles about it than to go back to the book itself.
Lastly, I want to include the most iconic quote because how could I not. I love that it’s giving Lovecraftian horror:
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”
First read (10.11.2022):
3.5