Reviews

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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sarahboudereads's review against another edition

4.0

4.5/5
A marvel of classic horror literature. The story relies on actual terror and doubt rather than ghosts to scare you ; which I found so clever. So well written too. I got very attached to Eleanor, in the end.
Oh, don't read this one expecting it to be similar to the Netflix show, of course. Those are two completely different stories.

deroute's review against another edition

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4.0

I adore a good supernatural/ haunted house story. I must say I was not expecting that ending!

I wouldn’t class this as a scary novel, however I did throughly enjoy reading this and perhaps will even re-read it again in the future. I really loved the pacing for this book, but I wish it was longer, so much more could’ve been added into the story (learning more about the characters, perhaps more events taking place etc).

This was an entertaining read and I would recommend it to those that enjoy a short supernatural, haunted house book. I will definitely be checking out more books by Shirley Jackson.

lethaldose's review against another edition

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3.0

It was a good book, but hardly the legendary book I have been led to believe. The setting of the house is awesome, the book a had a few freaky moments in it, but if you are expecting a haunted house book here you will sadly disappointed it is more of haunted people and way more cerebral than I had thought it would be. Eleanor, the main character, is a bit tiring after the first two or three pages. And the further along the book goes and the more insane she gets the more confused you get reading her, too often you are confused by her actions and thoughts. Hill House is fantastic, it is a big creepy mansion with an interesting history, and there is definitely something going on in that house and it is a tad disappointing that it never gets fully explored or explained. There seems to be a great ghost story here waiting to get out, it is buried beneath boring characters doing boring things though. Were Mrs Montague and Arthur suppose to be comic relief? That is how they came off, and the timing of their comic relief is very questionable when the book is reaching its climax. Still there was enough here to like, and the end was actually good, but this book has its flaws and it not deserving of its reputation as one of the scariest books ever written.

brinamack95's review

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1.0

I feel like I'm missing something. This book is constantly in top 10 horror book lists but I can barely believe that I even finished it.
Another review I read said that it was like a group of people are on an adventure but are constantly talking about the adventure they're on instead of actually being on the adventure and I think that's such a great description. I feel like this book Is about an awkward woman who shows up thinking it'll be just like summer camp and then just gets paranoid about the other people thinking they are conspiring against her somehow. Her views on the other guests and what she thinks that they think about her is far more a focal point of the story than any haunting activities.
Again, I am left with the feeling that I'm missing something. How can this be such a well loved book?