Hello, Book Lovers! Welcome back to another BOOKS article. In this post, I will be sharing my opinions and thoughts on my latest read-- ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson. Enjoy!
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.” -Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
Where do I start?
I’ve always wanted to read this spooky classic, and I’m so glad I finally did! This eerie book was such an interesting and creepy read. It was a perfect choice for Autumn.
‘The Haunting of Hill House’ was written by Shirley Jackson in 1959. I don’t know why, but I love reading books written in this time era. It’s kind of like watching a black-and-white film. It’s so interesting and fun to see how the world was like back then and sort of imagining yourself living in that time period as you read.
Three years ago, I watched the Netflix show ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and absolutely fell in love with it. I’m typically not a big fan of scary movies, but this show was so, so good! It’s not like the scary that is popular on TV. There’s actually a deep, emotional story and solid characters. At first, it seems to be just a scary show with ghosts and creepy sound effects, but then you discover there’s actually a deep story behind all of the creepy-ness. Because I enjoyed the show so much, I had to read the novel. But before I go on, I want to let you all know that the book is completely different from the TV show. This doesn’t make it a bad book, though. On the front cover of the copy I bought, it says that the novel was ‘inspiration’ for the Netflix show. If you’re a fan of the book, you’ll probably like the show. And if you’re a fan of the show, you’ll definitely like the book.
This novel by Shirley Jackson goes under the genres gothic fiction and psychological horror. The two genres just scream creepy, don’t they?
When I opened the book and read the first paragraph, I knew I was going to like it. I added the quote at the beginning of the article so you can see what I mean. The story itself was chilling, but the way Jackson told it made it so much creepier.
Dr. John Montague, one of the main characters of the book, rented the famous Hill House for three months to see if there were really such things as ‘supernatural manifestations’ and real ‘psychic disturbances’. So, when he heard that Hill House was a true ‘haunted house’, he decided to rent it and invite a list of guests to stay with him, in hopes that someone would catch a haunting.
But the guests were no ordinary people. Two of them had psychic abilities, and the third was the nephew of the woman who owned Hill House.
To be clear, no one had lived in the house for a long time before they rented it. Supposedly bad, unexplainable things would occur in the house-- and those who did live in it ended up going insane.
Apparently, this book is one of Stephen King’s favorites-- which I can totally see why. While reading it, I saw a lot of similar ideas that were his novel ‘The Shining’. One example is the haunted hotel is very similar to Hill House. They both held sad tragedies, and they were the same type of ‘haunted’. It wasn’t a thing that haunted the place, it was the place that was haunting.
‘ “What else could you call Hill House?” Luke demanded. “Well-- disturbed, perhaps. Leprous. Sick. Any popular euphemisms for insanity; a deranged house is a pretty conceit.” ’-- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
The only thing that bothered me a little was the ending. Now that I've had time to process the book, it doesn't really bother me anymore. While I was reading it, I felt like it was kind of sudden. But there didn't need to be a happy ending or a drawn-out explanation. Even though I didn't care for the ending while I was reading, I think it's what makes this book a classic.
I 100% recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a tragic and creepy novel. Click HERE to purchase the read today. Other than that, thank you for reading this week’s post! If you’ve already read this book, what did you think? Please share in the comments below!
Read On,
Kait The Writer
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