The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Fiction ~ Library Book
Pub. Date: 1959
Publisher: Viking Penguin Inc.
Read: 10/5/2011
3 stars

The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers-and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

I don’t really know how to write a review for this book, one because it kind of old and two because anything else I could say would be a spoiler for anyone that hasn’t read it. Originally I gave it 4 stars, but after thinking about it I changed to 3 since although it is a good book, I didn’t “really like it” just liked it. I just read another Shirley Jackson book and I feel that this book is not as good, that may be why when I closed this book I felt let down.

The characters in this book are not clearly defined. The women’s feelings and conversations and moods are up and down and back and forth, essentially all over the place. They both appeared to be PMSing the entire time. The book winds down to its eventual conclusion.

From reading reviews on this book, most people loved it or hated it, I seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t know if I can recommend it, I will say if you like books written in the late 50’s, big on words and dialogue and described feelings, I would recommend this book.