Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

28 reviews

finch77's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book is beautiful, Eleanor's voice throughout is so unique. I loved all of it until the last 5ish pages, hence the 4 stars. 

But If you are looking for a paranormal book with answers as to what is causing the hauntings this is not for you. A lot of the paranormal activity is up to interpretation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Abandonment and Panic attacks/disorders

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A classic for a reason, and definitely worth multiple read throughs. The comlexity of the character interactions and the effect they have at the happenings at the house are masterfully crafted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Domestic abuse

Suicide- [spoiler] the house has a history of suicide, and the main character commits suicide at the end[/spoiler] Death of parent [spoiler] Eleanor's mother dies before the story begins[/spoiler] death - multiple people in the house have died, and [spoiler]Eleanor dies at the end[/spoiler] car accident- [spoiler] Eleanor crashes her car into a tree to kill herself at the end[/spoiler] Alcohol- frequent mention of brandy Blood- [spoiler] the house manifests writing of blood in Theo's room[/spoiler] Grief- the main character grieves the death of [spoiler] her mother[/spoiler] domestic abuse- the implication that [spoiler] eleanor may have killed her mother via neglect[/spoiler] drug use- medical drugs mentioned

sneurah's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol, and Car accident

Minor: Death of parent

megan_bbender's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious relaxing tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Overall, I cannot say I enjoyed this book and found it disappointing. I found the main character more annoying than likeable. However, witnessing the slow progression of the effects on the characters, especially Eleanor, was very interesting and captivating. This book can easily be described as dull and boring but it had a small amount of good parts. It is a quick read, but only if you can find the motivation to finish it. The ending was unexpected and mysterious. I found the writing style interesting and different, it had some amazing illusions and foreshadowing. Unfortunately I would not necessarily recommend this book to a lot of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Grief

mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing, Death, and Death of parent

davidrb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm actually going to go crazy go stupid over how much I loved this book. It's slow, yeah, but Jackson uses her unique and considerable talent to build dread, just as in We Have Always Lived: the prose is gorgeous and lush, but the real star here is her character development. Eleanor is a powerful protagonist, dynamic despite her meekness and not at all what I expected, but Theo and Luke play excellent foils both to her and each other. The trio of assistants make this book more than worth the price of entry. 

Quick aside: having seen both The Haunting (movie) and The Haunting of Hill House (show), I can confidently say that the original book is my favorite when set next to its adaptations. They're all different (and all very good), but the book just does it for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

pitythechild's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

this book was genuinely quite terrifying—

eleanor’s descent into hill house-induced madness

scared the hell out of me. and the ending was nothing like i expected

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief

steffk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Grief