Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

3 reviews

ash_bees's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was more frustrating than scary.  And I say this as a person who doesn't like scary stories.

The climatic scene was essentially a scene from "A Bug's Life":

"Don't go into the light."
"But it's so pretty."
*zap*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Grief, Gore, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Car accident, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit

hannahpings's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Death, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Pregnancy, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Addiction, Car accident, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, and Sexual assault

chezler24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

It's a tough act to follow up on such an iconic tale as Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, but I think that Elizabeth Hand did a pretty great job. The story feels unique to itself while having the foreboding Hill House looming in the background. Hand captures the dread and foreboding elements Jackson produced yet plays to her own strengths in creating a new, modern chapter in the house's history. Holly, Nisa, Stevie, and Amanda have all made their way to this place to work on Holly's play as actors, sound designers, and singers. Against all warnings, they decide to stay here for a month to have the creepy essence of the house serve as a backdrop for workshopping their supernatural-themed play.  Hill House feeds on the anxieties and doubts of its guests as they slowly realize the house is more aware of their presence than they could ever have imagined. 

The only aspect that seemed strange to me was that of the hares running around and more "witchy" aspects. It ended up working out in the end but I suppose we did have some magic/seance action in the original novel so, in hindsight, I shouldn't have been that surprised by these supernatural elements. 

Please listen to Fern Maddie's "Hares on the Mountain"! Songs/singing are a key part of the plot and ambiance and the author noted that this version has the same essence as the character Nisa put into it. I listened to it after I finished the book and it felt very nice as an "end credits" song in a sense.   

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Murder, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic