Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

21 reviews

abicaro17's review

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

As four characters come together to investigate the psychological effects of a haunted house, Eleanor narrates the effect on both her and the others. As the lively aspects of the house become increasingly creepier, Eleanor and the house mates begin to devolve. The set up of this book is incredibly interesting and I actually really enjoyed the slow burn. I think my issues stem from two parts. Part 1: no one in the house ever really addresses any haunted occurrences unless it's during or immediately after. Part 2: The last third of the book was incredibly confusing. I think if I was actually reading it and not listening to the audiobook, it might be different. Overall it was an interesting book and i'm intrigued to see how the show modernized it. 

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.5

If I based everything purely on vibes, this book would have rated higher but it kind of got to the point where I was having trouble picturing what was going on and so I got confused about what was actually happening..

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eerie_iri's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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mattyvreads's review against another edition

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

4.75

I’m obsessed with this book. Shirley Jackson’s writing is impeccable. I love that the book feels so modern, despite being written in the late 50s. It is an impressive and utterly horrifying piece of literature.

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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

5.0

Big thanks to my newest literary heroine Shirley Jackson for yassifying the ghost story. You truly were ahead of your time.

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glitterdeww's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I feel a tremendous urge to write essays about this book. MULTIPLE essays. This is a masterpiece. 


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filipa_maia's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

So... I was expecting a little bit more from this book. Being my favorite genre and so acclaimed (this book was the inspiration for the Netflix series) I was expecting pure, dark horror.

Don't get me wrong, the book is good: a haunted house and a bunch of people living in it is the perfect plot to a great book. We get all the classics: knocks on the doors, footsteps when nobody is around, people acting in a very weird way. But that was not enough. The dialogs are long, superficial and, sometimes, very confusing - almost as if it was written to be a script and not a actual book. The characters are annoying and you never, truly, understand if that's how they really are or if that's part of the house's influence. Maybe that's the intention, after all. But we will never find out.

For me, there is a lot of talking and not enough action. I hear very nice thing about the series so I'm going to give it a try. 

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finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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starlit_pathways's review against another edition

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

4.75


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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I think perhaps it was intentional, but this book was so disjointed that I had a hard time enjoying it. There were bits and pieces that I found enjoyable but overall it was confusing and strange. I think the possession of one of the characters affected their interactions with the others but I can’t be sure because it’s never clearly stated. If I hadn’t seen the show first, I think my expectations would’ve been different or less and I may have enjoyed this more. 

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