Reviews

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

kelishiaradhalal's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

guccishoestrings's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

A book that needs to reread multiple times to pick up a lot of the little details and things foreshadowed that you will miss the first time you read through. This book is a classic and should be read by any horror/thriller book fan.

This book starts off with Eleanor (the narrator) wanting to get out of her house and away from her sister and brother in law. She later gets an opportunity to live at Hill House for a science experiment and takes off to the house. She arrives and runs into the other three characters that are important in Dr. Montague, Theodora, and Luke (Mrs. Dudley also shows up from time to time). The house is apparently haunted and Dr. Montague is trying to figure out what is going on while mysterious things happen.

This is a great book and should be read by everybody especially book fans. 

P.s. do not trust the narrator.

abigaim's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

elliott_barrington's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

calliek927's review against another edition

5.0

I think this was a great book. Yes, a bit older than my normal reads, but I enjoyed the suspense and the character development of some, yet missed it on some of the others.

mxunsmiley's review against another edition

3.0

I thought it was engaging and thrilling for the most part, but didn't feel any kind of satisfaction with the ending. What separates this book from run-of-the-mill horror is its superb writing; the flow of the prose was something I really enjoyed. I'm willing to give Ms. Jackson another chance with her other work because of her language.

jtdavie94's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

3.0

courtneydashh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

I was excited to read this book, but I found it very hard to get into and enjoy. I liked that Eleanor was an unreliable narrator and that the source of the madness is left up to interpretation, but some parts of it were hard to follow. I found myself getting confused, thinking I’d skipped a page or a paragraph when I hadn’t. 

kateykake's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

b_meow's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75