leosmile 's review for:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

4.5

---

I really loved this, Shirley Jackson's style is just so great and this is no exception. One memorable time reading this was on a night bus with the pages illuminated only by a faint blue light from above, it made the darkness feel different and me genuinely afraid to turn the next page. Finishing the book while in sunny France was probably not as ambience-appropriate. I thought the characters were all great, the perspective it was told from was done super well, the way the house was portrayed and explored was really good. I think that she blended in just the right amount of the surreal for it to feel confusing/scary, yet still like there were real stakes. I think the ending was somewhat abrupt/a tiny bit of a let down, still very good, but the first half of the book felt like perfect, whereas near the end it just wasn't as neat maybe, it felt like the story ended not naturally but because it had to end at some point. Still really really great