A review by apollo0325
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

1.5

I came into this book shortly after watching the TV show, and after telling some friends about it, one of them was kind enough to lead me his copy (shout out to Derek ayyyy). I already knew this was going to be vastly different from the show, and while I was pretty lukewarm about the show, I’m even more meh about the book.

While the supernatural instances are very tense and well written and paced, the book overall felt like a jumbled mess. It’s a short read in theory, but there were several times while reading that my eyes went cross or I started to doze off. It simply did not grip me. None of the characters were particularly likable because none of them were complex or interesting to learn about. I like a good morally grey and/or flawed character, but when they lack any sort of charisma, I just don’t care about any of them.

I expected that ending, and it really wasn’t as vague as people think it is?

Eleanor definitely offed herself and it’s implied she now is part of whatever is haunting Hill House. Everyone else continues to live their lives without her.

In a way, the ending is bleak, but unfortunately, it had the emotional gut punch of 50SOG.