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A review by jenni_elyse
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
1.0
I read The Haunting of Hill House as part of the RIP IX group read. I was really excited to read it because I had seen the 1999 movie The Haunting and while the movie was cheesy in some parts, I was definitely on the edge of my seat and a little bit afraid.
I’m so utterly disappointed with this book that I could just cry. Okay, not really, but this book was horrible! Fortunately, the book wasn’t long so I didn’t waste a lot of precious reading time.
The writing was weird. I don’t even know how to explain how it was weird. There were times that we were in Eleanor’s head, which felt really disjointed because she thought about weird things. The whole first part of the book really had no importance to the story other than to introduce us to Eleanor. I also didn’t feel like the writing was very descriptive. And, it was very plot-driven, which I’m not a huge fan of. (I like character-driven stories more. There’s more depth and feeling in character-driven stories.)
I hated the characters. The story mostly focused on Eleanor as she was the one most influenced by the house. In learning about her character, all I found was a self-centered, self-pitying, two-faced girl seeking attention. In fact, I thought all the characters were two-faced. I still don’t know who Luke and Theodora really are. The only person I felt I got to know even a little bit was Dr. Montague. He’s the only one who didn’t seem to put on airs. I despised Mrs. Montague and found her to be irritating. The only characters I really liked were Mr. and Mrs. Dudley. They at least were frank and honest.
It didn’t really seem like anything happened, other than Eleanor possibly going crazy or possibly being haunted by ghosts. I guess part of the allure of The Haunting of Hill House is not knowing if Eleanor is mentally unstable or influenced by paranormal phenomena. I went into the story expecting scary and I was really excited about that. But, only on one occasion did I get creeped out and that was because I was expecting something to happen like I saw in the movie. When it didn’t happen like the movie, it was a big let down.
I think the concept of The Haunting of Hill House was intriguing and could make for a very scary story. I just wish it had been executed better so I wasn’t left with such a huge feeling of disappointment.
I’m so utterly disappointed with this book that I could just cry. Okay, not really, but this book was horrible! Fortunately, the book wasn’t long so I didn’t waste a lot of precious reading time.
The writing was weird. I don’t even know how to explain how it was weird. There were times that we were in Eleanor’s head, which felt really disjointed because she thought about weird things. The whole first part of the book really had no importance to the story other than to introduce us to Eleanor. I also didn’t feel like the writing was very descriptive. And, it was very plot-driven, which I’m not a huge fan of. (I like character-driven stories more. There’s more depth and feeling in character-driven stories.)
I hated the characters. The story mostly focused on Eleanor as she was the one most influenced by the house. In learning about her character, all I found was a self-centered, self-pitying, two-faced girl seeking attention. In fact, I thought all the characters were two-faced. I still don’t know who Luke and Theodora really are. The only person I felt I got to know even a little bit was Dr. Montague. He’s the only one who didn’t seem to put on airs. I despised Mrs. Montague and found her to be irritating. The only characters I really liked were Mr. and Mrs. Dudley. They at least were frank and honest.
It didn’t really seem like anything happened, other than Eleanor possibly going crazy or possibly being haunted by ghosts. I guess part of the allure of The Haunting of Hill House is not knowing if Eleanor is mentally unstable or influenced by paranormal phenomena. I went into the story expecting scary and I was really excited about that. But, only on one occasion did I get creeped out and that was because I was expecting something to happen like I saw in the movie. When it didn’t happen like the movie, it was a big let down.
I think the concept of The Haunting of Hill House was intriguing and could make for a very scary story. I just wish it had been executed better so I wasn’t left with such a huge feeling of disappointment.