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A review by lostlenore_
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
5.0
This is a highly confessional book set in a house that haunts the people that live there and narrated by Eleanor, a young woman who has yet to overcome the death of her mother. It's a ghost story without ghosts, it's a story of psychological horror magnificently written.
The narration is so gripping and Eleanor is such a rich character that you're drawn to her world which resembles that of a young girl in her room. She has the wildest dreams and a need to give love and receive love in return.
The fact that she's also an unreliable narrator is also worth commenting. I felt uneasy while reading this book because, at times, I sympathized with Eleanor and I was rather angry at the people around her who seemed not to notice her self-destruction.
I believe that Shirley Jackson should be widely read by contemporary readers of horror not because you won't be able to sleep at night but because her characters stay with you, and they might get to whisper you truths that you cannot bear to listen to.
The narration is so gripping and Eleanor is such a rich character that you're drawn to her world which resembles that of a young girl in her room. She has the wildest dreams and a need to give love and receive love in return.
The fact that she's also an unreliable narrator is also worth commenting. I felt uneasy while reading this book because, at times, I sympathized with Eleanor and I was rather angry at the people around her who seemed not to notice her self-destruction.
I believe that Shirley Jackson should be widely read by contemporary readers of horror not because you won't be able to sleep at night but because her characters stay with you, and they might get to whisper you truths that you cannot bear to listen to.