The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Horror)

by Shirley Jackson

Other authorsLaura Miller (Introduction), Guillermo del Toro (Editor)

Hardcover, 2013

Status

Available

Call number

PS3519.A392

Genres

Publication

Penguin Classics (2013), 288 pages

Description

Fiction. Horror. HTML: The Haunting Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodara, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, the lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own..

User reviews

LibraryThing member freddlerabbit

I had been waiting to read this book for a long time, and perhaps the anticipation was impossible to live up to. But this short novel, a haunted house story where four unlikeable people come together to "examine" and study the phenomena at Hill House (though, as a latecoming character correctly

observes, little in the way of science and preparation seems to be actually done), lacked interest really from start to finish. One pities the primary character, but does not like her; three of the four have wild mood swings and engage in petty nastiness. The hauntings themselves are, to a modern reader, humdrum and intermittent - the book lacks drama and punch.

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LibraryThing member susanbevans

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.

Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I can't tell you how many times I've seen this opening paragraph to The Haunting of Hill House repeated in someone's review, and yet here I am reprinting it. It's just so fantastically creepy that I can't help myself! If that alone does not compel you to read this book, then I just don't know what else to say to you.

The Haunting of Hill House is a horror classic. You will not find violence or gore here, just an old-fashioned spooky good time for all. There's a big evil a-brewin' in Hill house. Or is it all in the mind of one of the house's four summer guests. Elanor Vance is socially awkward, painfully shy, and incredibly self-conscious; she's also a house guest, participating in paranormal experiments in Hill house. The group is led by Dr. John Montague. Along with narcissistic Theodora and well-to-do Luke, Eleanor is charged with reporting paranormal phenomena in the house over the summer.

I should probably tell you here that the guests do not actually see any demonic displays during their stay at Hill house. Nevertheless, the effect the book has on the reader can only be described as jolting. The horror here is very subtle and entirely psychological. Seriously, you don't even realize how scared you are until your husband (innocently) walks up behind your chair and makes you jump out of your skin just by putting his hand on your shoulder.

Jackson's descriptions of the actual hauntings are chilling and will have you turning on all the lights in your house, checking behind the doors, and looking under your bed. Her characters, in particular the main character, are written with an attention to detail and you will quickly find yourself absorbed into their fate.

The Haunting of Hill House is an unsettling and engrossing really quick read that will have you searching for more Shirley Jackson books at your local library. It's chilling and disturbing in the best sense of the words, and is easily the best ghost story I've ever read.

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LibraryThing member drbubbles

This is reminiscent of [[Henry James]]' [Turn of the Screw], the biggest difference being that this is actually good.

I distinguish terror (personal threat) and horror (vicarious terror). This story actually evoked both, which is really rare in my experience. This story accomplishes it by keeping

you ignorant of what may happen until it does, and even then you don't know what it is. Sometimes oblique reference is made to things happening but you never learn what they are, which just adds to the scariness.

I thought the main-est character was treated with an extraordinary degree of sympathy, especially for a horror story, and I don't mean just of the "get out before it's too late" variety. I think it is this sympathy that makes the book remarkable. It also makes the ending horrible far out of proportion to the actual event (it may be important in this connection to know that I consider the dénouement to occur in the penultimate, or possibly antepenultimate {don't remember for sure}, paragraph — the three sentences that begin with "Why".)

I see that many reviewers consider the horror in this book to be psychological (deriving from the principal protagonist's state of mind), at least in part; but to my mind, it's at least as much sociological (deriving from the protagonists' behavior toward one another), particularly in the way that social norms can inflict subtle cruelties upon people on the margin, and expose them to manipulation by others.

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LibraryThing member coloradogirl14

As a young and slightly idiotic preteen, I picked up a copy of this book, thinking it would be JUST LIKE the remake of The Haunting - the one starring Liam Neeson. Needless to say, my twelve-year-old self was disappointed.

Fast forward over ten years later. I still have a special place in my heart

for that hokey remake, but now I finally understand why The Haunting of Hill House is so iconic. I loved the subtlety of the paranormal phenomena and the ambiguity between spiritual and psychological. (Some people may vote that everything in the house was happening inside Eleanor's head, but I put my vote in with the spooky stuff.)

The thing that I loved most of all was that Shirley Jackson PERSONIFIED Hill House and gave it sentient intelligence. I mean, how creepy is that?? After finishing this book, I realized that this is something I look for in my haunted house stories: is it just a ghost, or is there something larger at work? A disgruntled or unsettled spirit becomes something that can be dealt with and overcome. A sentient house, or the imprint of human emotion upon the house, presents an entirely new set of challenges.

And once I understood that the house was an intelligent, active character, I fell in love with the story. I devoured it in less than 24 hours, and I just wanted to pick it up and read it all over again. This novel became one of my favorite ghost stories literally overnight, and now I see its influence everywhere. It's a great classic for Halloween, but for horror aficionados, it's a must read.

Readalikes:

The Unseen - Alexandra Sokoloff. A psychology professor attempts to recreate the disastrous psychic experiments of the parapsychology group at Duke University in the 1960's. A modern ghost story with a slow buildup and a very similar tone to The Haunting of Hill House.

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James. Another classic horror novel with a slow buildup of terror and an uncertainty between what is paranormal and what is occurring in the protagonist's mind.

Hell House - Richard Matheson. One of the recognized horror masters pays tribute to another master with a spooky haunted house story.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer - Joyce Reardon. A fictional diary about Ellen Rimbauer, an historic woman living in the expansive (and haunted) mansion known as Rose Red. The TV mini series Rose Red (penned by Stephen King) is partially based on this book.

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill. A young lawyer visits the eerie and derelict Eel Marsh House, where he encounters an angry, hateful spirit. Although the house itself is not exactly personified the way Hill House is, the enduring power of the spirit's anger gives this short and engrossing story a larger-than-life quality.

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LibraryThing member upstairsgirl

The Haunting of Hill House is a small but excellent story. Jackson is a master of the creepy, and of the subtle reveal, and she does both excellently here.

I expected the story to be elegantly terrifying, and it wasn't, which was disappointing; if you're looking to be frightened by a good ghost

story, I think this isn't going to do that for you; there's no unraveling of a mystery even clear conclusion with respect to the haunted status of the house, which is a little unfulfilling. Instead, Jackson chooses to leave the history of the house and its former inhabitants shrouded in sinister-seeming silence and mystery, providing only a few facts to fuel the imagination.

The genius of the story lies in its ambiguity, and in Jackson's language. She moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined in a way that keeps the reader from being sure of the narrator's reliability and of what is and isn't real within the world of the story. She evokes a malicious house that can't be explained away by its verifiable physical oddities, and she leaves the air heavy with expectation at all times. One leaves the novel with the sense that something terrible is still waiting to happen, even though it already has.

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LibraryThing member parallactic

Summary:
Eleanor is contacted by a doctor to take part in an investigation of a haunted house, along with two other people. Eleanor accepts in order to escape her current lifestyle.

Writing:
This was written in omniscient POV, centering on the character of Eleanor. Jackson's run on sentences and use

of semi-colons annoyed me. To be fair, a) she's not a modern writer and older writing styles were free with semi-colons, b) I liked the way Jackson anthropomorphized the house.

The Good:
The themes, and tying in Eleanor's neuroses with the house. I liked that Eleanor was trying to escape from her old life, and that she found a haunted house easier to bear than her old life. She wanted to belong, she spun fantasies about a good life, and tried her best to pretend. The dialogue was pretty good, and felt natural.

The Bad:
My attention span is not what it used to be, and the lengthy descriptions annoyed me. I'd heard that this book was supposed to be scary, but the haunting incidents didn't work for me. Scenes dragged on a bit, see the poor attention span part. The road trip part seemed to take forever, but then again, it did tie in thematically with Eleanor's neuroses.

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LibraryThing member bkwurm

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within... whatever walked there, walked alone.”

This slim volume by

Shirley Jackson may not look as scary as many of the more contemporary horror novels, but don't let the cover or the size of the book fool you. This is a CLASSIC horror novel of the first degree. Much more subtle than some of the more popular novelists, Jackson gets into your head slowly and quietly.

The narrator (of sorts) of the book is Eleanor, a 30-ish woman who has spent her entire life caring for other people. Eleanor is not exactly an impartial narrator, but enough of her observations are corroborated by other characters that the reader trusts her reliability, and willingly lets her lead us into the story.

When you first meet Eleanor you can't help but sympathize with the poor, innocent, put-upon woman. As someone who holds the my real and imaginary worlds side by side in my own life, I loved her tendency to fantasize and weave alternate realities for herself.

Hill House itself seems much more friendly than, say, The Overlook Hotel from Stephen King's The Shining. But this, as with so much in the book, is an illusion. Hill House merely holds its secrets closer within. Hill House is particular. It doesn't want the reader, and so the reader rarely feels overtly scared, only vaguely uncomfortable. It's not until the last couple chapters of the book--which gather speed like a freight train headed for a cliff--that we realize exactly who, and what, Hill House wants.

It's only at the end of the book that you as a reader realize Hill House HAS gotten to you, and you might not be able to fall asleep peacefully after all.

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LibraryThing member KLmesoftly

Words that come to mind as I'm trying to describe this book include "beautiful" and "nuanced," in terms of setting, pace, and character creation and development. An incredibly rewarding read besides, this might also be the single most terrifying book I've read. Eleanor is a wonderful character, and

days later I still find myself haunted by the ambiguity of her ending.

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LibraryThing member writertomg

Dripping with ambiance and a foreboding feeling (you're just waiting for something to happen), the book offers frights while not being predictable. A few things that I expected to take place (a seen in countless horror movies) either didn't happen, or didn't happen as I expected.

The book is exactly

how I would imagine a real-life haunted house experience to go down. Not a glamorized, Hollywoodized, cheap-scare-tactics-to-shock-you story. It feels real throughout the entire book.

Best haunted house story that I've read so far.

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LibraryThing member ColinF.Barnes

I'm struggling to put into words my thoughts on this book. It blew me away on so many occasions that my review just wouldn't do it justice. It is, without doubt, the best 'horror' novel I've read, and perhaps the best book in general, I've read. It certainly rivals Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and

Something Wicked for that title.

Jackson's prose is mesmerising. She's an adept at subtle characterisation, internal monologue and use of repetition. All of which creates a kids of dream-state of poetry when reading, which drags you so far into the story, even single thing and person feels real.

This is not your average crappy haunted house book. You won't find gore or torture porn murders here. There are no cheap thrills. Instead, you get the raw examination of human nature, human fear, and a creeping sense of inevitability that still shocks when it comes. I can't recommend this book highly enough, and I'm mad at myself for leaving it so long to discover the genius of Shirley Jackson.

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LibraryThing member knittingfreak

Now, on to The Haunting of Hill House. This is the perfect book for this challenge. It's deliciously dark and spooky. It's not blood and guts horror. According to the introduction of the Penguin Classics edition that I read, it is considered a psychological ghost story. I have to admit that I think

that designation is spot on. The book deals with the terror that can often come from our own mind. There are four main characters, which include Dr. Montague, "an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena;" Luke who is in line to inherit Hill House; Theodora, a young woman who doesn't reveal much about her private life; and Eleanor Vance. Eleanor has taken the car she shares with her sister and fled to Hill House without letting anyone know where she's going. Eleanor lives with her sister, sleeping on a cot in the baby's room, following the death of their mother. Eleanor spent over a decade caring for her mother who showed no affection or care for Eleanor whatsoever. In fact, Eleanor feels as though she's never belonged anywhere and has never really been loved by anyone.

Eleanor has a very rich interior life, which the reader has access to throughout the book. On her way to Hill House, she indulges multiple fantasies about what her life could be like. She envisions herself living in an enclosed garden and in a large house with lion statues guarding the front of the house. The reader gets the sense early on that Eleanor is in a fragile emotional state, but she's not crazy.

Everyone expects this to be a fun escape from their everyday lives. However, things soon turn serious when Hill House begins to show its true colors. Jackson does such a good job of building suspense and a sense of foreboding as the novel progresses. As the unexplained continues to happen, Eleanor begins to question herself and the other inhabitants of Hill House. The line between reality and the supernatural is blurred to say the least. The reader senses Eleanor's struggle to figure out what's going on around her. At one point, she wonders why the others can hear what's happening when it's going on inside her head.

I won't say more for fear of ruining this for any of you haven't read it. Let me just say that it's a great book and absolutely perfect for this challenge. I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Jackson, which I really liked, as well. I'd be hard pressed to decide which I liked best.

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LibraryThing member clfisha

The Haunting (1963)is one of my favourite films and I have always been intrigued to read the source text. Luckily the book tells a wonderful tale, laden with atmosphere, dripping with menace and all encompassing heartbreaking loneliness.

There is so much to like about this tale. The house itself is

a master class of how to create a haunted house. It is odd, confusing and utterly menacing and it's history is only hinted at. Take the truly chilling homemade book of religious instruction from father to very young daughter and imagine the page on lust.. ugh!

The flexibility of leaving haunting is open to interpretation is not only a wonderful balancing act but also allows the relaxtion of inbuilt rules. Without these rules the suspense is high, it is hard to guess where its a going. Whether a descent in madness or a tale of true evil it doesn't matter the result is a disturbing horror tale.

I also adore the characters, culled from stereotypes but filled with life. Told from Eleanor's point of view, Jackson succeeds in making her believable and sympathetic, something which could easily have fallen into irritating farce. The other (small) cast support her wonderfully, including one of my favourite characters: ever the empathic but selfish Theo.

Of course there are things not to like. The sparkling witty dialogue, which works so well as a contrast to the setting, sometimes feels too unrealistic whilst the obvious dig at spiritualism seems a bit pointless. It also suffers from my preference for the film, I much preferred the films more likeable Theo and the change in plot professors wife.

Oevrall it's such a good horror tale and amazing film (I ignore the travesty of the later film. Bah!)

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LibraryThing member Lauren2013

The Haunting of Hill House
1 Star

Extremely disappointed after all the hype.

The writing is overly descriptive and boring. The characters are obnoxious and unlikeable.

I never fully understood exactly why or by whom the house is supposedly haunted. I suppose the message could be that there is nothing

to fear but fear itself because the characters seem to be scaring themselves silly over nothing.

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LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan

Damn, what a scary book!

A small group of people, led by the dubious parapsychologist Dr. Montague arrive to spend a few summer weeks at Hill House, a looming Victorian manor in the New England countryside, built as a creepy architectural joke in the late 1800-eds, and ever since a place of tragedy

and misery. Now no one has lived there for over a decade. A grumpy couple act as caretakers, but leave Hill House well before dark. In the group is insecure and lonely Eleanor, who has spent a life caring for a demanding and sickly mother, now passed away. Right from the start, Eleanor has a feeling Hill house will not let her leave.

I’ve never read a ghost story quite like this one. Because sure, there are scary manifestations, noises in the night and the constant sense of being on the verge of getting lost. But really, the focus here is ambience, and the sliding dynamic of the group. How they are growing strangely comfortable with spending their days filled with relative peace and witty banter and nights in nameless terror. How they are growing irritable and petty cruel to each other. And above all, how Eleanor is getting a stronger and stronger feeling she is getting pushed out of the group. How they know things she doesn’t. And how Hill house itself has singled her out. It’s her it wants.

Not sure everyone would find this as creepy as I do, but either way, this is another masterpiece of tension, human nature and psychology by Shirley Jackson. The plot itself is simple, and the ending not surprising (even if you skip the introduction, which true to form, gladly gives away the whole damn story…Why!???), but the composition and atmosphere are chillingly brilliant. Probably the best ghost story I’ve read, actually. I’m full of awe.

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LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell

Known as a classic and often hailed as the best ghost story of all time, I found this an odd surreal and disconnected read. However, I can see it’s definitely sets the basis and tone of all haunted house stories although the haunting here is more cerebral. It’s hard to review — one of those

books that walks a line between being nothing special yet lingers after it’s finished making one wonder whether it deserves the high praise it receives. It’s probably met with some reserve in these modern times because writing styles change.

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LibraryThing member aliceunderskies

I would recommend this (and I often do--Jackson is one of my workplace fallbacks when customers ask me what to read) to very brave sorts.

Of which, alas, I am not. All of Shirley Jackson's books probably deserve another star from me but I cannot bring myself to begrudge them on grounds of permanent

damage. Her horror stories are so psychological and probing that they make me feel a bit mad when I read them, and this book has stayed with me forcefully. Her stories--and this one in particular--are disorienting and twisty and gloriously gothic. It's what makes them so terrifying, but also so good.

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LibraryThing member jules72653

The story started off slowly for me but it was merely gaining my interest. I quite liked how subtle the horror was in this book.

LibraryThing member AltheaAnn

A re-read... but I believe I first read it 25, maybe even 30 years ago, so it fell into the category of 'everything old is new again.'

Of course, this is the classic book the Shirley Jackson is most well known for, and a haunted house story which has set the benchmark for the genre.

A professor with

an interest in the paranormal has heard rumors about Hill House - a remote mansion that's been shut up for years, in the wake of a family tragedy. In order to properly investigate the reputed phenomena of the house, the professor advertises for assistants who are known to have been associated with unexplained events in the past. The ones who respond are two women: the dramatic Theodora, and the more timid or withdrawn Eleanor. The heir to the family who currently owns the house, Luke, makes it a foursome.

Although the house is undeniably unfashionable and unpleasant, regardless of the professor's hopes, the general expectation is that the four will spend a few days playing cards and generally trying to stave off boredom. However, Eleanor is a more troubled person than is obvious to the casual observer. And there is something truly malefic in the house that responds to her presence with a dangerous synergy.

We see events through Eleanor's perspective, and only gradually come to realize how profoundly that perspective is affected by her wildly vacillating moods and how unreliable she might be. By the time those around her realize what the reader is beginning to understand, it may be too late.

A masterwork of horror; highly recommended for all fans of both the psychological and paranormal aspects of the genre.

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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile

*shivers* really good!

LibraryThing member LGandT

Great little horror story, though the main character annoyed me to no end. No gore, no violence just good old fashion suspense and classic horror.

The imagery is good, love the setting. Some great tense moments

LibraryThing member silversurfer

The best haunted house story ever!!! And a great film !

LibraryThing member neverlistless

I know that there are a couple of film adaptations about this, but I haven't seen either one of them. This book starts with Dr. Montague (his degree is in Anthropology, but his main interests lie in proving the paranormal) renting a supposed haunted house for the summer. He looks for a couple of

assistants who have had run-ins with the paranormal, and two women accept: Eleanor and Theodora. In addition, Luke, who is a relative of the family who owns the house, stays with the group.

The book chronicles their stay in the dark Hill House, a mansion about six miles away from the nearest town, Hillside. Hill House is nestled in the mountains and forest and is taken care of by a couple by the name of Dudley (or was it Didley? oops, sorry). The house has a confusing design and the doors have a pesky habit of closing after they've been propped open. By day, the house is a hair bit creepy but the house guests are able to keep their humor about it all. But at night, things are a little different.

This was another quick read. Again, I got it at the library yesterday morning and finished it before I went to bed last night. It's fun if you like scary stories, but if you're worried, I don't think you'll have any problem falling asleep with the lights off.

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LibraryThing member Starwriter1109

I can safely say that "The Haunting of Hill House" is the most terrifying book I have ever read. This book gave me nightmares. I read it for the first time when it was newly published, when I was just entering my teens. At the time I sort of identified with Eleanor in a strange way. Eleanor herself

seemed as awkward and uncomfortable in her own skin as a girl on the verge of puberty. I felt a bizarre camaraderie. Though in reality she was much more vulnerable and easily led.

That Hill House possessed her is an understatement. It enveloped her; it had been waiting for her. And that was what was so terrifying. Up until that point I had had no concept of such horror. This book opened a door to a whole new genre, a whole new world, one that I am still reveling in some fifty-odd years later.

Thank you, Shirley Jackson, I owe you one!

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LibraryThing member miyurose

Another great horror story. I loved how Jackson portrayed the slow unraveling of Eleanor's mind, with those little bursts of clarity. It's no surprise that this is considered a classic. Another interesting thing about reading these classics, is that the style of writing is so different. Maybe

that's just part of what makes it a classic.

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LibraryThing member akblanchard

I feel as though I've missed something. I didn't find this book scary, just rather creepy. To me, it wasn't about the oddly-built Hill House, or the ghosts who allegedly haunt it. Rather, it was about the severe psychological issues of a woman named Eleanor, who brought her problems with her to the

decrepit, isolated mansion. She probably would have suffered a nervous collapse with or without Hill House or Dr. Montigue's ghost-hunting expedition.

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