The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I have wanted to read The Haunting of Hill House for a while now. It is one of the most well known horror stories since Jackson first published it in 1959. I was spurred to read it when I saw that Netflix is making an adaption of it that looks on point. With it coming out in October, I knew my time was limited to read it; luckily, it was a short book.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Hill House has never been a loving house, although that is what it was intended to be. The house has seen at least five deaths at the start of the book, and people never seem to stay for more than a few days. The original owner of the house purposely built the house just slightly off kilter; the doors a little off center, the stairs with a slight slant. Dr. John Montague wants to spend some time in the house, and has invited Eleanor Vance, Theodora, and Luke Sanderson (a member of the family that currently owns the house) to hopefully experience some of the hauntings that former tenants have said to experience. It is quite obvious to all of them that there is definitely something wrong with the house. But one member of this odd little group is more affected than the rest, and their actions could affect them all.

I was slightly disappointed with The Haunting of Hill House. It was an odd book to say the least. The book is primarily told though the eyes of Eleanor, who is the character most affected by the house. But even beforehand, she is a bit too odd, and that is saying a lot from me. She starts off normal odd on her way from home to Hill House.On her drive, she imagines her life if she lived in the different places she passes. Totally normal thing to do; or, at least, something I do so I say it is normal. When she gets to Hill House and meets Theodora, they immediately begin acting like they have known each other for ages and have a sort of witty banter together. Again, not totally weird, but it happens so quickly, that it really seemed odd and almost as if Jackson is forcing the relationship between them. When the last of the members of the group arrive, they too join in the oddly too knowing witty banter.

"'Since we are all here,' Luke said suddenly, as though there had been no pause in the conversation, 'shouldn't we get acquainted? We know only names, so far. I know that it is Eleanor, here, who is wearing a red sweater, and consequently it must be Theodora who wears yellow-'

'Doctor Montague has a beard,' Theodora said, ' so you must be Luke.'

'And you are Theodora,' Eleanor said, 'because I  am Eleanor.' An Eleanor, she told herself triumphantly, who belongs, who is talking easily, who is sitting by the fire with her friends.

'Therefore you are wearing the red sweater,' Theodora explained to her soberly.

'I have no beard,' Luke said, 'so he must be Doctor Montague.'

'I have a beard,' Dr. Montague said, pleased, and looked around at them with a happy beam....

'Now that I know which of us is me,' Luke said, 'let me identify myself further. I am, in private life-assuming that this is public life and the rest of the world is actually private-let me see, a bullfighter. Yes. A bullfighter.'

'I love my love with a B.' Eleanor said in spite of herself, 'because he is bearded.'

'Very true.' Luke nodded at her. 'That makes me Doctor Montague. I live in Bangkok, and my hobby is bothering women.'

'Not at all,' Dr. Montague protested, amused. 'I live in Belmont.' (pp. 56-57)

This banter goes back and forth for a while longer, and just gets weirder as they all make up weird anecdotes for their lives. Again, it is not super weird, but these people have only been together for a few hours, and it just does not seem believable. This is also how Eleanor's brain seems to work, and this is how her internal dialogues seem to work.

(Source: Giphy)

Because of this, I found the book hard to follow because I could not exactly tell when Eleanor was being witty, when she was discussing actual things happening in the house, or when the house was making her think/see things. The house definitely does focus directly on Eleanor, but with her mental instability, it is hard to tell when the house is doing something. I believe this took away some of the fright of the book.

Really, I do not exactly believe if Hill House was haunted, or it was all in their heads. Luke suggests in the beginning that maybe the house messes with people because of the odd construction of the house. When you go into a fun house at a fair, you have to gain your sea legs through the mirror maze and the shifting floor and the big rotating wheel you walk through in the end. You spend the entire time in the house feeling wonky. I feel that should I walk into Hill House, that is how I would feel, so I could understand how you would attribute the wonky-ness to ghosts.

(Source: Giphy)

All of that being said, I definitely felt like the book was a dud, and I felt that the ending was predictable. I kept hoping that maybe another person would be the one who was actually affected by the house, but Jackson followed all of the stops on the road map of horror novels. While it may have been groundbreaking in 1959, in 2018, the story does not hold up.

(Source: Giphy)

Rating: 3/10

Author: Shirley Jackson

Genres: Horror, Classics, Gothic

Dates Read: September 25-26, 2018