The Haunting of Hill House - OpenRiver Bookwyrm

182 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 2006 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-303998-3
OCLC Number:: 71146627

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

4 editions

Mauro reviewed The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Penguin classics)

Short but very good.

4 stars

An entertaining read!

I've really enjoyed Jackson's prose, clean and to the point, but still descriptive and detailed when needed. I loved the atmosphere of the book, somewhat very melancholic but also fun and bright. And then chilling. I guess it made for a good contrast, shadows and lights in the character's minds. The book was short, maybe a bit too much, it could have been expanded a bit, as it was doing a great job with the storytelling. But nonetheless I felt very connected to the characters, which were depicted somewhat in an impressionistic way, which was very effective.

Definitely recommended if you like the genre.

An entertaining read!

I've really enjoyed Jackson's prose, clean and to the point, but still descriptive and detailed when needed. I loved the atmosphere of the book, somewhat very melancholic but also fun and bright. And then chilling. I guess it made for a good contrast, shadows and lights in the character's minds. The book was short, maybe a bit too much, it could have been expanded a bit, as it was doing a great job with the storytelling. But nonetheless I felt very connected to the characters, which were depicted somewhat in an impressionistic way, which was very effective.

Definitely recommended if you like the genre.

Subjects

Haunted houses -- Fiction.