The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
by Shirley Jackson
I'm not exactly sure what this book is trying to say, but I enjoyed reading it.
The story follows Eleanor Vance as she spends a few days in the summer at Hill House, a large and oddly constructed house in the middle of nowhere. Invited by a philosophy doctor and student of the occult, Dr. Montague, Eleanor and two others meet at Hill House unaware of why they are there. Eleanor had a strange occurence happen to her family when she was young, Theodore appears to have some sort of psychic ability, and Luke is the presumptive heir to Hill House.
They all meet and become fast friends. Their dialogue is youthful, silly, and fun, sometimes confusing, but obviously friendly. They become close quickly, particularly Eleanor and Theo. Soon the house begins to elicit strange occurrences: knocking on doors, a ghost dog, and blood smeared on Theo's clothes; Eleanor's name along with a message calling her home written on the walls and a couple of scenes on the grounds of Hill House that seem like hallucinations. Hill House seems to want Eleanor to stay there. Eleanor, for her part, finds that even though Hill House scares her, she feels like she belongs there. She starts to lose her mind a little bit and Dr. Montague decides Eleanor should leave because she is becoming too close to the house. He kicks her out, but it turns out she isn't going to leave, even if she has to become a ghost herself in order to stay.
This was a strangely written book. The writing was odd, but I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if this is considered a gothic novel, but it was definitely built on atmosphere and the house itself was the main character. I gave it 4 stars because I was interested to keep reading it, but it wasn't what I expected it to be. If this is a horror novel, it wasn't scary. The "horrific" elements were pretty tame. But I really enjoyed the characters and the banter between them. I could identify with Eleanor quite a bit. The ending was inevitable, though I didn't see it coming. Everything else about Hill House made sense when that ending occurred. Really good book.
Comments
Post a Comment