"The Haunting of Hill House"

“The Haunting of Hill House”

Written by Shirley Jackson

Review written by Diana Iozzia

To preface this review, you must know that I began my journey with Hill House in the Netflix mini-series adaptation of the original book. After falling in love with the characters, the ghosts, the plot, the location, and the horrors, I felt very underwhelmed by the source material, “The Haunting of Hill House”. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it still, because I was able to see the origin of the story that I know and love. In the book, you have the glimmers and small memories that are translated into bigger and more important moments in the television program.

To begin my review of the book, we have to begin with the introduction. We are informed that Theodora and Eleanor, two strangers, have been invited by the Doctor Montague, to tour Hill House, a mysterious and possibly haunted old manor. The two women agree nervously and are accompanied by the doctor, a nephew of the current owner, Luke, and occasionally the caretakers. It was instantly interesting to learn about these versions of the characters I love. However, these characters seemed like shells of the characters I know and are familiar with. Theodora is similar to Theo, with her dry wit and sardonic friendship, kissing with kindness and then insulting the next minute. Eleanor is the most similar to her T.V. counterpart. Eleanor is the same fairy-like, whimsical young woman, who has been haunted before by her past and is the most susceptible to the house. Luke is absolutely nothing like the character I remember, but he is still an enjoyable comical and sweet guy. We can tell he means the best. Dr. Montague is a useful character, but he is neither interesting or vital to the story.

I felt that there were many captivating and creepy moments in this book. There are dogs that bark randomly throughout the night, yet there are no families with dogs living near. There is incessant knocking, that terrifies Eleanor and Theodora often. The architecture of the house was uneven, often miscalculated or off in certain rooms. Characters wander endlessly, hardly able to determine where they have been or haven’t in the house. We have eerie messages, begging for Eleanor to come home, which are the most unsettling of all. We know that Eleanor is clearly the most affected and the most in danger out of the whole bunch. The crew acts often like the characters in “Scooby Doo”, walking around and pointing out odd objects. They find a book written to the daughter of the original creator of Hill House, Hugh Crain. Hugh’s character is a madman, driven insane by the house. He writes horrible, preaching messages to his daughter about her soul and Hell, even dripping his blood into the book. This was certainly something to point out.

Other than the creepy moments and the often-funny dialogue, the book was very short and undeveloped, if you ask me. I had wished that Shirley Jackson would have made the scenes more terrifying, by showing us things that terrified the characters, rather than sometimes explaining it afterwards or never explaining moments at all, just rushing characters out of the room. Nothing felt all that scary. I understand that horror fiction in the late 50s and early 60s would be completely different than today’s, but I was hoping for a little more than I received. We leave the story on a frightening cliffhanger, but I would have enjoyed the resolution. Many questions lay unanswered, so I think that this is one of the first times that I enjoyed the adaptation more than I enjoyed the original.

I felt that too much of this story was meant to be funny. Yes, we should read a little humor when reading a horror fiction. Unfortunately, the comedic moments, character actions, and dialogue took away from the fear. I have read countless books that have incorporated horror and humor in ways that I enjoyed more than this. I have to acknowledge the elephant in the room. I am twenty-three years old, reading this when this book is a classic. Although it was monumental back then, the horror and the scares don’t really hold up anymore. What I did find to be special was the connections between the characters. They seemed to care and love each other, wanting to protect each other in the insidious house.

That. The insidious house. For a story that talks heavily about the house being the influence, I felt that the house wasn’t really all that consuming. It’s meant to be this energy sucker and this animate monster that feeds off the characters and drives them insane. I didn’t feel that way. I felt that all of the characters had a right to be scared, but they worked themselves up. Unlike in the T.V. program, when I completely understood why everyone was horrified. Of course, I cannot imagine if I would have liked this book more if I had read it before watching the adaptation. However, with the very basic characters without a lot of depth, I couldn’t imagine I would have screamed to the heavens over my love of the book. It wasn’t as intense and eerie as I hoped it would have been.

In conclusion, I heavily recommend the book. It is a classic in horror fiction, especially in a time when women were not encouraged to write books like this. I think you should not go into reading this with too high expectations, because that might have led to my own disappointment. I hope you enjoy it. Perhaps you agree with me in certain ways. Let me know.