Barbara M. reviewed on + 152 more book reviews
This is a slim volume (the version I have is 246 pages) so I was able to read it in a couple days. A time period is not referenced in this book so it took a while for me to finally get some idea of when this occurred. Eleanor, the main character, co-owns a car so I assumed this was set in more "modern" times (1950s or later). It wasn't until after Eleanor arrived at the home and was talking with someone (I believe Dr. Montague) that I was able to figure out that the time period was the early 1900s--Dr. Montague mentioned that someone had left the house on a horse about 18 years earlier and was killed when a tree fell on him (or some such thing). So I figured the book was perhaps set in the 1920s or 1930s when cars were becoming more common. The writing style (dialogue) also seemed awkward. I wondered if the author was purposely trying to write that way to evoke a certain period (Gothic).
I am not normally a reader of horror books but added this to my book list after someone recommended it. I didn't find this book scary at all. While reading the parts about the doors being banged on, etc., I wasn't scared--thought perhaps written form didn't do it justice and that it might be scary as a movie (I have since found out that it was made into a movie in the 1960s). People who like this book (Amazon reviews) suggest that perhaps those who dislike it prefer slasher-type horror so Hill House isn't graphic enough to be scary. I don't watch slasher movies so that doesn't apply to me. I just didn't find the "haunting" incidents scary.
Theodora and Eleanor (the main character) are simplistic and childish--they really like one another and then they can't stand one another and then they go back to liking one another, disliking (you get the picture). The back cover describes Theodora as Dr. Montague's assistant but (as an Amazon reviewer noted) nowhere in the book is she described as his assistant nor does she do anything that would imply she was. When the scary events occur, the characters (for the most part) don't seem all that bothered--they are often laughing and acting silly shortly thereafter. It occurred to me that perhaps that behavior was a coping mechanism. Toward the end I started to wonder if some of the events were figments of Eleanor's imagination (and that question is not answered in the book).
Also, there doesn't appear to be any reason why the house is supposedly haunted. From my limited knowledge of haunted places, they are haunted because someone died there or the building is atop a graveyard, etc.
Amazon reviewers who gave this book one or two stars said they really enjoyed other books (and found them very scary) of the author so I may read some other works by Shirley Jackson. Perhaps I'll try to find the 1960s movie based on this book.
I am not normally a reader of horror books but added this to my book list after someone recommended it. I didn't find this book scary at all. While reading the parts about the doors being banged on, etc., I wasn't scared--thought perhaps written form didn't do it justice and that it might be scary as a movie (I have since found out that it was made into a movie in the 1960s). People who like this book (Amazon reviews) suggest that perhaps those who dislike it prefer slasher-type horror so Hill House isn't graphic enough to be scary. I don't watch slasher movies so that doesn't apply to me. I just didn't find the "haunting" incidents scary.
Theodora and Eleanor (the main character) are simplistic and childish--they really like one another and then they can't stand one another and then they go back to liking one another, disliking (you get the picture). The back cover describes Theodora as Dr. Montague's assistant but (as an Amazon reviewer noted) nowhere in the book is she described as his assistant nor does she do anything that would imply she was. When the scary events occur, the characters (for the most part) don't seem all that bothered--they are often laughing and acting silly shortly thereafter. It occurred to me that perhaps that behavior was a coping mechanism. Toward the end I started to wonder if some of the events were figments of Eleanor's imagination (and that question is not answered in the book).
Also, there doesn't appear to be any reason why the house is supposedly haunted. From my limited knowledge of haunted places, they are haunted because someone died there or the building is atop a graveyard, etc.
Amazon reviewers who gave this book one or two stars said they really enjoyed other books (and found them very scary) of the author so I may read some other works by Shirley Jackson. Perhaps I'll try to find the 1960s movie based on this book.
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