It was a dark and stormy night…really it is. It’s thundering out right now and pouring rain–again. At least it waited until I got home from work on my bicycle. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson has no stormy nights in it. There is dark though. And a mysterious icy cold spot in front of the nursery door along with something that goes bump in the night.
The book is deliciously creepy. Dr. Montague is an anthropologist interested in psychic phenomena and out to prove once and for all to his colleagues that it is real. He searches for an appropriately haunted house to rent for the summer. He negotiates a stay at Hill House. As part of the agreement Dr. Montague is made to accept one of the family, Luke, staying at the place for the summer. Luke is the family troublemaker–a thief–and they think that by sending him there he will be out of the way for a little while.
Also coming to stay at the house are Theodora and Eleanor. The Doctor decided he needed assistants for his summer project and trolled the psychic journals. He sent out numerous letters of invitation and Theo and Eleanor are the only ones who agreed to come. Theo has some psychic mind reading abilities. As for Eleanor, when she was a child stones rained down on her house for three days. When she and her sister were removed from the house, the stones stopped falling. It was never clear who caused the psychic event, but one suspects it was very likely Eleanor.
No one lives at Hill House when the group arrives. There is a housekeeper and a groundskeeper–Mr. and Mrs. Dudley–themselves perfect for a haunted house story. They live in the village six miles away and will only go to the house during the day. Mrs. Dudley is sure to tell the four of them that and adds that she will not hear them scream at night.
The story is told mainly from Eleanor’s point of view. Eleanor is 32. She has been caring for her ailing mother for a very long time. Her mother died just three months prior to Eleanor’s arrival at Hill House. Since her mother’s death she has been living with her sister and brother-in-law. She is treated like a child and has to “steal” the car that she half paid for in order to get to Hill House. It is clear from the start, as we follow Eleanor on her drive to the house, that she has an active imagination and fantasy life.
Hill House itself is big and ugly and menacing. As Jackson describes it in the opening paragraph of the book, the house is not sane. None of the angles of the house are the proper angles one would expect. A square room is a few degrees shy of square. The floors are not perfectly flat. The stairs have a slight sideways tilt to them. Even if the house were not haunted it is an uncomfortable place to be.
But the house is haunted and has an appropriate haunted house back story. To go along with the haunted house, however, is a delightful array of psychological instability and ambiguity. Eventually it becomes impossible to know what horror belongs to Hill House and what to the minds of the temporary inhabitants.
I am a horror wimp and could only read the book during the day, mostly on my lunch breaks. It reads fast and towards the end I didn’t want to put it down. For the first half of the book I had an eerie “I’ve read this before” feeling. But I have not read the book before nor have I seen any of the movies made from it. I finally put my finger on the fact that it has some similarities to the Stephen King miniseries Rose Red that was on a couple of years ago. The two stories end up being very different, but as my Bookman said, Shirley Jackson and Stephen King swim in the same imagination pool and stories are bound to resonate. In fact, my copy of the book has an erudite introduction by King. Don’t let this deter you though. I enjoyed the book immensely and recommend it to anyone looking for a shiver down their spine.
I saw the movie version of this, but the book sounds much better. I was thinking as you described it that it also sounds like the Stephen King book. People who write horror stories must have very vivid imaginations. I’ll have to add this to my reading list.
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So glad you enjoyed this book! It is one of my all-time favorites.
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Danielle, given the story and the ambiguity in the book, I would think a movie version would be difficult to do. Horror writers definitely have vivid imaginations, and they aren’t afraid to follow them.
Ex Libris, it is one of the best horror books I’ve read.
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Whatever I find next by Shirley Jackson in a used book store will definitely be on my October reading list, but I must recommend the first movie based on this book, ‘The Haunting’ from 1963. The 1999 remake isn’t nearly as psychological and creepy. The original is moody and chilling because of all that they don’t show, which I hope is a fair representation of the atmosphere in the book.
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I love this book, but it’s been so long since I read it, it’s probably time for a re-read. I agree with Pandora, the ’63 movie is much better than the later one, though I did like it too.
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It’s a great book, isn’t it? When I’m done with this move, I’ll dig up the story I wrote based on it and send it to you. Oh, and I’ve always thought that King’s Carrie (with the stones that rain down on Carrie’s house in that book) was a nod to Shirley Jackson.
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Shirley Jackson’s a genius, isn’t she? I had heard this book was frightening, but read it with the air of “eh, how scary can a house get?” During one particular tense moment in the book, a truck hit a pothole outside my apartment window. They heard me scream in Canada.
More frightening than the house itself though is Jackson’s perfect characterization of Eleanor, a woman so unsettled in herself, so terrified of her own existence. Read Jackson’s other books: I’m constantly impressed with her ability to paint the most pathetic (in a great way) characters imaginable.
And I second Pandora, see the old film version – no special effects, but terrifying just the same.
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I’m not big on scary books and I haven’t read many — but it sounds like I’d like this one — perhaps I should give it a try sometime!
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Shirley Jackson is so good. It’s been years since I read this one.
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Another for the TBR list! I really wish my library had this one.
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Pandora, thanks for the movie suggestion. I will look for the 1963 version at the video rental store!
Nicola, I can see how this book would definitely hold up under a re-read, there is so much there.
Emily, I’d love to see your story! And thanks for helping me remember which King book had the falling stones!
Zan, yes, Jackson is a genius. Before this I had only ever read The Lottery which I absolutely love. funny the book made you scream. Though I shouldn’t laugh because I caould only read it during daylight hours!
Dorothy, I’m not a scary book person either, but this one is an exception I think. It’s more than just ghosts.
Chris, she ia really good. I think I will have to read this book again sometime.
Eva, Your library doesn’t have this book? That’s a real shame.
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This was a very fun/scary movie for me and I didn’t realize it was a book too! I’d love to read that~in the daytime only of course!
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This is one book that genuinely scared me when I first read it. And it’s good on rereadings, too.
I’d love to know of a current contemporary book that can deliver on the writing, character development and plot such as this book does!
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Heather, I tried to find the scary 1963 version not long ago but the video store didn’t have it! I highly recommend the book if have the chance to read it.
LK, glad to know it holds up on re-readings. I’m too much of a chicken to read Stephen King–or most other horror writers for that matter–so I’m not up on contemporary books. But if you find one equal to Jackson, please let me know!
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