The Haunting of Hill
House
by Shirley Jackson
Published: November
28, 2006
Publisher: Penguin
Classics
Genre: Fantasy,
Paranormal, Horror, Ghost
Blurb:
The greatest haunted
house story ever written, the inspiration for a 10-part Netflix series directed
by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy Hutton
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.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading
publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than
1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works
throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series
to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by
distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations
by award-winning translators.
My Review:
In The Haunting of Hill House a young woman Eleanor has had
a hard time fitting in with people all her life. Eleanor believes that no one
wants to be around her. After the death of her mother Eleanor wanting to get
out and explore the world takes a job working with Dr. Montague at a haunted
house.
Dr. Montague is an occult scholar who wants to investigate a
house, Hill House that is believed to be haunted. Dr. Montague hires Eleanor because
she has experience with the paranormal. Two more people will be joining Dr.
Montague and Eleanor at the house. The owner of the house Luke will be there as
that is a part of the agreement of renting Hill House. The other person to be
at the house is Dr. Montague’s assistant Theodora.
After arriving at Hill House strange things start to happen,
things that may only be seen by Eleanor. Someone is leaving messages painted on
the walls in red. Is it paint or is it blood? Who are the messages for? And
what do they mean?
Hill House is a very large house where everyone seems to get
lost whenever they go from one room to another. So they come up with a plan to
keep the doors open when they go from room to room for everyone to follow so that
they won’t get lost but the doors close all by themselves.
The lady that cooks for them will only stay at the house
during daylight hours. Under no circumstances will you find her at the house
after dark. She comes in sets the food out for them and as soon as they are
done the dishes go back on the shelves where they belong and Mrs. Dudley is out
of there.
The Haunting of Hill House is a very fast read that will
keep you flipping the pages wondering through its haunted halls waiting for the
ghosts to jump out at every corner. You feel as if you are wondering the halls
yourself and hearing all the ghostly noises.
I saw the movie The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix and
fell in love with it. Later I saw the book on Amazon and I thought I have to
read this. The saying is that the book is better than the movie. Well almost
every time that is true but I will have to say that this time I did enjoy the
movie more. There are quite a lot of differences between the book and the
movie. Both follow along the same story line and concept but they are different
and it has some of the same characters. Although I did enjoy the movie more it
didn’t take away from the books greatness. The book is an amazing story all on
its own and I would recommend it to all ghost story and haunted house fans.
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