Book Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

 

The Haunting of Hill House

My book club’s theme this month is “Gothic” so I went in search. I’d never read The Haunting of Hill House, but I was interested in a solid literary story so I thought I’d give it a try.

This was a fantastic work of fiction that far surpassed my expectations. When I write, I too often find myself giving in to the most logical sequence of events or dialogue, but Jackson moves beyond that. Perhaps it’s a product of her times, but I was constantly amazed and enthralled by the level of her prose, the surprise of what people chose to do and say, and the events. The level of characterization and the manner in which it was done, as well as the slow building of psychological tension and the bizarre but believable events made for a perfect Halloween read.

Dr. Montague decides to study Hill House and very carefully chooses a few people to accompany him. One has to be from the owner’s family, a young man named Luke, and one is the housekeeper, Mrs. Dudley. The other two are chosen for the events that occurred when they were young — Theodora and Eleanor. Eleanor had stones falling on her house after her father died, which seems like a fairy tale element to me, but would fit right in with magical realism. Indeed, for three quarters of the book, there didn’t seem to be anything of horror about the book. It is a very slow building of dreadful anticipation.

In the beginning the tension seemed to be very lax, but the prose carried me along with evocative descriptions. Then the characterization really kicked in, with the outrageous, dismissive bickering between Eleanor and her sister, plus her sister’s husband, over whether she could use the car they had bought together. Eleanor, it appears, is a late bloomer. She has been caring for her recently deceased mother for 11 years and now lives with her sister’s family. It seems dreadfully old-fashioned, but now Eleanor is finally escaping! Will she regret that decision? 

It becomes apparent on her drive to Hill House that Eleanor is rather fanciful, which might not bode well in a haunted house. Later, when she sees her room, it becomes apparent, this is a rocky start. 

“. . . this is where they want me to sleep, Eleanor thought incredulously; what nightmares are waiting, shadowed, in those high corners – what breath of mindless fear will drift across my mouth . . . .”

She seems horribly susceptible to the atmosphere. In fact, as time goes on, she and the others seem to destabilize. Eleanor has more and more violent thoughts and erratic tendencies. Was she always like this or did she become unhinged by the house itself or some kind of phantasm?

There are wonderful bits of humor throughout the story, such as when Luke jokes that he wouldn’t expect Mrs. Dudley to murder him for oil, that it should at least be Uranium.

Mr. Dudley and Mrs. Dudley, the caretaker and housekeeper at Hill House, are a strange and yet humorous couple. In an old Scooby Doo cartoon, they’d be running some side scam and be unhappy with people arriving because it might foil their plans. For most of the book, in fact, they just seem rather one dimensional, until Dr. Montague’s wife arrives and we overhear a conversation with Mrs. Dudley. Then she appears in a new light.

We are kept guessing throughout the book – are the events at Hill House real, caused by some spirit, the house itself? Are they all the in minds of some highly suggestible people? The fact that some experiences are seen by more than one person makes it more likely that they are actually taking place. Do different events have different origins? The uncertainty greatly adds to the atmosphere of the book where everything is kept off kilter, like the house itself.

After reading the book, I tried to watch the Netflix series and it's okay, but completely different with a lot more modern horror elements, like flashes of scary images that don’t seem to fit with the novel. I'm not sure whether I'll continue or just get an older film that's more of a period piece and true to the novel. However, I highly recommend the book.