The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson; narrated by Bernadette Dunne | 2010; originally published 1959 | Blackstone Audio | Audiobook $ 17.50
Past the rusted gates and untrimmed hedges, Hill House broods and waits. Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own.
I don’t frequently read horror books, though I do occasionally enjoy a good horror movie (especially around this time of year!), so I thought it’d make sense to add at least a couple classics of the genre to my list for Classics Club.
I’d seen the limited series version of this story already on Netflix, which was enjoyable, but to be clear that adaptation is really a bit different from the source material. The basic premise is the same, in that it features a haunted house which slowly drives its occupants bonkers. But the characters and their individual reactions to the house, as well as the actual events of the haunting, not to mention the ending of the story, have all been changed; I’d say it’s definitely worth reading the original book even if you’ve already watched this version.
I enjoyed this story even more than expected, even given my enjoyment of that aforementioned miniseries. This is not quite a straightforward haunted house story, focused on vengeful spirits or whatever; it’s really a story about the house itself, but also about the slowly deepening madness of the main character in response to events there, and also about the changing relationships between characters after their shared experiences. After a certain point, the story slowly slides into a delicious ambiguity; it gets all muddied up and hard to tell whether the events of the haunting are being honestly described or if they’re actually a reflection of the narrator’s own unreliable perceptions. The conclusion of the story seemed to me to be both astonishing and inevitable.
I wouldn’t call this book scary, exactly, but it certainly provides a perfect thrill for this season of ghosts and ghouls; I’d recommend it to any reader who’s looking for a classic-for-good-reason spooky story to enjoy for Halloween (or any time of year TBH).
Links:
- Review at Kirkus
- “Where to Start with Shirley Jackson” article from the New York Public Library
- “In Search of Shirley Jackson’s House” article from Literary Hub
Publication information: Jackson, Shirley. The haunting of Hill House. Ashland, Oregon: Blackstone Audio, 2010. Aubiobook.
Source: Public library, via Libby.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products
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