The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

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. (link)

Review: 4/5

Let’s start with the obvious; this book is extremely different from the television series of its namesake. Haunting of Hill House is my favorite tv series EVER, and I’ve been putting off reading the book for quite a while to put off any disappointment. But recently, I realized that when I read a book then watch the movie, I’m more prone to anger than if I reverse the process. So, when reading the original, I can appreciate the changes made and the surprises along the way during the book.

This book is completely different in setting, plot, details, and relationships. The book was written in the 50s, so it’s assumed this is when it takes place as well, which fits for the jargon and technology used. This book also doesn’t have a very action packed plotline, which (in my opinion) made the scary parts even better. Since it didn’t follow the show, there was no assumption of what would happen… and when I did assume, I was left hanging on the edge of my seat!

First thing to note is how Nellie dies at the end… not at ALL like the hanging in the book, but a very similar vibe of being lured to kill herself by “her mother”. I think this book was a very obvious symbolism for letting your ghosts haunt you; Nellie is haunted by the ghost of her mother while feeling guilty for not caring for her in her final days. I thought this symbolism of Nellie crashing her car while her mother calls her home was EXTREMELY beautiful in that sad kind of way. Nellie starts the book by driving away and feeling free, and ends it by driving “home” and ends up dying by her own actions; amazing parallel! Although the show follows the after-math of her death, the book follows the warm-up to it, which I also loved despite the differences. I was so scared when Nellie was running up the stairs towards her mother’s voice! Oh, I was writhing around feeling like I knew what would happen, but knowing I was wrong; I HAD to keep reading to help myself out of anxiety.

There was no Red Room, although all the rooms the guests stayed in were assigned specific colors. I thought this detail being “missing” was an interesting thing to add to the tv series… it also had me questioning why there were colored rooms in the book, since there was no relation to them in the end.

There were no ghosts genuinely seen, unless you count the hound the Doctor and Luke saw run through the halls. This is extremely unlike the tv series, where we find multiple ghosts of different personalities and names.

I LOVE how every guest starts to feel a bit of Stockholm syndrome with the house: they feel they can not leave for fear of being unhappy outside of it. The house is all they ever needed, it will provide for the rest of their lives. They could never live out of it, or without each other. I also loved how Nellie is clearly the most insecure and malleable to the house's power, as it shows she is the most dependent upon it and the other people she meets through it. OKAY SYMBOLISM???

The scientific structure of the “maze” of a house and the doctor trying to explain it confused me. The doctor came to the house looking for supernatural happenings, ghosts, and hauntings, but when unexplainable things happened, he tried to deduct them with science? Okay Sherlock, have at it… I think ghosts were just slamming doors, not them closing on their own due to a weird gravity…

The reason each guest is at the house is obviously different from the show, since Nellie is not dead yet. I thought the doctor studying the house and its haunting was interesting because it’s not clear why he’s interested in studying it, why it’s haunted, and what drew them all together (besides the doctor having very vague reasons). I think in the aspect of the series, I like the relationship of them all being family better than random people just getting together to stay in a ghost house.

I think it only makes sense that this playlist is sad music from the 50s and 60s, right? I mean, it was written in that time, and the spookiness of these songs just adds to that specifically solemn vibe you get from this book. The anticipation and the symbolism of the “ghosts” tied in with the heartfelt, classic ballads just brings you to your knees. Well, maybe it doesn't bring YOU to your knees, but it sure brings me to mine. Maybe a single tear escaped while making this playlist… and maybe a full blown existential crisis hit after finishing the book… tell me that doesn’t belong together?

Spotify: LINK