The Haunting of the Hill House (1959)
This is a story of a failed experiment by a fanatic scientist at researching the happenings of a hill house. Unlike the poltergeist kind of events where a house drived it's inhabitants away, this one sucks them right in.
by Shirley Jackson
Genre: Gothic, Fiction, Horror, suspense, 2021-read, Classics
Rating : 3.75/5
It's a cute, elegant looking house perched on top of a hill. It has been built over 80 years ago but no one has inhabited it atleast for the last 20 years. People in the neighborhood didn't like it and there are many stories of deaths associated with the place. Either the earlier inhabitants were taken by death or madness but they all loved the place dearly. A scholar, doctor Montague - with an idea to foster his career and give it a boost - decides to conduct some experiments within the hill house and publish a research paper. He is joined by three other people - Luke, Theodora and Eleanor - upon invitation. The first night is uneventful but from the second night they are exposed to strange noises and banging on doors at night, weird, senseless scribblings on walls and as they continue exploring the house, there see the irregularities and peculiarities in its construction, strange cold spots in a nursery where measurements fail,a kitchen with too many doors to the outside, a library which holds a rotted,stony, spiralling staircase that leads to a turret. Huddled together, they face the inconveniences the house puts for them as a united group. Doctor Montague's wife shows up towards the end with her uncanny love for the paranormal and communicating with the spirits lost in the house. During their stay of over a week - which seems and reads like an eternity - something starts effecting Eleanor. It starts with her losing gradual touch with her surroundings, reality ... until she becomes one with the house itself. She is driven by a desire to "belong" to something, anything - sinister, malicious or otherwise.
Well, the idea of a house possessing the soul of its weaker inhabitant is not new to me. Perhaps had I read this book immediately upon its publication, I would have been struck with how awfully novel this is. But a similar plot line has been touched upon in{{Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco}}. Eleanor had always had a penchant for the imaginative, being dreamy and getting sucked into alternate reality which we see on her trip to the hill house. Of all the characters, I obviously loved Mrs.Montague for her fiesty, fiery and bossy attitude. She is a fun creature. I also loved Theodora's witty and hilarious remarks which made this dreary read more interesting. 🤩🤩
On the downside,there were points when I expected things to come to a startling revelation with Eleanor - but the story kept dragging on - I must say I was "haunted" by boredom. I didn't really understand if what Mrs.Montague "discovered" about the history of hill house - which her husband rejects/denies - is relevant or true.
But overall it's a gripping story that sucks the reader in - just like the house it talks about. 😱😱🧐
Ooh, sounds really interesting!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's good!
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