From the Bookshelf of Reading List Completists…

The Haunting of Hill House

Shirley Jackson,

Laura Miller (Introduction)

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of October 2019 Completist Poll
[close] Winner of October 2019 Completist Poll

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Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 22, 2019 Matthew rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, own, supernatural, mystery, completist-book-club, 2019, classic

I was hoping for more from this book. I wanted a thrilling and suspenseful story of a creepy haunted house that would end up keeping me up at night. It was not bad, per se, but that is not what I got.

Instead it was a somewhat tedious and repetitive decent into madness. The writing was disorienting – and I think that was intentionally so in order to help the reader feel the house taking over the minds of the characters. Clever . . . but almost headache inducing at times.

The characters were the mo ...more

203 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2020 Jaclyn~she lives! catching up on reviews~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, genre-horror, genre-gothic, spooktober, genre-psychological, october-2020-planned-tbr

Shirley Jackson's ghost story is romantic and corrosive, a psychological novel of guilt and paranoia that will stay with readers long after they leave Hill House. Is the house haunted, or are the people within it?

Eleanor Vance is an adult but yet she has hardly lived - her thought processes are often immature and laced in fantasies of another life, frequently of a life lived alone in isolation. She jumps at the chance to run from her remaining family and her sad life, and runs straight into the ...more

54 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2017 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: own

The quintessential haunted house story, but really there is so much more below the surface. This is a book that builds on the quiet and still, it is a book more interested in the psychological than the physical, and the writing is lovely to boot.

This book at first had a shallow feel to it, but before you know it you are waste deep, and what seemed solid was only a viscous liquid and what should be soft and supple turns hard as stone; what should be inanimate is humming with life in this story an ...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2019 Unabridged Bibliophile rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is not horror fiction in the sense that we categorize it in modern terms; if anything I would liken it to psychological horror.

None of the characters in this are really likeable and I don't get the feeling that we are supposed to care one way or the other. It takes our main character around a quarter of the way through this fairly short book to even get to the titular house. Along the way we are greeted with the fact that our gal is a rather strange duck; daydreaming about a life away ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 08, 2016 Jessica rated it it was ok

I'm still trying to figure out what I read. The first half of this book was a great start, especially for the beginning of October. However, the second half just didn't make it. It ended up feeling like I was wondering through someone's stream of consciousness while strung out on LSD...Or something like it.

I definitely enjoyed We Have All Lived At The Castle a lot more. Truly creepy and it left me slightly disturbed by the end. I will be reading Lottery. One more shot with Shirley. We will see ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 18, 2019 Tracy Reilly rated it it was amazing

Tightly controlled, excellent map of how to write suspenseful fiction. Highly recommended for aspiring writers.

I know there have been several remakes of this story in film. I can't help but wonder what Hitchcock would have done with this story, as it's psycho-horror theme seems made for him. I wonder if he considered it. I guess the other production was too closely timed.

I suppose the main debate to be argued through with this one is--was the house actually haunted? I guess you have to read it ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2022 Liane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: x-2022, 5-star

That was quite good. Spooky and suspenseful. Listened to David Warner read and he was absolutely perfect.

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Nov 04, 2023 Rachael rated it it was amazing

so spooky and shirley jackson’s writing is absolutely brilliant! loved loved loved

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Oct 10, 2020 Andy Capricorn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020-reads

When I was a child the Movie Rose Red was my favorite to watch in October. As an adult I find it to be cheesy to the Max but I still love it (this is relevant I swear).

I had to stop a few pages in and do a little research, because the vibes this book was giving me was straight out of Rose Red. Turns out Rose Red is but a re-imagining of Haunting of Hill House. A beautiful haunt that creeps up on you but doesn't overwhelm. In the end it leaves you wondering, is the house actually haunted? ...more

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Sep 18, 2019 Carol rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm not sure when I read this, but it was probably between 1973 and 1977 when I was single, worked in a library, and didn't have a TV. I remember that it was disturbing and very well-written, and I remembered the main character's name was Theodora, but that's the extent of my memory of this book. ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Valerie rated it it was ok

I loved the Netflix series and I had high hopes. The television series took a lot of liberties to update the story. They also did a great job of making it more interesting. I know the book was written in 50s, but not much happened. Kudos to Shirley Jackson for a great concept. Thank you Netflix for making it fun.

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