The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Shirley Jackson has apparently fallen out of favor these days, though many still get exposed to her work in school through the classic short story, “The Lottery.”
A take on the Gothic ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House applies some modern touches by having the characters gather at the house under the pretext of a scientific investigation of the alleged ghostly phenomenon, a nod, perhaps, to Stoker’s use of science to battle Dracula in the self-same novel (I was amused at just how poorly the ol’ vampire managed against the array of instruments and techniques used against him).
Hill House does not surrender so easily and focues its malice on an emotionally vulnerable woman named Eleanor. While the characters are at times a little too busy saying clever and silly things to each other, Jackson still does a nice job of casting the house as a sinister character of its own. This is as much a tale of psychological terror as it is about things that go bump in the night.
Worth reading if you are interested in one of the early modern horror classics.
One warning if you are reading the Penguin Horror edition — Laura Miller has an opening essay that is filled with spoilers. It would probably have been better at the end of the book.