To the next person who reads this book:
We are introduced, first, to the house. ‘No live organism can continue for long to exist soley under conditions of absolute reality,’ it begins.
Hill house, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stnoe of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.
Welcome to Hill House: the first novel I have read that left me feeling genuinely scared; it was a creeping sense of fear – the kind that slowly settles over you like a shadow casting nearer without your noticing. When you do, the fear is gripping and hard to shake.
This fear lingered. Even when I wasn’t reading The Haunting of Hill House, I was thinking about it.
The juxtaposition between the first sunny morning of protagonist Eleanour’s arrival to the house and the dark, mysterious inner rooms of the house is incredibly effective.
Three people, Eleanour, Theodora and Luke come to the house upon invitation from Dr. John Montague, Doctor of Philosophy. But what he wants to study in the house is far from what his doctorate might suggest.
None of the three guests are aware of the reasons why they have been invited to the house, but each have their own reasons for accepting the invitation.
What I like most about this novel was whether or not Hill House was haunted by the dead, or the living – of which does the title refer?
Eleanour is an unreliable narrator, it is hard to trust what of her narration has been warped by her own strange version of reality.
She has spent the majority of her young life friendless and estranged – being introduced into the social setting of Hill House, Eleanour comes accross as slightly neorotic and strange.
The story tracks the slow unravelling of Eleanour in the hosue – but whether it is of a supernatural nature or not is uncertain.
litjunky 