About this title: Aside from her short story, "The Lottery", "The Haunting of Hill House" is probably Shirley Jackson's most famous work. Dr. Montague is a scholar of the occult, looking for evidence of haunting. He has recruited three volunteers to spend a summer investigating the paranormal phenomena at Hill House. Only Eleanor, a lonely young women all too well acquainted with poltergeists, strikes a peculiar affinity with Hill House, one that may well prove dangerous...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Popular Library
Date Published: 1959
Description: Acceptable. Acceptible Mass Market Paperback, a lot of cover wear, heavy spine creasing, pages yellowed but clean Heavy creasing on front and back cover A used book. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Edition Not Stated
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Popular Library, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good. 1 1/2" tear to front cover at base. Creases to corners of front. Stamp to inside cover. 1/2" tear to rear bottom spine. Label removed, inside back cover. Text vg. read more
Description: Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers! Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Stephen King Horror Library, 2003 edition, hardcover, clean; Bright and solid, a VERY GOOD copy, in a VERY GOOD colorful dustjacket, in a new clear mylar DJ cover. A nice copy you will be happy to own! read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780140071085ISBN:0140071083
Description: As NEW. Shirley Jackson's classic tale of horror. Trade soft cover edition with cover art by Harry Bliss. "At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own..." New book with no flaws. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 2006-11-28
ISBN-13:9780143039983ISBN:0143039989
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143039983. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Viking Pr
Date Published: 1984-05-01
ISBN-13:9780140071085ISBN:0140071083
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780140071085. read more
"The one where a researcher brings in three people to study a supposedly haunted house, and it soon becomes clear that the house has a special interest in Eleanor.
I'd seen the movie, and I knew the basic story, but this was the first time I'd read the book. There are serious problems with it, particularly the author's habit of breaking off a scene at the most dramatic and confusing point and then picking up later without ever showing what happened or explaining what it meant, and some of the "hauntings" are unnecessarily obscure -- I don't mind wondering what something adds up to, but it bothers me to have to wonder what happened.
But -- assuming you have any empathy for a character as lacking in assertiveness as Eleanor -- the relationship between Eleanor and the house is brilliant. Other ghost stories often fall short for me because there's no real connection between the house and this particular haunted person -- it all seems like a coincidence. Not here."
"The Haunting of Hill House has been made into several films, but I don't believe I've seen any of the film versions. The idea isn't anything especially out of the ordinary, though: a group of several strangers have been summoned, via letter, to spend some time at a house in a secluded area. They have been summoned by a doctor of the occult who wants to find out if there's anything to the legends he's heard about the house. Once they've all arrived and gotten to know each other, things start getting weird.
What is unique about The Haunting of Hill House is how psychological the haunting turns out to be. This is a very subtle book in some ways, and the creepiest element of the book isn't the poltergeists and spirits in the house. I'm not going to spoil the punchline, and hopefully the dust jacket of your copy doesn't spoil it for you the way mine did.
This book definitely had its moments, but the dialogue often rang false, especially early in the book. The dialogue, while sometimes very fun, often dragged the book down. A lot of forced humor, and jokes spoken at times when people wouldn't really tell jokes. These characters try overly hard to say only witty things, and it kinda reminds me of a Diablo Cody movie in a not-good kind of way.
Much of what we learn about the house is delivered through the characters' banter, so the house itself was less of an integral element than it should be. But, we do find out enough to get a distinctly creepy vibe from the house, and the ending is eerie and satisfying. So, this was a worthy read if you're in the mood for a spooky story, but it ain't nothing to write home about.
The first paragraph is so good. After reading it, I was really hoping to have my socks knocked off. Alas, the rest of the book couldn't deliver on that paragraph's promise.
Last thought, for any of you who have read it already: this book is really about coming out of the closet, right? I can read it that way, right? With the pants, the relationship with Theo, the fear of accepting femininity? Or am I stretching it?"
"An absolutely classic haunted house story that is also an interesting psychological study.
Four disparate people are gathered together to study Hill House. They are Dr. Montague, a researcher; Theodora, a telepath - the pretty girl; Luke - the heir to Hill House; & Eleanora - a sheltered person who has spent most of her life caring for her dying mother. They will live in the house, sleep in the house, take meals in the house, & write about everything they experience there. The house is, of course, the fifth main character. Added into the mix are the house's single-minded caretakers, the Dudleys, Dr. Montague's wife & her sidekick, Arthur, & planchette - the spirit voice Mrs. Montague & Arthur commune with at length.
Much of the terror in the book is hidden, unexplained, minimally described. It is the movement out of the corner of your eye when no one should be near, the rapping on the walls, the slamming of doors, the sense someone might be waiting out there in the night. This is not an ornate, gothic horror - this is spare, minimalist. Events are suggested & implied allowing your imagination to fill in the blanks.
Jackson leaves most questions left unanswered & in its final scene you're left to wonder if anything happened at all."
"I'm ashamed to admit to having seen the movie(s) before reading the book itself.
My mother has a yearly tradition, begun when I was very small, that for almost holiday, we'd watch the old black and white classics for that season. We watched A Miracle on 34th St, and It's a Wonderful Life (among others) every Christmas, A Walton Family Thanksgiving on thanksgiving, and the b-horror classics of the 40s through 60s every Halloween. I grew up on black and white classic monster cinema, with Lon Chaney's Wolfman, and Lugosi's Dracula. (It's a funny point, considering my age...*27*...that for me GEORGE REEVES will always be Superman. Go figure.) The Halloween I was 8, there was a midnight showing of The House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price. My mother and I stayed up to watch it, and I remember being creeped out beyond belief by it. As an adult, I picked up the book later and found it equally entertaining. I mean no offense to everyone involved in the remake, but...IT SUCKED. Get the original movie with Vincent Price. It's one of those great B-movie Hollywood classics that'll always be entertaining."
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