Reviewed by Leigha on
The Haunting of Hill House wasn’t on my radar to read until I watched the TV series on Netflix. Atmospheric and gripping, the show completely and totally immersed me into the story. I picked up the book on a whim afterwards, craving to be brought back into that world.
The book….well, it’s not the movie. That’s not to say it’s bad, but it lacked the character dynamics I loved from the show. When I stopped trying to compare it to the show, I was able to appreciate the slow descent of madness Eleanor experiences at Hill House. Her growing awareness of the house is like a haunting – subtle at first, but growing more pronounced as the story progressed.
It’s a fairly quick read with beautifully written language. The author is magnificent at creating a spooky mood and tone perfect for a haunted house. I will admit to being confused on the book’s classification as a horror novel. It has several horror elements, but it’s by no means what I would consider horror (at least by today’s standards). It’s a bit slow with few jump scares so do not go into this expecting to scream.
tl;dr A well-written spooky novel with a fascinating study of a woman’s mad decent into the depths of a haunted house.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 12 September, 2019: Finished reading
- 12 September, 2019: Reviewed