The Haunting of Hill House

By: Shirley Jackson

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Now a hit Netflix miniseries directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, and Timothy Hutton

Past the rusted gates and untrimmed hedges, Hill House broods and waits.

Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. 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.

This classic horror novel has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror.

©1959 Shirley Jackson; renewed 1987 by Laurence Hyman, Barry Hyman, Sarah Webster, and Joanne Schnurer (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

a classic that isn't as terrorizing as I'd hoped

This is a classic novel of terror, not horror -- it's more about the things that go bump in the night and set off disturbing and paranoid thoughts in people's minds. It's all psychological, no blood-and-guts violence. Still, this story (unlike some other of Jackson's works) doesn't really stand the test of time with respect to the characterizations and dialogue. I didn't like the supposedly witty banter that seemed to take up a lot of time and only made the characters seem superficial and uninteresting. I liked the opening and set up, and I liked the ending, but the middle of the story seemed too lightweight and unfocused.

Expected more

I am new to horror and expected more. I just didn't get this classic. It just went on and on and on and i forced myself to finish the audio. All the characters are annoying, especially Elenor who is crazy or possessed or maybe both. And there is the story. This is a psychological thriller more than anything else. There was a lot of dialogue about ghosts and not a lot of real ghost activity. In the end it is not clear if Elenor created this whole event in her mind and freaked everyone else OR if there was a haunting. Anyway I'm still glad I read it. Now onto to something fun and light....

Not so Haunting

This book was okay, I have read better and I have read worse. It was kind of dull and was drug out, however, this may be due to the year it was written. A portion of the book is based off of the thoughts of the main character. Authors have continually improved on the scare factor. It just didn't have me on the edge as other books can. I use this to fall asleep to at night. #supernatural #inherhead #tense #suicide #fallasleep #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

An oldy but a goody....

I've been debating for quite some time over purchasing this. Given its tremendous popularity over the years and the fact that its still on a number of "must read" lists, I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. Unfortunately, even though numerous reviews mentioned how terrifying the novel is, the scare factor was just not there for me. It is few and far between that I can find a story that causes me to keep the lights on, though that is what I constantly search for. Still, the story was enthralling, the prose vivid and descriptive in a way that made it easy to imagine. The story centers on only a few characters, giving the author time to build up our in-depth relation to them. I almost instantly fell in love with Theodora, and hated Eleanor's sister within seconds of her appearance. Combine that with superb narration and you have yourself a listening experience that will resonate for some time.

Just ok

Liked the story line, but was expecting more ghostly happenings. Didn't like the open-end ending of the book.

A really fun ride.

I meant to read this book for so many years now and never got around to it. I’m glad I waited though. I don’t think I would have liked this story as much as a kid but as an adult it was pretty refreshing. I’d say that it’s definitely more of a psychological thriller than a horror. The themes are scary but the minds of the characters are what’s truly haunting. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes classic thrillers!

A favorite beautifully read!

I have always loved this tale from Shirley Jackson. I feel the movies never truly did it justice, although the original did a decent job. The tale is eerie, emotional, and masterfully written. Shirley Jackson is so often overlooked in the modern world of King, Barker and Straub. A good old fashioned haunted house story, fit to send chills up your spine.
The narrator does an excellent job of portraying the characters with real feeling.
A perfect listen for a dark and stormy night, with a good cup of tea and a warm purring cat in your lap.

a little dated... *SPOILER*

a good story but a tad dated... for instance, the main character was excited about wearing "slacks" without fear of her mother's disapproval... yikes. listening to it, I could picture it playing in my head as a "black & white" movie... lol. As far as the story goes, it was good and interesting. however, I didn't find it scary in the least. in fact ,when the doctor's wife showed up, she annoyed me so much I was hoping she would have gotten the crap scared out of her, but unfortunately she didn't. I would recommend it, but if you're looking for something really "scary", you won't find it here (IMO)... Just a good story.

Very nice

I decided to listen to this books after watching the Netflix series, which I enjoyed.
This was definitely an entertaining listen, a little confusing at first but I quickly began to understand what was happening better. Very good!

Super story, enjoyed it immensely.

Any additional comments?

I've seen both movies made from this book and wanted to read it. I enjoyed it thoroughly. A very good ghost story w/ out all the blood and guts and it's still scary.