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.

Really good

Thoroughly enjoyed this novella(?). (I’m not sure what the difference is between a novel and a novella, but the scope of the plot is narrow-I’d guess that that would make it a novella). Jackson’s treatment of Eleanor is definitely pre-ERA, from a more paternal age, and may be a bit startling to non-baby boomers, but it brilliantly captures an anachronistic sensibility. Impeccable writing and vocal characterization.

eh

Bernadette Dunne provided a thrilling performance. The story, like hill house, left a lot unfilled. There weren't many "scary" moments and the few that were, were bleak. It felt like an amateur novel with great intent but poor delivery.

Good Story/Average Narration

This classic still retains its haunting relevance even today when there is so much more in the horror genre. The primary focus of the tale revolves around a rather homely woman named Eleanor who is selected to participate in an experiment on psychic phenomena along with a handful of other susceptible individuals at creepy Hill House. Eleanor has spent her entire adulthood nursing her sickly mother who has recently died, so she is as eager for adventure as she is socially awkward. She quickly finds herself connected with the house and things begin to go wrong. The narrator gave a pretty unremarkable performance and failed to take advantage of the story’s high points. She also didn’t put much effort into differentiating between characters, so that was a big disappointment. There was so much potential to really make this something special, but it was only average. I actually reread many of the scenes without the narration. 2.5/5 stars #psychological suspense #horror #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

No real ending...like a Part 1 missing Part 2

See heading. Was disappointed, and don't want to spoil anything. The narrator was good, but I didn't care for weakness of the main character.

Not a great ending

I enjoyed this book, but the ending left me with many questions about events that happened.

liked the netflix series much better

Good story. I enjoyed the listen, but I just enjoyed the series better on this one. usually thr books are better, but for me this fell short compared to thr series. still glad I read it. Gave me a little more insight on how the house works.

Outstanding performance! Gorgeous prose!

An eloquent book, beautifully narrated. The characters were so fascinating to me that I found myself listening as often as I could to see what happened between them and the mystery of Eleanor's traumatic past. In ways, it is a modest book. In other ways, it seems to be a grand love letter to... actually I'm not sure what. But I'm sure that it is one. I knew next to nothing about this novel prior to listening to it, and I feel that is the best way to experience it. If you are considering this book, I say go for it!

Overrated

This “Horror” story is overrated. I had hoped for more detailed scary scenes but it seemed to be more psychological than scary.

good

I thought it was a good story and really entertaining and the ending was unexpected.

A perfect little gothic horror story

When I was about nine years old, my aunt let me watch the movie "The Haunting" with her when our local station featured "Friday Night Fright Night!" The terror I felt watching it 50 years ago comes back in all its pleasant thrills reading the novel it's based on. Ms. Jackson writes in the voice of Eleanor with a kind of shocking honesty--her train of thought, her impressions and interpretations of everyone and everything around her. The story is simple enough--four people will stay in a house with a long established history of being haunted as a "scientific" experiment. Ms. Jackson builds towards the climax methodically. The very definition of a page turner.