RANT REVIEW | The Haunting of Hill House 

Horror, especially gothic horror doesn’t have to scare you. Fear is subjective. As for the story itself, it’s not about a ghost wrecking havoc on a group of people. It’s a haunted house story, which means the emphasis is on the house. It’s about the way the house holds onto Eleanor, the way it traps her. Eleanor has lived an extremely isolated life, which might explain why she’s so eager to run off to Hill House after her mother’s death. It’s an adventure. Hill House however becomes like every other house she’s been in. It becomes a place of isolation. It gives her safety and comfort, in speaking only to her. It wants to keep her from the outside world, keep her all to herself. Much like her mother once did. It’s not a coincidence that one of the supernatural events is her hearing her mother’s voice. I think a little biographical info on Shirley Jackson is important. She was actually experiencing agoraphobia either while writing this or around the time. So being trapped in a house was a major theme in her life.

I think you missed the point reading it. There were no ghosts. It really was just about Eleanor losing her mind. You can see her flip emotions like a switch, she goes from adoring Theo one paragraph to hating her the next. She has delusions and hallucinations. All those hauntings with the banging and the screaming were her. She claims to see Luke chatting in the study with the Doctor, then a second later he bursts in saying he's been looking for her, proving her wrong. We see her internal monologue laid out disguised as narration. Those last few seconds before dying where she gets clarity and reacts with horror, regretting killing herself is a very common thing for survivors to report feeling. All those things you said the book would be great if it were actually that, it was actually that!

I adored the book. I thought it was eerie and tragic- watching Eleanor break down under Hill House’s influence broke my heart. I totally understand frustration over never getting a narrative explanation. However I personally never found a lack of explanation in this book. Shirley Jackson states in the beginning and end of the book that Hill House is insane. The house is bad, so it does bad things to good people until one of them kills herself. The haunting is causing the group’s ‘psyches to melt,’ as you put it, though it focuses its efforts on Eleanor. The house screws with people. That’s what it does. It gaslights one into insanity. That’s why Mrs. Dudley has her strict schedule. She wants to minimize the amount of time she spends in the house and follow a routine to keep it out of her head. As for the clothes issue, Theodora’s clothes HAD been ruined. However, when they went to check the room at the end, the clothes were fine. Because the house wanted them to be. There is no TWIST. The house was crazy. The house drove Eleanor crazy. Eleanor killed herself- and the horrifying part of her death was that Hill House let her go right when it was too late for her to stop. We could see this mental descent in her happening in real time with Eleanor’s unreliable narration. You have to remember, the house is basically a character, with its own unknown motives. The book knows what it wanted to be, and I’m really sorry that you didn’t have the same experience so many others have had with it- that’s totally fine, you know? Plenty of people also didn’t like the book, and I think a lot of them had the same views that you did. It’s like jokes- a joke is for whoever gets it, but if you don’t get it then it’s empty words. Mind you, I don’t mean to say ‘aww, you just can’t GET Haunting of Hill House.’ Its not a bad thing that you don’t like the book, everyone has different tastes. Not everyone will love every book 🤷🏽‍♂️ The one thing I do have a problem with is saying that the women were fragile and the men were tough. That’s not true- the women had the most direct aggression happen to them- that would frighten anyone. And the men were CLEARLY scared, even without experiencing everything that Eleanor and Theodora did. They stated MULTIPLE times that they were scared, Luke especially. No one in this book ever tried to seem tougher than they were, and everyone, including the men, were open about their fear. Eleanor and Theodora were not fragile. They were targeted. They went through the scariest happenings. Luke and Dr Montague weren’t macho and didn’t try to act tough. They just didn’t get the same treatment from Hill House as the women. But even so they were completely honest with their feelings, fear or otherwise. Honestly, I found the characters, men and women, especially well done because of that honestly.

Did she actually read this book or just the cliff notes?

That's Shirley Jackson though -- ambiguous is part of her style. Personally, I prefer her We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Which is a more of a mystery (creepy mystery, but still) than horror. Also, there is the suggestion in the book that Eleanor has telekinesis, and maybe is creating the strange events in the house -- as she may have done as a child. And, to further play devil's advocate, you CAN say that is just a book about these people, and NOT a haunting, because the hauntings can be explained either by telekinesis and/or Eleanor's madness. It really does NOT have to read as a real haunting -- just like A TURN OF THE SCREW does not have to be read that way. But it also CAN be read that way. Frankly, I love this style of ambiguous writing. But I know that not everyone does.

I've never heard that this was supposed to be scary, more that it's a more philosophical novel about mental illness and grief.

Thank god! I just finished this book yesterday and I feel the same way. I’m literally searching RU-vid for an explanation as to why people think this book is so good. I wasn’t scared at all. I also hated the ambiguous nature of the novel. Not satisfying in the least.

Definitely recommend the show! My favourite of all time, and that’s saying something. I’ve rewatched it so many times and I completely recommend it.

I loved the beginning of the book. The characters joking around a lot to keep the atmosphere light was a great way to show how they were trying to keep their spirits up. My problem was they NEVER stopped trying to joke constantly. Theo and Luke especially were so cringe towards the end. Mrs. Montague and Arthur were so insanely annoying and it broke up the progress we perceived the main 4 were making with their investigations. The book was creepy enough, but the main point was to investigate the house and they literally barely even took notes, much less tried to solve any of the mysteries. I was pretty unsatisfied. They solved nothing, we learned nothing, the house just giggled at them for the most part.

It seems to me that this is not a ghost story, it is a haunted house story. The ghosts are simply the result of the house on the people who have been affected/infected by the house. The house is the antagonist. The characters are the focus and we are seeing how they are impacted by the house individually and as a group. Who they become and/or how they act is the horror element. Specifically she who is most vulnerable to the house and therefore becomes the tool of the house. Her true self is still inside and breaks through just a bit in the end before the house ultimately wins, taking her. The Dudley’s are aware of the power the house holds over people having survived long enough and observed others fall to the houses whims. That is the reason they are so firm in their boundaries around what and when they do anything. They keep a strict schedule and that’s how they continue to survive.

I agree with you. I spent 6 hours waiting for it to get to the point and walked away incredibly disappointed. It tried to do too much and ended up doing nothing of substance. And like you I went looking for explanations... Which is why I'm here. Just my opinion though

Thank you for making this video, I just finished this book a few days ago and felt like I was stupid for being so underwhelmed.. I started this book 2 years ago and read the first half, I was just so incredibly bored that I lost interest and every time I tried to pick it up I would just zone out. I finally finished it, and while it did have some creepy moments, it was just like... what was the point? It had such an unsatisfying ending, it never actually explained anything like you said. I couldn't figure out why this was a classic or why so many people love it and figured I was missing something.

I get that this book was more about Eleanor’s descent into insanity…but I just didn’t like it. Annnnnd I felt that Eleanor was an insufferable character. Not a fan.

It isn’t that the book didn’t know what it wanted to be. If the reader doesn’t understand what it is, then I can understand why they might think that.

I did like that things were never truly explained. Which to me was more realistic than if Shirley Jackson had tried to make a more concrete explanation. I found it also creepier unexplained-was Elinor losing her mind? I tend to think she was AND there was outside influences acting on her as well. There is a 1999 movie adaptation called The Haunting with Liam Neeson which is pretty good as well which does flesh out some of the unexplained circumstances in the book.😊

If you’re not a regular reader of horror, gothic horror is, in my opinion, not a good place to start. Although I will contradict myself and say I do recommend The Woman in Black by Susan Hill to non-horror people often and it is a gothic horror novel BUT it’s the only one I’ve ever given 5 stars to because it didn’t read like one. It flowed well and had exciting characters and one hell of a antagonist!! LITERAL CHILLS!! So maybe if you want to give that a try, I hope you enjoy it more. Gothic horror is deeper. I also recommend the Vincent Price movie version. The Netflix adaptation is not based on the book.

I keep reading it over and over because it’s so layered. I would say it’s more creepy than scary

I 100% agree with your feelings about this novel

I think your reaction is one people often experience after having read a genre once it has had time to develop. For instance...uh hemmm... I'm gonna get crucified for what I'm about to say. People swear by The Wheel of Time Series. I've not read the whole series yet, but so far I find it just ok. It often feels like a chore to read. I feel like I have to force myself to keep going. I prefer Sanderson's work which was influenced by Jordan. WOT feels to me like there's a ton of filler just to inflate the word count. I love long books. I love novellas as well. I just hate shit that's artificially inflated to make it more "epic". Many of these "classics" were probably way more impressive to the audience they were originally written for. Don't get me wrong. There are definitely some timeless classic books which are totally awesome and will always be. But some will lose a bit of their luster because of the work that follows. This is all subjective of course. But I know the feeling of being let down by a "classic".

I’m kind of with you. I watched the Netflix series first and I had high hopes for the book. But it didn’t really live up to expectations on the whole. There were parts that I kind of liked. But on the whole not great.

I know I’m late to the party, but I also wasn’t a huge fan of the book. I’m telling myself that everything, even the other characters, were all figments of Nell’s imagination. It helps me pretend the book is better and explains away some things that, like you, I felt were left open ended (ex. The story of the houses history could be a projection of Nell’s failing relationship with her sister). There’s even that line somewhere towards the middle when she says “I could say, Eleanor put in smiling, All three of you are in my imagination; none of this is real”. After I read that I was SO sure the end reveal was gonna be that she made it all up. Even before she gets to Hill House she seems delusional with the fantasies she disassociates with

Just finished reading this book. I love reading horror but I thought this book sucked.

I haven’t read this book but I did see the Netflix series & thought there were some amazingly shot scenes & it was definitely very eerie - though the overall product did suffer from what I call ‘the Stephen King effect’ (and this is by no means a stab at the author himself btw). It’s aimed more at the way that what should be a cool, terrifying idea gets blown out of proportion to the point where it loses its potency and becomes bland. I suspect this happens mainly because the screenwriters don’t know how to finish the story in a gripping way (which is something that a lot of film adaptations of King’s books suffer from). From what you’ve said I don’t think I’ll read this anytime soon!

I didn't like this one either 🙈 I was so hopeful but I'm not into psychological horror, it's not what scares ME. I also hated the characters, mainly the 2 girls. Don't know how it's a classic lmao

I just finished thd book and I loved it, so I was curious why you hated it so much. I'm not trying to be mean or rude but IDK how else to say this. But, I think maybe you just didn't understand the book. Here's my interpretation. Hill House drives people crazy. These people aren't going crazy because they've been in close quarters with strangers for a WEEK. The house is it's own entity. It consumes people and adds them to it's collection. There's nothing wrong with the book, you're just trying to cram it into what your perception of a haunted house is, and you seem to have missed thr more subtle clues to what is happening.The scary part is loosing your mind and not realizing it until it's too late. It's kind of like The Happening, where plants make you kill yourself, only it's the house. Elanor's thoughts are basically an unreliable narrator, but the omniscient narrator tells the truth. The crazy shit happens, but the house makes the it disappear because it wants people to be driven mad (like the blood in Theo's room.) There is no twist. Everything that happens, happens. Elanor's internal monolog is the decieving part. For example, she flips back and forth between describing Theo as Cruel and as Lovely. It's because her mind is shattering and causing her to interpret benign interactions as malicious. People are scared by different things. Maybe you're scared of possession and demons? Or serial killers. Some people are scared by the idea of loosing their minds. Maybe that's just not scary to you, personally, but this is definitely a horror novel.

Where was the scary part?

I liked the show, a LOT. The book... Nah. I thought it was boring.

Think you missed the point . It’s absolutely wonderful

One of my all time favourite books.

If I had the power to talk to the dead and some stranger contacts me and wants me to meet him at the house I would want him to meet me and let me show him how my powers work

I also think the same was quite boring it felt dragging to finish reading. On the other I did love the show and it did scared me.

omg you read so well

A book I liked was The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coats. Its an overall fun read and good ghost story

📚👏🏾

. totally agree...this is not a scary book at all...unless you are looking at I'd as a cautionary tale of how you can lose your kind IG you are kept isolated from the rest of the world for great lengths of time. I would classify this book as a type of psychological mystery maybe? Or an experiment of some sort of a group psychosis? I'm not sure, the one thing I can say I am sure of about this book is that this was not even close to a horror story and is NITHING AT ALL not even close to the Netflix series... I read this book thinking it would expand on or explain more of the Netflix series...HA!! The JOKE WAS ON ME when I found out there is no connection other than the title and some characters names..that is where ANY "loosely based on the novel" idea ends...the Netflix series is much better.. I am just very happy to see I am not the only person who was not all that impressed by this book..

you’re like if anthony fantano reviewed books

I don’t see what everyone sees in this book because it was so boring and dull and not scary at all. It got 2 stars from me.

I know this is like a year old but I just watched the Netflix series based on this book and I swear to god I just had the same rant to my husband because I was really angry at the end and I felt like everything was really unexplained. There’s no real reason WHY the house was haunted. And it started off setting up the idea that people can be haunted by their past and traumas and psychosis... or perhaps it was all in their heads because as the dad is fixing up the house he finds a giant black mold infestation (which can cause hallucinations) but then the end was like, no the house was just haunted because it’s haunted. So then why include all that other stuff? The ghosts had no purpose for being there and didn’t make sense to me. Because then they could haunt the kids later in life when they were no longer in the house. So it was very confusing. It suffered from the same problem of trying to be both and ending up not doing either well and it’s making me mad because I’m looking up reviews now and everyone is hailing this as a “masterpiece” and I just don’t get it!

I just finished it and took to RU-vid to see what people had to say about it.... I rather liked it, by the end, but that came after talking shit about this book for the entire week to my roommates and anyone else that would listen. It took me Monday to today (which is a Friday to anyone reading in the future) to get through the first 130 pages. I will say it got a lot better at the 150 mark. Good enough to finish and I wanted to be done so I binged the rest tonight in one sitting. I give the book a 6.5 out of 10. Definitely not the best thing I’ve ever read, but I think it was probably ahead of it’s time. Also, I feel like Shirley Jackson poured a lot of her own emotions into the book pretty well. I came away with a sense of depressed realism and given the shitty way her husband treated her I can totally see why. So yea, I liked it. But I can definitely see why someone wouldn’t.

I liked the show MUCH better than the book, which was a weird experience haha

Total snooze fest...

Oh thank God I saw your video.. I thought I was the only one who found it boring😅 I couldn't agree more with what you said that the reader just keeps waiting for explanations, but.. surprise!! There is none! 😒😒 I don't usually read horror, but this is part of the university course I'm taking right now 😑 Thanks a lot for the funny comments and gestures! 😅

Liene!!! Reading is a personal, intimate journey that is activate by our own imagination therefore it doesn't matter is it's a classic, a best seller, a commercial tendence or hit, is about reading chemistry if is natural the story takes you and never let you till you close the book but is it doesn't is going to be a reading that you won't enjoy. Sorry you didn't like it, you got several points that I understand can take you out of the reading joyfull expirience. I highly recommend you dreams in the whitch house by h.p. Lovecraft is a dark fantasy, very elaborate about a really creepy house, and Lovecraft build everything word to word till the final scare in a really roller coaster way. Exactly this book from him can give you a good scary fantasy vibe totally lost from this "Eleanor x-men house". Love your true opinions, reviews and content. I understand you it happend to me I though it was scarier, this book make me feel like the Agatha christie's book I have read, I respect everyone ones opinion and books preferences but in my personal opinion Agatha Christie is so slow and boring even I have tried to read it thousand of times this book remember me that feeling so that's why I totally got your point. Hope you get better readings soon.

I found it really boring actually... and I love horror... I prefer her other book We have Always lived in the Castle... it’s got the same good writing pros and sentences and the main character thinks like me... but even the movie of the haunting of hill house I found boring... ☹️

You sound like MirandaSings but ty

I totally have to agree with you. I was not impressed by the book but I absolutely loved the show.

Oh nooooo I’m reading this right now 😅

I've always heard the book was bad and that I should watch the show instead. And I the liked the show.

Terrifying book. Sans ghosts, the house actively does the haunting. Of 4 people, it picks the one least "anchored" in the World; the one most burdened by bitterness, guilt, and hatred. Eleanor desperately wants life and connection, clinging to new-found friend Theo desperately (and inappropriately). But the house smother/mother dissolves her; Eleanor just can't escape.

I definitely strongly share your opinion about this book I found it very boring myself super excited we got two videos in one week though man this must be Christmas

It is a "classic" classic pc of crap. I hated it. I kept hoping it would come together and it flopped. And the characters were silly and there conversations were so stupid. Needed to see if others thought it was good or bad. Glad I found at least one. 😂

You cool

I found the show & book extremely boring. My made-up theory is there must be 2 different types of people - 1) those who like event-driven stories & 2) those who like character-driven stories. I talked to a friend who loved the books & show & they asked me "you didn't notice how the children all represented different types of tragedies (i.e. addiction, pride, depression, etc), and I was just like 'no.' It just bored the crap out of me, they never truly communicated & just stood there speaking platitudes to one another." I think certain people have a frequency for picking up on the more *humane* elements of characters & their relationships, but that sort of stuff just goes right over my head and I just do not care for any characters in most media. Lol idk, I'm socially blind (as I call it) too, so maybe that's why this book/show felt like staring at a wall.

The woman in black is a million times better

You're so beautiful

I hated this book. It was effort to get through each page. Way too pretentious. Genuinely don't understand why people are so obsessed with this book. The pacing sucks, the characters are not flushed out, their traits are just forced down your throat and not actually shown just told straight to your face. I could go on and on but I know I'm in the minority with that opinion. Glad I never have to read this book again.

I share your opinion - disappointing.

🤦🏽‍♂️ ugh .

Ok, I'm ten seconds into your video and I'm scared, this is one of my favourite books! Also yes, the Netflix show is nothing like the book, it's about a family living in this house.