One of the best openings/endings to a novel. This is the book I’ve seen most often soured by reader expectations. It’s reputation as a scary book is never fulfilled, and I see people so often miss the point. This is one of those few 20th-century horror novels that achieved acceptance in mainstream literary academia; scholars love examining it because it offers ambiguity and character insights in spades. It’s why Flanagan’s series was able to pull so much inspiration from it, and why King and Matheson and countless others have marked it among their chief influences. Thanks for tempering people’s expectations!
I wish someone had tempered my expectations, because I was profoundly disappointed. "A neurotic and lonely woman allows the mystique of a supposedly haunted house to overtake and dement her." Her companions should've seen she was nutty as a loon from the get go...or maybe none of them ever existed.
There are no jump scares (which are generally weak) but there are serious scenes of terror in The Haunting 1963. How do you feel when Luke drops that whiskey bottle? And "whose hand was I holding?" Nothing like it in today's CGI films.
This was my favorite book in high school as my much battered pb copy can attest. 50+ years ago, so no expectations. I pretty much “got it” from the beginning, which probably doesn’t say great things about me. I’ve since read all the Shirley Jackson I could find - “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” is my 2nd favorite.
Am I the only wuss here? I found the book and the 1963 movie terrifying! The movie stars Julie Harris and Clair Bloom is in black and white and has an unsettling score. I still think of the line “Whose hand was I holding?” The spiral staircase! And the creepy mother pounding on the floor with the cane. I first read it in the daytime lying on a couch while house sitting when the Siamese cat jumped up on me and yowled. I didn’t scream but my heart stopped for a while 👻. Deb
DebMcDonald-I know you wrote your comment a couple of years ago, but i just wanted to let you know you're not alone in being really creeped out by this book & the 1963 movie. I personally found both the book & movie really unsettling, & just reading the opening/closing paragraph of the book alone is enough to give me chills, it's so creepy.
@@kirstyfairly4371 Thanks Kirsty! I stand by my comments and agree with you. I a musician friend told me that the score is atonal which makes listeners feel unsettled. As if I needed that after reading the book. The unseen is always more frightening than the seen.
@@DebMcDonald -That's so true, & probably why stories like The Haunting Of Hill House scare me. I find i get scared more by stories that really play on your imagination, & a creeping sense of dread, then I do your typical loud, over the top jumpscares.
is is great book by a great author. In 1963 it was adopted to a great movie. the movie is very scary. It was in black and whte with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. The movie strarts off with the Julie Harris reciting the beginning of the book.
What's terrifying is her accuracy in describing the way madness can result from encounters with the paranormal. It's not a "scary" novel, it's a psychological study and delves for things deeper than surface jump scares. Also, the older one gets, the better it gets the more experience and observation feeds into it. That the house is itself Eleanor's "lover" seducing her is a commentary on the spirit of place, the genius loci. Yes, Hell House by Richard Matheson delivers the genre stuff. Different species. Both are great.
LOL, You epitomized my take on this book. I've only read it once and was like What??? Now that you explained it I'll have to go back and find the missing pieces I glossed over.
I disagree a little bit about Dr. Montague. He's definitely a professorial type (a rather stock character at that), but it's his wife (and her companion Arthur), showing up late in the story, who's more of a "know it all." She's so supercilious, she kinda serves as a comic relief, which is a good because it gives the reader pause before Eleanor's big climax. Dr. Monty is there to give the story a narrative premise, namely the idea of trying to scientifically understand something that ultimately can't be understood in a scientific way.
I would say that the core of the story with Nell is basically the same as the show, sure the show has a lot more elaboration. But the destiny element with Eleanor always meant to be with the house is fully present.
Hey, thanks for the shoutout! So I was actually right about the reasons why I didn`t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. Anyways, happy to have inspired you to pick up this book and to talk about it! So I guess I`m rereading this one in like 10 years :D
New to your channel because of Summer at Cozy Reading with Quaker Cats. Really enjoyed this video. The first time I read this I wasn't very happy. I had heard so much about it and my expectations were very different than the experience I had. After hearing your explanation, I would definitely give this a second read. Thank you
I think short stories are more suited to the haunted house genre than novels. I liked THOHH better than Hell House maybe because the 1963 movie grabbed me so much. I recommend both though. I would have to put a lot of thought into what other haunted house novels are worthwhile. But I have to say my favorite Haunted House story is "The Red Lodge" by H. R. Wakefield. Also his "Blind Man's Buff" and "The Frontier Guards." Then you have "Minuke" by Nigel Kneale. I think the great novel Fingers of Fear by J. U. Nicholson might fall into this category. The Crown Derby Plate by Marjorie Bowen. Some M.R. James. The Turn of the Screw. The Amityville Horror. Maynard's House. The Woman in Black. The Elementals. Okay, there are more great haunted house stories than I thought. A great sub-genre.
I didn't think it was a scary book, but maybe eerie is a better word. I found it very unsettling for the same reason most of Jackson's work is unsettling. She does a good job in capturing the uncanny with what she doesn't tell. In my opinion, anyway. I didn't know there was a TV show. I am going to have to look that up! 😁
This novel is awesome but it's perfect and it does have it's problems. I do need to get back to this soon and I have read We Have Always Lived in The Castle and I do have The Lottery too.
Omg I just read it and I feel disappointed. Not because of the TV show but I was expecting to solve a mystery. What really happened at hill house? What did the villagers know? Thank you for making me feel not stupid!
I actually read this book and really disliked it, BUT after hearing your analysis of it I feel like I have a better grasp of it and it makes it seem more interesting! I really appreciated your thoughts on it. I wish I'd had an English teacher like you!
I’m about 80% through this book & I keep expecting something to transpire with Mrs Dudley. Thanks for not spoiling the end, but a video I just watched did spoil it 🤦🏻 without even posting a spoiler warning. 🤬
I have yet to read this book. Can you just read it to me? I haven't seen the show, so the book wouldn't be ruined for me in any way. Someday I'll get to it. My mother's name is Theodira, so I'd have to NOT picture her as the character. lol
I have not bothered with the TV show. The Catherine Zeta Jones movie was a CGI POS, to put it mildly. The 1963 Robert Wise movie The Haunting was one of the greatest movies of all time. Scared the crap out of me when it was on Creature Features when I was 13, watching it with my family and my visiting cousin Jim. My mother had read the book. I have seen the movie about 30 times since, and I always see something new in it. When I read the book, I already had a feel for the psychological nuances. This story is about a vulnerable and troubled young woman character named Eleanor, who has some psychic abilities - or is, at least, sensitive. Not only does the house want to possess her, but all of the characters in the story want to possess her, both sexually and otherwise. The young man who owns the house wants to bang her. Cleo, the lesbian clairvoyant, definitely wants her. The professor, whose wife turns out to be a bit of a bitch, sees her as a chance for real love. But who wins at the end? No CGI necessary ever. No blood in this story until the final scene. All of what seems supernatural might be psychological until the final scene. Greatest movie (Julie Harris was perfectly cast) and one of the greatest novels ever.
