This book is generally thought of as “a must” for any horror literary fan and after seeing it at a good price in Waterstones, I decided to pick it up and give it a go to see if that is the case for me.
First of, a general synopses of the story is:
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Dr. Montague, an investigator of all things supernatural, invites a small group to join him in staying in an eighty-year old mansion, Hill House, where strange and unusual events have been known to occur. Within this group is Eleanor Vance, a recluse having spent most of her life looking after her ill mother; Theodora, an outspoken artist; and Luke Sanderson, the heir to Hill House
I think I am probably going to offend quite a few purists when I say, I really did not get on very well with this book at all, after reading the opening paragraph, I was thoroughly looking forward to the journey ahead, but soon found myself feeling very bored of all the back story and very little of the actual haunting.
One good thing I can say about the book is at least it was (relatively) short!
For a book about a haunted house, there was very little actually haunted about the place, in the just sub 300 pages, there were a couple of instances of where paranormal events took place, it was more about the insecurities of the characters and possibly their attraction for each other (although not fully investigated, this was certainly hinted at throughout the book).
I really do not understand why this book is in the “top 10 scary books of all time” because, quite frankly, it’s not!
The book starts off OK, in fact with real promise that the house may be quite scary, however it soon descends into a long and very drawn out description of a young woman pretty much having a nervous breakdown which by the time the book finally finishes, you are left wondering if there was anything actually going on in the house, or was it all in her mind.
I had no overall concerns for the characters either as they were all intolerable, Eleanor was very insecure and generally frustrating to ‘listen’ to, Theodora was very bitchy and two-faced, Dr Montague was a wet blanked who always seemed to miss everything that was ‘going on’ and finally there was Luke, who was pretty forgettable.
Perhaps if this book was not classed as a haunted house story and more of a ‘mental haunting’, or ‘haunting of the mind’ I may not have felt as let down.
At least this is another ‘classic’ I can say I have read, but I certainly won’t be revisiting Hill House any time soon!
Overall Rating – 2.0 / 5.0
