Review: The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

I read this for the Classic Horror square for Halloween Bingo.

it might not then be too fanciful to say that some houses are born bad.

Apparently, I do think it is too fanciful because I felt this book was way more of this,

“I think we are only afraid of ourselves,” the doctor said slowly.
“No,” Luke said. “Of seeing ourselves clearly and without disguise.”
“Of knowing what we really want,” Theodora said.

Instead of getting eeked out by the supernatural trying to creep into the story, I was completely focused on Eleanor and what seemed like her emotional and psychological bid and try for freedom. She is introduced as the daughter that took care of her mother until the mother's death and now resides with her sister but still lacks autonomy and agency. When she gets a letter in the mail asking her to come stay at a house, what a more adjusted person would turn down, she jumps at, grasping at it in a sense of freedom to get away from her life.

Don’t do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don’t do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl.

This ended up being one of the most important and emotional scenes to me. Eleanor wanting the girl to make a different choice than she did, choosing to live her life the way she wants to, something Eleanor hasn't done. I have a lot of questions about this story, lol, but a big one is later on Theodora is talking about Eleanor drinking from her cup of stars and Eleanor talking about missing it. So, my big question is, was this a clue to how Eleanor manifested scenes, was this actually a flashback to a moment in Eleanor's life where she pinpoints things went off track for her and on her journey to freedom, she recreates the scene and makes (the little girl not drinking out of the cup) a different choice? It seems like an important clue that Eleanor had a cup of stars and the little girl she "saw" did too. I don't know, maybe I missed something or am reaching. Thinking this way though, lead me more down the path of Hill House instances being or coming from Eleanor's head.

No, she thought, I don’t like it here.
it’s awful and I don’t want to stay; but there was nowhere else to go,

This story was so much more about the human condition to me than paranormal, which I think is kind of annoying, I don't want to I "read this wrong" but I think I missed some pleasure others got out of it. Theodora always represented what Eleanor envisioned as ideal and why she spent so much time with her and why her clothes were and room were attacked. But were they? The newcomers of the dr's wife and Arthur walk in the room and claim everything is fine. Talking about mass hysteria in the other Halloween Bingo book I am reading made me think that was what was happening at times, with Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, and the Dr. freaking each other out, remember, the newcomers never heard the loud noises from the night everyone was scared. The anticipation wave from the group seemed to be thinking this is a haunted house, waiting for something to happen, wanting something to happen to simply get it over with, and then creating things that were happening.The blood on the walls confuses me the most because Luke saw it first, probably the biggest argument towards paranormal for me.

Peace, Eleanor thought concretely; what I want in all this world is peace, a quiet spot to lie and think, a quiet spot up among the flowers where I can dream and tell myself sweet stories.

Eleanor was just so incredibly tragic for me and I think building up to psychotic breakdown. Her trip towards freedom wasn't working out quite like she thought, she has the big rejection from Theodora and while she doesn't seem to be able to quite get along with people, she doesn't want to be alone, and she simply can't handle going back to her sisters. This story just really screamed American women around the '50-'60s, seeing autonomy but not having the foundation to get there and maybe even fear of what it would be like. One of my other favorite scenes was when Eleanor was talking with Luke and thinking about the questions people ask each other and how it is discussed about what people want others to know about them and what people want to tell others; more human condition stuff to me. I enjoyed the contrast too of Luke just being handed the house and women to an extent and just selfishly expecting it as his due; how women have to fight for things and men just naturally expect them issues going on here.

I am really doing it, I am doing this all by myself, now, at last; this is me, I am really really really doing it by myself.

The ending was so sad for me and this line cuts with how attempted suicide and suicide (in letters) victims talk about making that final choice and feeling finally empowered that they have finally taken control. I know some people who think more along the lines of paranormal will think it was the house driving her to do this and I can definitely see an argument for that also but I see it more as the psychotic break crash.

“Walled up alive.” Eleanor began to laugh again at their stone faces. “Walled up alive,” she said. “I want to stay here.”

I saw Eleanor as making the choice to kill herself because she was too scared to go out and live life, even though she desperately wanted to. Her whole life living with her mother, probably an argument for co-dependency there and then semi-transferring the dependency to her sister and then failing in transferring it to Theodora.

I feel like I have more questions after I read the book, lol. Why didn't Eleanor remember Theodora for a few minutes there towards the end? This weird moment thinking about Theodora:
I would like to watch her dying, Eleanor thought, and smiled back and said, “Don’t be silly.”

The others experiencing some of the "hauntings" of the house, the creepy caregivers (but apparently the housekeeper was completely normal around the dr.'s wife), the planchette readings, and what did Theodora see during the picnic are all questions I don't have answers for. Maybe I need to give way for some paranormal. Overall though, this book was really only ever about the frightening ways our minds can control us.

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65%

“Well,” she asked, “how do you gentlemen like living in a haunted house?”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Luke said, “perfectly fine. It gives me an excuse to have a drink in the middle of the night."

Hill House is starting to produce some haunting...maybe, I'm not quite sure what is physically happening and what is psychologically happening. I find it really hard not to human condition this instead of sinking into the supernatural horror. Eleanor really draws me in with how she thinks and reacts to things. 

what a complete and separate thing I am, she thought, going from my red toes to the top of my head, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me. I have red shoes, she thought—that goes with being Eleanor; I dislike lobster and sleep on my left side and crack my knuckles when I am nervous and save buttons. I am holding a brandy glass which is mine because I am here and I am using it and I have a place in this room. I have red shoes and tomorrow I will wake up and I will still be here.

The layer of Eleanor escaping out from under her mother and sister, to some extent, with how she is discovering who she is and gaining the confidence to show it and be it, is a mixture of sad, angry, and hopeful. Thinking of when this is written, it makes me think of how women were gaining ground on autonomy. I'm probably going a whole different wild direction with this but the house feels more like a masked representation for society/cultural/family structures that are "haunting" Eleanor and how they could be all in her head or really affecting her. The scene where only Eleanor and Theodora hear the banging, while the men our out was interesting. I am also highly cognitive of the MeToo movement, which colors a lot of how I interpret and perceive things lately. Again, why reviews can only be subjective as so much pertains to the life experiences of the reader.

“It’s embarrassing. To think about being afraid, I mean.”

“We’re all in it together, you know,” Theodora said.

“It’s worse if you try not to show it,” the doctor said.

We get to see all the characters interact in this part. I thought when they were all gathered around that the conversation seemed off, or unnatural. I don't know if it is simply a case of when this was written and how language and interactions differ but the flow just wasn't there for me.

“I think,” he said, “that what we all want is facts. Something we can understand and put together.”

******

“When Luke and I are called outside, and you two are kept imprisoned inside, doesn’t it begin to seem”—and his voice was very quiet—“doesn’t it begin to seem that the intention is, somehow, to separate us?”

I can't help but think there is something off with the doctor. You have him at turns spouting calm, analytical thinking only to have him seemingly wanting to ramp up the spookiness or anxiety to covertly induce fear. 

Although, this was a nice line from him (aka the author):

“It was said that the older sister was crossed in love,” the doctor agreed, “although that is said of almost any lady who prefers, for whatever reason, to live alone.

Theodora is a nice contrast to Eleanor and I like how they play off of each other. Luke is just kind of there right now and the caretakers are nice and ambiguously creepy, lol. 

I'm probably not as eeked out as I should be, because of focusing so much on Eleanor's self-discovery and journey for autonomy, and I don't know if I completely buy into the house being truly haunted or certain humans wanting it to appear that way. I don't know, this is probably why horror works better for me with movies and tv shows. Written word has me analyzing in a way visuals don't, maybe because more context is provided? 

This gave me a little promise to experiencing the eek:

is this what they mean by cold chills going up and down your back? Because it is not pleasant; it starts in your stomach and goes in waves around and up and down again like something alive. Like something alive. Yes. Like something alive.

Also,

Theodora looked up at her gravely. “I have a hunch,” she said, “that you ought to go home, Eleanor.”

With Theodora supposedly having some psychic ability, I'm wondering if she is feeling or knows more than she is letting on. Curious to see if haunting ramps up or more questions about psychological fears creating.

Reading Update: Part 1

silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

Part 1 was a great introduction to Eleanor and getting me to become connected with her.

Without ever wanting to become reserved and shy, she had spent so long alone, with no one to love, that it was difficult for her to talk, even casually, to another person without self-consciousness and an awkward inability to find words.

The horror hasn't really started up yet, as she has just arrived at the house, but there is a sense of anticipated dread as I know this is a horror story. What I have really gotten from this is how freaking sad, not only some of the circumstances of Eleanor's life, but the true message of how we can let others control or steal our shine in favor of fitting in.

Don’t do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don’t do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl.

This kind of sets it up, especially with Eleanor "stealing" the car, that Eleanor has felt her life passing her by and this is her step and moment into gaining control and power, thus providing reason for why she might head into something someone else would clearly see as dangerous. I could probably think of other ways to gain autonomy but who knows, maybe haunted houses are the way to go. The line about the house and people walking alone and then Eleanor seemingly walking alone in life could maybe foreshadow a connection between the two.

A couple glimpses of the other characters but Eleanor is clearly the star.

The house was vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.

I'm guessing part 2 is about to get more haunt-y