I decided to read Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House after watching the fantastic TV show. Whipped through it in a couple days and I really, really loved it. I was actually surprised at the fact that there was literally nothing in common between the two versions of the story - the show really just has some of the character names from the book as the only connective tissue.
The book is incredible though. It's short, but it definitely leaves an impact. A lot of this is achieved by Jackson's ability to straight up write. Most horror I've come across is honestly pretty poorly written or mediocre at best, but Shirley Jackson is a hell of a wordsmith. The prose is just fantastic throughout.
The atmosphere she creates is what really gives the book its power. It's eerie, unsettling and just off. Hill House pretty much becomes a character itself, and there is a certain dreamlike unreality that suffuses all of the dialogue and interaction between characters. There are some fantastic creepy set pieces, like the part where Eleanor realizes she wasn't actually holding Theo's hands in the night, and where she sees an invisible being walk on water. So well written, these scenes.
Speaking of which - the tragedy of Eleanor's character really takes the book to the next level. We see an individual so bereft of any love and passion in her life that the only she feels alive is by having the bejesus scared out of her. The ending really hit me hard, even though it was left intentionally ambiguous as to what really happened, and if Eleanor really did succeed in killing herself.
All in all, a fantastic read and so nice to come across the rare horror novel crafted so artfully. Very deserving of its status as a classic.
I feel like it’s going to turn into this. The ceremonies, like the lottery. The cannibalism will be a monthly ritual where one is chosen and they hunt them like an animal to kill them and eat. Not exactly the same but just a vibe I’m getting.
My thoughts (disguised as a film quote): Yes, it is. In '48, Jackson released this; The Lottery !, her most accomplished piece. I think her undisputed masterpiece. A story so boring, most people probably don't get to the ending. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's also a personal statement about the society itself. Hey, Tessie!
A NOTE: I personally don’t think it’s boring (I think it’s great contrast to the story’s second half), my point is that people who consider it “boring” (some of my classmates) give up on the story before reaching the ending, thus never realising the genius of Jackson’s writing.
PS: I’ve copied and pasted this reply because someone had the same/similar comment
I also like Geek Love.
She lives a stones throw away.
I just finished this book a couple of days ago and had an interesting experience with it. I didn’t really love the book while I was reading it and didn’t really feel like I was fully processing what I was reading, but once it was over and I started to unpack the story, I found it really impactful.
The way that Merricat is so matter of fact when talking about all of her spells, rituals, and ways that she acts out made it so I didn’t even fully realize how disturbed she clearly was because she didn’t see herself as disturbed at all. I thought it was very well done how Jackson slowly pulls you further and further into Merricat’s world and way of thinking that you don’t even realize how deep you’ve gotten until you step away from the book at the end. Overall the book kind of reads like a pre ghost story of a haunted house or the legend of a witch, but in a very understated way which makes it quite powerful.
The story is "The Intoxicated", and it's written in a way that suggests the apocalyptic catastrophe this girl fears should be obvious to a 1948 audience.
She says that: "I think of the churches as going first, before even the Empire State building. And then all the big apartment houses by the river, slipping down slowly into the water with the people inside, and the schools... The subways will crash through, you know, and the little magazine stands will all be squashed."
She blames the older generation, saying: "If people had been really, honestly scared when you were young we wouldn't be so badly off today" and: "It isn't as though we didn't know about it in advance."
The obvious answer seems to be nuclear destruction, but her comments that the previous generation should have seen it coming don't fit for 1948.
What disaster would the youth of this time fear that they would blame on their parents?
I just finished this book and I’m honestly not really sure how I feel about it. I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle right before it and I absolutely LOVED that book. But after reading Hangsaman, I’m not even entirely sure what happened. I hated almost every character in it, which is a testament to how well Jackson writes them. I found myself speed reading over some of the longer dialogues and monologues in the last half of the book because I kept waiting for something big to happen and was getting frustrated with the father especially. This book is categorized as horror, but I’m not sure that it is. It was….weird and confusing.
I teach in a non-English speaking country, and I'm planning to read "The Lottery" with my seniors. I'd like to focus on the theme of following customs and traditions.
But, I'm looking for another shorter passage (short story, news clip, speech, article, etc...) that argues the need to keep and maybe revive customs and traditions, or laments the loss of these. I hope to use this shorter passage to potentially start a discussion about this topic (which is quite relevant here).
Any ideas?
Edit: lots of recommendations. Thanks everyone!!
Has anyone read Mrs. March yet? Oh my gosh, I'm in such a book slump after reading this one because nothing compares right now! If you love Shirley Jackson, psychological horror, or things feeling just a little bit "off", pleaseeee read this book. I want to talk about it with someone but it doesn't seem like it's getting the hype it deserves/ not that many people are talking about it.
“No human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice. Almost any house, caught unexpectedly or at an odd angle, can turn a deeply humorous look on a watching person; even a mischievous little chimney, or a dormer like a dimple, can catch up a beholder with a sense of fellowship; but a house arrogant and hating, never off guard, can only be evil. This house, which seemed somehow to have formed itself, flying together into its own powerful pattern under the hands of its builders, fitting itself into its own construction of lines and angles, reared its great head back against the sky without concession to humanity. It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.”
From what I got from reading the story is that the Lottery is set in a typical American town. The scenery is idyllic, with pastoral green, the flowers are bright and colorful. It is set in the Summer.
Let me know if you guys and gals have any other insights?
This June, I read a lot of gruesome, extreme splatterpunk. I did not have any nightmares.
Yesterday, I read The Haunting of Hill House, and later dreamed that I was fleeing from the police after murdering my own mother as part of a kaleidoscopic oedipal drama I can't even talk about.
Goddamn, Shirley Jackson.
Any Shirley Jackson fans? She's the author of "The Lottery" and "Haunting of Hill House," among others. One of my favorite short stories from her is called "The Intoxicated," which you can read here, if interested. The story reminds me a LOT of Olivia, and the dynamic she has with the adults on the show.
The story depicts a brief conversation between a drunk at a party and the host's daughter. He goes to the kitchen to sober up, and finds her working on a paper. He asks her about the paper, just making small talk, when she explains it's about how civilization is doomed and we don't have much of a future. He tries to dismiss her as being a foolish kid, but she's too clever and he's too drunk. The story ends with him rejoining the party, low-key freaked out and sharing a "kid's today" head shake with the party host.
Both Jackson's short story and this show capture the inherent terror in the generational divide, when the adult realizes the kid sees right through all their macho maturity posturing. Olivia knows her parents are hypocrites. She is too, but she's young, clever and can talk circles around anyone who crosses her path. They always leave low-key freaked out by the encounter. Olivia and the girl in the story exist as a brutal reminder to the boomers that time isn't on their side.
Just thought that was interesting.
NOVEL
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press, Gallery Books)
NOVELLA
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (Tordotcom Publishing)
NOVELETTE
The Attic Tragedy by J. Ashley-Smith (Meerkat Press)
SHORT FICTION
“Not the Man I Married” by R. A. Busby (Black Petals Issue #93 Autumn, 2020)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
Velocities: Stories by Kathe Koja (Meerkat Press)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, edited by Lee Murray & Geneve Flynn (Omnium Gatherum)
