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The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics)

The greatest haunted house story ever written—the inspiration for the hit Netflix horror series!

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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208 pages

Average rating: 6.8

408 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Mar 26, 2025
10/10 stars
Was OK, but a bit hard to follow with all the characters.
DrZuri
Mar 11, 2025
10/10 stars
Awesome scary story destined to keep you up all night.
ediehas
Feb 28, 2025
6/10 stars
not as spooky as i had hoped. weirdly liked other iterations of this story as opposed to the original work. glad to have read this classic regardless.
Thriller Crush
Feb 23, 2025
3/10 stars
I was ready to explore the numerous factors that are involved in a haunted house, however the scary part in this 📖 isn't Hill House, it's the mind. I imagine this story based on a female character was scary for its time (1959). During 1850-1900 women were placed in mental institutions when they didn't behave accordingly to men. During 1940 Lobotomies were used on these women which ruined them for the rest of their lives. I would warn that if you're looking for scary, this is not it. This is a psychological story. Hill House might be the asylum Eleanor has been locked up in. Creating this paranormal study led by Dr. Montague is the only way she can cope. Dr. Montague cld be her real life Psychiatrist. There are many parts implying that it cld all be inside her own head. Enjoy & decide for yourself.
Summer1108
Jan 22, 2025
6/10 stars
I don't think my review will be very popular. And with how many positive reviews I second guess my thoughts and opinion on this but I will include it in my review anyway.

I thought the overall book was okay. I do think that watching the Netflix show will completely ruin this book. I found the Netflix show really well done, but as I read this book I realized that they are completely two different stories.

I did like in the book the fine line between mental illness hallucinations and fact. I felt the book consistently had me thinking whether something was real or not.

I think saying this book is a slow burn is definitely an understatement. I think there were about two or three instances where it could have been very scary. I am confused why this is named one of the best horror books of all time. I just didn't get it. I found the characters quite annoying and not very nice. I think the author is really great at describing the house and really putting us in the story. But I just found it really lackluster.

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