The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson

Breezily paced and written in concise, direct prose, Hill House establishes many of the haunted house genre's mainstay cliches and tropes that are still replicated today. Jackson keeps the plot moving forward without riddling it with bombastic events. Instead, she feeds us bits of suggestive events, mostly through the narrator's unreliable account and inner thoughts. I grew not to be outright "scared", but had my foundation shaken by something continuously just... Off. It's like sitting in a silent room in the dead of Summer and swearing you can hear a mosquito buzzing around somewhere, but you can't find out where, and you've heard the damn buzzing on-and-off for so long and seen no mosquito that now you're no longer sure it isn't just your imagination.

Eleanor's actions are just out of place enough to tell you that something is seriously wrong with her; she laughs at the wrong times, her judgments of other characters are so inaccurate they make you wonder if you missed something. Later on, she begins to waffle in her feelings between her companions, often veering wildly from cold fury into outright obsession in the very next chapter.

It's a chilling read mostly due to Jackson's deft depiction of mental illness rather than any ghostly paranormal activity, which is mostly left up to the reader's interpretations. There are a few select shared experiences between multiple characters, but the majority of the disturbances in the house are felt by Eleanor, and Eleanor alone, leaving us to question: Is this really happening to her, or is it all in her head?

This may end up disappointing those expecting more of a pulpy horror read. But if you have an appreciation for subtle, character-driven narrative with a perfect ending, then I highly recommend this.

Bonus points for the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition I had, with the ethereal, elegiac artwork of Eleanor on the cover continuously serving to creep me out when I put this down each night to go to bed. This book reads like this cover looks; simple, pretty, but also subtly off-putting. And you're often not quite sure why.

⭐⭐⭐⭐