I've just finished Shirley Jackson's "The haunting of Hill House" and I'm now wondering if I know anything about writing or what makes a good story.
Frankly, I didn't think the book was that good. I'll be writing up a full review soon, but I found Jackson to be the master of the never-ending sentence and the semi colon. It just went on and on.
And it wasn't that scary. The characters were fairly depicted, Nell was easy to empathise with, and the rest seemed a little like caricatures. The late introduction of the wife and Arthur was a mystery.
The house was rendered immaculately, but because there was so much of it, the details were lost in the deluge.
The prose itself was lyrical and carried me along like a beautiful piece of classical music with highs and lows, but it never actually took me anywhere. The continuing long sentences and huge paragraphs, even as the pace was supposed to be picking up, lulled me into a hypnotic trance of "Oh dear, more of the same."
This is supposed to be a classic! What did I miss?
Have you read it? How long ago did you read it? And what did you think?
Frankly, I didn't think the book was that good. I'll be writing up a full review soon, but I found Jackson to be the master of the never-ending sentence and the semi colon. It just went on and on.
And it wasn't that scary. The characters were fairly depicted, Nell was easy to empathise with, and the rest seemed a little like caricatures. The late introduction of the wife and Arthur was a mystery.
The house was rendered immaculately, but because there was so much of it, the details were lost in the deluge.
The prose itself was lyrical and carried me along like a beautiful piece of classical music with highs and lows, but it never actually took me anywhere. The continuing long sentences and huge paragraphs, even as the pace was supposed to be picking up, lulled me into a hypnotic trance of "Oh dear, more of the same."
This is supposed to be a classic! What did I miss?
Have you read it? How long ago did you read it? And what did you think?
