Marco 08/02/2021
What a huge disappointment.
It's been a while since I've done my last book review, but this was the one to lead me back right into it, and for that I’m grateful, but for no good reasons at all.
Well, for starters. The reason that got me into wanting to read this one was pretty obvious. This a very renowned book that makes the top lists about the best books on haunted houses and one of the best classics of all time in horror, not only that but it had a very successful Netflix show made about it. So after all the fuss I couldn't wait to read it, but once I did oh boy, did I regret it.
The book starts extremely slow, and you may think that happens a lot with horror books because it is necessary to build the atmosphere and to introduce the characters. Well, turns out there is no atmosphere, and the characters are not only extremely boring (and I mean all four of them, or the six of them) but the character to cause me the least loathing was the house, and the house does not even talk! As I said there is not one likable or relatable character in this book, for real. The few characters that have some depth act so randomly during most of the story that they are simply impossible not to hate. Things they do make no sense. One day they are complete strangers and on the other they seem to be uncapable of taking any subject seriously when talking to each other. All the sarcasm from everybody out of nowhere made no sense, all their motivations made no sense, their thoughts about one another made no sense, only two of them actually had any backstory whatsoever. Their acts along the book do not relate to the personality the book led you to believe they had. Finally, it is impossible to root for any of them at all, at any point. And if you think the first four are bad wait for the fifth and the sixth to show up (urgh). So, I am not kidding when I say that the most interesting and likable character is really the house, and the house doesn’t do much (this is another point I disliked, but let’s move forward).
The plot, or the very lack of it, made me catch myself all the time thinking “when is something interesting going to happen with these people?”. Then it finally happens, only for you to be thrown back at thirty or more pages of nothing over again. One thing I have to give Shirley Jackson, when she wants to get you scared, she does it very well. It is only such a pity that she thought doing it so few times would make this a good horror book. You keep waiting for the characters to get somewhere, you keep waiting for some development, for some event to happen that has meaning or relates to the story of the house. You keep expecting that any of the character’s backstory will be shown more and that somehow that will relate to the house’s backstory. But no! There is nothing! And I really mean it! The few scary events that happen don’t seem to be connected to the house’s backstory in any way (except maybe for the one in the garden but that didn’t lead anywhere and also by that time I just wanted the book go get to an end). Nothing that happens seems to have a reason in the end other than “make everybody go crazy” at some point it seems like the house’s intention is to turn everybody against each other but that only happens for a few chapters, suddenly they all go back to being besties that have only known each other for four or five days long. Their relationship doesn’t seem natural and didn’t convince me. The way they get to hate each other so much but then love each other so much so quickly didn’t convince me. Damn there’re is so little that is interesting in this book that it made me angry at times.
To end it all, I am no horror critics or anything, but I have read a few horror books, a handful of Stephen King books and a lot of good books in general to know when to appreciate some good literature, and oh boy this ain’t it. As I said there is not any unraveling of any plot, there is no development of any character, there is barely any story happening at all that is not a bunch of random and shallow events going on over in succession and character’s attitudes are not convincing and do not make sense for the most of it. Maybe the worst thing to me was that I had just read Misery by Stephen King, and I could not help to compare the writing style, the plot construction, the relatability of characters, and I know this was written a very long time ago and that without it maybe Stephen King wouldn’t even be where he is right now. But well, I’m sure he would be very close, meanwhile Shirley Jackson is very very far away. Anyway, people say that the other famous book by the author is better than this one (titled They have always lived in the castle) but I have no intention to read anything written by Shirley Jackson ever again in my whole life. I find that it would be an insult to any of the good books out there. If you want good horror just go and pick some SK’s. Get far away from this one.