Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

20 reviews

julianh's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Death of parent

hookerkitty's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Well this was incredibly disappointing. I think I fell asleep just about every time I tried reading this, regardless of how tired I felt beforehand.

And don’t know if it’s my ADHD or what, but so many of the sentences were sooo long (one even had two semicolons!) that I had no idea what was happening by the time I got to the end of it. I had to keep re-reading sections bc I kept zoning out of boredom. 

I also wish that Eleanor and Theodora had more dissimilar names, bc I could not keep track of who was who for way too long. Mrs. Dudley felt like an NPC who’d only been programmed with a few set lines and very rarely deviated from them. 

I was left with WAY more questions than answers. Many say this is done on purpose to be creepier - there are times where that works, but it just feels like lazy (or unskilled) writing to me. I don’t care how many awards it’s received. I love a good psychological horror/thriller/mystery, and while there were a couple times I actually got really into it, it’s disappointing that they were such short sections of the book. No good payoff in the end. While this isn’t even that old, it further cements my previous belief that older books are not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.5

If I based everything purely on vibes, this book would have rated higher but it kind of got to the point where I was having trouble picturing what was going on and so I got confused about what was actually happening..

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

weldmadderwoad's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Shirley Jackson is a master of her craft. It took me a long time to get to, but I’m glad I finally read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

There’s a persistent undercurrent of the horror of being a woman in the mid 20th century, which is to be expected. I tagged some mental illnesses which could be triggered by scenes in the book, but

the ghosts are very much real

.

herelieshenry's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The writing is stellar and the story is unnerving, very good at creating an atmosphere of dread. I saw myself in Nell and the ending feels abrupt but impactful—it’s very fascinating how nuanced and accurate

suicide

is portrayed in this book considering the cultural climate

around mental health

in the 1950s.

It’s always interesting to see the literary DNA of a genre through its classics. In particular, I think it’s fascinating to look at the characters as early iterations of different horror archetypes in this book; for example, Mr. Dudley stuck out to me as a prototype of the “Crazy Ralph” character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Car accident

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Unreality

kate_arts's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book isn’t scary per se,but it sticks with you. Definitely more psychological than actual jump scares, though those are present as well. Nothing really like the tv show.

I especially like that Eleanor’s tone changed as a narrator as the book went along you can see her loose her sense of self in how the different occurrences are described. I also really like how you get to the last evening and you have to second guess yourself about all the crazy things that have happened so far. Like the blood in Theon’s room but also the knocking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

mlewis's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Suicide, and Blood

jmeyers888's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

lilifane's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

To be honest, I didn't expect to like this so much. I knew it was different from the Netflix show and classics are always a hit or miss for me, but I really enjoyed this one a lot. The writing is great, the atmosphere fantastic, I liked the characters and their dynamics. I didn't like the ending that much, though. But the more I think about it, the more I understand and appreciate it. There is just something that bothers me about it. Maybe it was too abrupt, maybe I needed a little more time at the end? Maybe I was identifying with Eleanor too much? 

I kind of wish I had read the book before I watched the show. It is a different story, but it still influenced my reading of the book, my expectations, and the way I saw the characters. Can't say I was surprised by most of the things that happened here. I'm curious how I would have felt the other way around. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

dannilmp's review

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A venture back to the classic horror genre for me and my first haunted house read. A slow burn story which focuses far more on atmospheric horror than graphic horror. I'd make sure to keep the lights on while you read this one. 

For being written quite a while ago, I found the language easy to read and understand, there were a couple of times I had to get the dictornary out but aside from that it was easy to immerse myself in the story. The focus on the atmosphere and the slow and gradual build up of the horror aspects kept me on my toes throughout the whole novel. While it was a relatively short novel, the suspence felt like a lifetime. I was not expecting the ending and I still can't quite figure some aspects of the story out. Who really was haunting Hill House if there even was anyone there?

The only letdown for me was my lack of understanding of certain plot points and character behaviour. There was the odd occasion where I wasn't certain which character was speaking and I would have to go back and re-read some sections. This didn't detract too much from the pace of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Blood

Minor: Alcohol