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eliya95's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
snazzy10101's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
coffeenquotations's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
its_kievan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Obviously, reviewers are right to point out that a fair chunk of the horror lies in the sexual abuse of two women, not to mention the implication that the "reason" someone is a lesbian is either they are being possessed by a pervert ghost or they were molested as a kid. No matter when the book was written, that's still deeply uncomfortable in a way that goes far beyond the limits of a horror author trying to freak you out. If someone put down Hell House for that reason, that is completely fair enough.
However, I still though the book was a great example of haunted house horror, and I really enjoyed it. Is that hypocritical, or insensitive? Maybe. But the fact is that part of when makes horror so fascinating is its ability to evoke visceral reactions from people even when they know it's all made up. The horror in Hell House feels real. It's not upside-down crosses and some dopey Satan lookalike. It's a house utterly besmirched by debauchery, by elites with no desires beyond their own hedonism. It's the hateful, vile echoes of those elites reaching down through the years to torture others for no reason beyond the simple fact they can. It's unpleasant. And, more impressively, it's a good read. You'd be amazed how hard it is to find an author who can manage both.
Is it problematic, in a way that can't be excused just by pointing out that a pervert murder ghost from the 1920s probably isn't very PC? Absolutely. And again, I firmly believe that if these topics are something you don't want to read about, then you shouldn't have to apologise for that. But, if you are comfortable looking past that, you will find an excellent haunted house novel that rivals even Haunting of Hill House - if not in writing quality, than at least in sheer skin-crawling unease.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Homophobia, and Rape
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
mainereading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror
brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
childofmongreldogs's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The writing was good. I love Richard Matheson's short fiction so it wasn't a problem with the actual quality of the prose itself which has me feeling a certain kind of way about this novel. I will also say that the actual storyline itself was good as well. The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. This feels like the definition of a genre. The ultimate kind of haunted house story.
The way I was on edge throughout the story was next level. Not really terrifying but I think that a lot of the tension was well done. I think that Matheson was an absolutely phenomenal writer.
I just can't jive with horror novels from this era, I think. There's too much that is bad writing to me because it fundamentally misunderstands certain people. I know that that is a controversial opinion to have: I don't like this novel because it's depiction of women is bad and it's depiction of the LGBT group is bad and it's depiction of people other than white straight men is bad, but it is what it is.
There's always a lot of handwringing and excuses for it being a different time so having an indigenous man's spirit talk like a cave man, a possible lesbian be a lesbian because she was sexually molested, and have women be generally overly emotional and easy to control (among other things like in other novels) is just something we have to forgive, just a quirk of the time, instead of being seen as a legitimate problem in the writing.
Is this the worst offender of these issues? Probably not. I'm currently reading one that's even worse, really, from a fundamental level. The problem though is that being slightly better or on the lighter end of awful for the time period isn't enough for me to forgive that form of writing. I think there's a place for making things uncomfortable for the reader, but it was lazy even then to make it uncomfortable for women by simply filling the story with violent rape of the female characters.
I can see that there's some aspects of this novel that are really good and interesting. It doesn't make up for the "problematic" nature of the novel in other ways for me.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
kantestadros's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
dylpickles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abortion, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail