novelyjaded's reviews
517 reviews

Rumors about Hill House have been around for years, none too pleasant rumors at that. Someone has finally decided to see if those rumors are true. An unlikely group gather at Hill House to spend the summer and see if they can discover its secrets. 

 

One of things that makes THHH so creepy is it’s plausibility, if you believe in the supernatural. The events that occur could be explained by the odd construction of the house but some of them are just improbable enough that it’s easy to attribute them to something unnatural, something supernatural. 

Very reminiscent of The Shining in some ways. The house felt like it was an entity all to itself that prayed on those it could keep lost in its halls. 

 

But I was left unsatisfied in the end. I felt that there was so much build up only to be left with the sensation that the rug had been pulled out from under me. I wanted to know more and discover all the secrets that the house had to hold. 

Book Review 

 

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina 

 

This book is a beautiful description of how the grieving process affects people differently. It also stresses that there is no one right way to grieve; each person must grieve in their own way and in their own time. 

But it also goes beyond grieve and sadness. This book shows that acceptance and joy after grief is possible. 

 

Yui’s life is forever changed by the tsunami that tore apart Japan in March 2011. She is left alone, struggling to come to terms with her new reality. Until one day she hears about a phone booth in a garden at the edge of the world. People travel far and wide to use this phone to talk to those who they have loved and lost. Yui decides to make her own pilgrimage to this phone booth and it changes the course of her life. 

 

This is a powerful book. I could feel Yui’s grief and anxiety and hopelessness. But I could also feel her moments of joy and surprise. It’s a powerful book that can evoke such emotional reactions. 

The prose is poignant and beautifully written. If you have ever lost someone, you will feel a cathartic release upon reading this book. It may bring up some unwanted emotions but it doesn’t leave you there. It helps you traverse the stages of grief, or at the very least see that there is a way out of what can seem like a bottomless pit of sorrow. 

 

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️