shirley jackson’s commitment to describing buildings like leering little people is genuinely my favorite part of every one of her stories. obviously, hill house is not sane. hill house is the titular character. but the blackwood house is a character too, a towering extension of merricat and constance. the halloran mansion is a tomb and a safe haven and the last standing representation of a ‘civilized’ time within the halloran family. i’m reading life among savages right now and the way she describes fielding house… UGH. “when we saw it first it looked faintly ridiculous, and even the fences on either side and along the front leaned a little bit away from it, without actually renouncing it, as though they deplored it privately and yet wanted to present a unified front to the world of inhabitants.” UGHHHHH. shirley jackson you’re so right. all of suburban american life takes place inside of houses and they are often ugly, jutting things that were not made to suit the likes of you
