Is The Haunting of Hillhouse Netflix Series Anything Like the Book?

A couple of weeks ago, I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, the book that the very popular Netflix series is based on. I was curious to see how similar it was to the TV series, and I have also been in a horror book mood lately so it was a perfect pick. It is spooky season, isn’t it? Anyway, I wasn’t too sure what I was going to feel about the book, but I ended up enjoying it. It was not terrifying in any sense of the word, but it was enjoyable enough for me to give it a 3.5/5 star rating. You can see my full review of this book on my other blog, here.

The saying always goes, “the book is better than the movie.” This is why I usually like to read the book first, but in this case, I had actually watched the series a year ago. But, lucky for me, I have the memory of a squirrel, so I remembered little about the series before I read the book. I like to be surprised.

So, if you don’t feel like reading the book to see if they were similar or not, you can continue reading to find out.

There will be spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t watched or read The Haunting of Hill House, and you care about spoilers, I would avoid this post. But thanks for stopping by anyway!

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Alright, I am just going to start this post off with my decision: No they are not anything alike. And I will tell you why.

What was similar?

The character names. The fact that Nellie dies. The house.

What was different?

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, we can talk about what was changed between the book and the series.

Before I start, I love it when adaptations of books are way off from the thing they are emulating. It is called an adaptation for a reason, I love it when film and tv creators take liberties. So I am not mad LOL!

Okay, so. Like I said, the character’s names were the same. But that is where those similarities end. The characters in the book are not family as they are in the Netflix series. The premise of the book is a psychologist bringing random people to a house to study the haunted effects it has. The series is a family plagued by memories of the haunted house they lived in as a kid.

Not only are the characters now family in the series, they are also very different from their bookish counterparts. Theo is eccentric, light-hearted, and wild in the book. In the series, she is tightly wound and serious. Nellie is also very different. Shirley and Steve don’t even exist in the book, but I can guess where the name Shirley came from. Steve should have been named Jack…

One intangible difference that I felt between the book and the series was the connection to the characters. Not a lot happens in the book. They experience haunted things. But in the Netflix series, the viewer gets to experience the grief, love, and fighting of this family, and they get to understand how they got to the place they are in. I felt such a deeper connection to the stories and characters in the series than in the novel. I also feel like that connection was made deeper because the characters were made to be family.

I almost feel as though I got more context in the series, which is rare. Normally the book goes into more depth, but not for The Haunting of Hill House. It is a relatively short book, but still surprising.

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I am honestly such a fan of both the book and the Netflix series for The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. They were both so different from one another, but the central theme of this bizarre, uncomfortable house with strange rooms and hallways was there, tying these two stories together.

I have also just finished watching The Haunting of Bly Manor by the same creators. It was equally as spooky and confusing and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed it.

Have you seen The Haunting of Hill House or The Haunting of Bly Manor yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!