Hell House by Richard Matheson and Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson are two 20th-century horror novels centered around haunted houses. Albeit on the same subject, the two books have a lot of differences and both contribute their fair share to the genre. The horror genre in itself is an integral part of literature that creates suspense and terror in a reader, creating an experience that can not be emulated by other genres. These two books, especially Matheson’s Hill House, are prime examples of how a reader can experience that frightening on-the-edge-of-your-seat experience because of this unique genre. It is easy to assume that given two novels on the same general subject, it may be challenging to get a varied feel of the horror genre. However, although both books being discussed are haunted house novels, they are very different experiences to read and therefore are not as limiting as one may expect. Haunting of Hill House is a much less graphic and horrific experience and shows a more tame style of horror. This book leaves a reader wondering what’s going to …show more content…
Although other genres can keep you captivated too, none of them have the capability to give you nightmares in the way a horror book does. Another difference contrasting scary books from other books is that horror novels oftentimes have major events happening in them frequently throughout the book as well, whereas other books have few major events and just continuous storylines. For example, although not the case in either Hell House or Haunting of Hill House, in many horror books, people die many times throughout the novel. In other types of novels though, usually, if a death occurs, it is only one death, which the plot then centers around, whereas in horror the novel does not center around the major events like