Customer Reviews

Woman in Black (Lib)

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The most similar book I can compare this to is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Like that book, The Woman in Black starts peacefully and builds up to a frightening crescendo that will "haunt" you long after you put the book down. Another similarity in the books is the tremendous sense of atmosphere. Eel Marsh House, where the haunting takes place, is set off by itself in flat, bleak, marshy wetlands and is connected to drier land by a single causeway, which becomes completely covered by water when the tide is high. When the protagonist, the young and foolishly stubborn lawyer Arthur K., sets off to spend a few days sorting out old documents by himself in the isolated mansion, you just want to scream, "Are you crazy? Don't stay there overnight, you idiot!" I particularly liked the way the spectral happenings were presented. There is no blood, no gore, just a brooding sense of evil and mystery. I also enjoyed the relationships Arthur establishes with the kindly Samuel Daily, a local landowner, and the little dog Spider that Samuel lends to him to keep him company in his ill-advised sojourn to the haunted house. All in all, a wonderfully-written ghost story that would appeal to those who find Stephen King's more lurid and less subtle books a bit distasteful.

I discovered this really disturbing, truly scary ghost story just in time for Halloween. Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" is probably the only other novel that terrified me as much as "The Woman In Black" by Susan Hill. Set in Victorian England, this atmospheric, supernatural tale of evil, terror and revenge sent chills down my spine on more than one occasion.

Ms. Hill begins her well-written narrative happily enough in the home of Arthur Kipps, who is surrounded by his loving wife and family for the Christmas holidays at their country home, Monk's Piece. Kipps is a full partner at a prestigious London law firm. Esme is his second wife. He lost his first love as a very young man. It is Christmas Eve and the grandchildren are all in bed. Their young parents, the Kipps' grown children, gather around the fire for a cozy ghost story session. At one point Kipps, obviously agitated, gets up, leaves the room and goes outside. He has hidden something significant about his past from his wife and family for years now - a tragically real ghost story of "haunting and evil, fear, confusion and horror" - of which he was a part. These events will certainly effect him all the days of his life. Kipps realizes that for his own peace of mind it is time to write his experience down and exorcise the demons, at last. He had hoped this inextricable part of his life would never have to be consciously recollected...but it is time. He decides that, at least during his lifetime, the tale will remain for his eyes only, and so he begins to write. He is our narrator.

At the very beginning of his career, many years before, Arthur Kipps, an energetic, idealistic junior solicitor was sent by his employer to attend the funeral of an elderly widow woman, Mrs. Drablow, one of the firms former clients. As the deceased owned property, including her home on the salt marshes near the town of Crythin Gifford, and had no heirs, no children or extended family, Kipps was asked to go and sort through her papers, and generally tidy-up the old woman's affairs. The Drablow manse, called Eel Marsh House, is quite isolated, situated in the middle of an estuary, connected to the mainland only by the Nine Lives Causeway, a small pathway barely visible through the marshes and quicksand, and only navigable a few hours a day. The road is underwater the rest of the time due to the strong tides.

It was at the funeral that Arthur Kipps first saw the tall, emaciated woman dressed in black. Despite his many questions to the locals, they refused to discuss the woman or address his concerns surrounding the Drabnow house, although they were extremely amiable and ready to speak out on every other topic. Suffice it to say/write that at the funeral, Kipps was the only one to see the woman in black. No one else even glimpsed what was so apparent to him. Obviously, as his work led him to spend time at Eel Marsh house, (What a creepy name!), there were to be be many more surreal episodes, each more frightening and dangerous in nature. Although these encounters are really scary, there is a mystery here also. Who is this mysterious woman...and if she is a ghost, why can she find no peace? The puzzle and ultimate denouement really left my mouth hanging open - after I let out a small scream! Good stuff, if you like to be scared...REALLY scared!

The author packs this novel with twists, turns and the unexpected at almost every turn of the page. The description of the brooding countryside, the house and surrounding marshes is at times beautiful, but always spooky. There were a few occasions when I wanted to shut my eyes - but unlike a scary movie, if one shuts one's eyes while reading, well it gets too dark to continue.

Arthur Kipps is an intelligent, level-headed man, not much given to drama or a belief in the supernatural. Thus the outright terror he experiences causes more consternation than it would coming from another character. At one point he reflects back, "It was true that the ghastly sounds I had heard through the fog had greatly upset me but far worse was what emanated from and surrounded these things and arose to unsteady me, an atmosphere, a force - I do not know exactly what to call it - of evil and uncleanness, of terror and suffering, of malevolence and bitter anger."

An excellent ghost story - little blood and gore, lots of fright. Highly recommended!
JANA

I first saw this as a Broadway play, and it has been to this date the only theatre piece that gave me nightmares. I could not wait to read the novel, and just as the play was, it scared me senseless.

The novel plays heavily on atmosphere and mood. Susan Hill brings the black moors surrounding the Eel Marsh Hosue to life with vivid imagery. It's a "beautiful" setting for the frightening ghost that lives there. The characters are incredibly realistic and interesting to follow. You feel for Arthur Kipps in his trials and tribulations dealing with the Woman in Black in Eeel Marsh House. All in all, a wonderful ghost story that seems as if it should've been written by Jane Austen.

In the tradition of M.R. James, Hill's modern classic ghost story of a clueless Victorian lawyer who unwittingly crosses paths with a malevolent spirit suggests much, builds to a suspenseful intensity and then explodes abruptly and terribly. It will haunt you; it has me for years. Highly, highly recommended.

I like ghost stories that are more psychological than violent. This one fits the bill, almost. The 1st 3/4s of the book are exactly what I wanted - atmospheric, chilling, some parts actually made me put the book down for a while until my nerves settled. So why 3 stars? Thanks for asking. The ending was an enormous let down. It was telegraphed (I saw it coming before the protganist even begins recounting his story), and although tragic, it is completely missing the terror and dread of the rest of the book. To make matters worse, the logical flow of the ending actually undercuts the rest of the story. Very frustrating. If Ms. Hill had just known when to stop this would have gone on my list of great ghost stories. 4 stars for the 1st 3/4s of the book, 1 star for the ending.

There's something irresistable about a really well-written ghost story - the mysteries of the supernatural that we'd all like to believe while perhaps never wanting to experience in full.

And "The Woman in Black" is the classic English ghost story: a creepy, damply atmospheric tale set in the traditional moors complete with the obligatory haunted house. This told in the style of Jane Austen, this is a period piece set in a slightly more contemporary early 20th Century. Arthur Kipps, a London solicitor, is now retired and living is final days in peace and tranquility surrounded by a second family in his country estate. He recounts the harrowing events he experienced as a young man that irrevocably changed his life - a tale so unsettling that only now, near his life's end, is he able to tell it.

Decades prior, he is assigned by his employer to visit Crythen Gifford, a remote village in eastern village, to settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow in her even more remote Eel Marsh House - an apparently benign and uninteresting task. But as in all good ghost stories, the terror is meted out gradually, building from veiled warnings to a final climax of bone jarring terror. But setting this apart of the average supernatural tale is an unexpected final twist that will keep this story in your subconscious long after other books have faded.

So successful was this book that it was the basis for an extraordinary play running in London for a streak that has broken all record, as well as a movie of the same name. For all fans of traditional gothic horror, a must read.

This book is perhaps one of the best ghost stories ever written. It's what most authors hope their manuscripts will grow up to be. This book made me nervous. It's painfully suspensful. There are times you know what's coming and you have to stop reading for a minute, but it comes, and worse than you thought. This friends is some book from it's traditional gothic opening thru each shattering moment. You will never regret buying this book.

Simply one of the most elegant ghost stories ever written, subtle, genteel, and remarkably frightening. Reminds us that the things we can't see, like the proverbial something under the bed, can be far more terrifying than those we can. A must read for ghost story enthusiasts; but not to be read when you are alone in the house in the dark unless you are very brave - or very foolish.

For me, the book's strength is in the character of Arthur Kipps. He's immensely likable and level-headed -- I wouldn't mind meeting him again in another book.

What I liked best about the character is that it was so easy to relate to him. He's naturally skeptical when first presented with the possibility of a haunting, but unlike characters in other books, who dither around refusing to believe their senses, putting themselves in danger for no good reason, Arthur accepts the evidence and deals with it.

I could also relate to the premise of the haunting itself. If something similar had happened to me, I might haunt a place too. It was heartbreaking, and I felt myself sympathizing with the ghost.

I read the book in one sitting and left a lot of lights on when I went to bed. It's the best ghost story I've read in years, and as others have said, it's right up there with Shirley Jackson's book.

Guaranteed good read!

A story of rainy, salt-spray marshes, twisted lives, and tragic deaths. The most frightening aspect of this story is what is implied...not stated. A great, quick read for grown-ups, and teens as well.