Just a page or two into this, but I’ve learned to try and post thoughts as quickly as possible (except in the case of Barthes, whose words I spend days disentangling to roll into some kind of ball that I can at least make a wild stab at interpreting).
This opening then, from Hill House:
No living organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. (p. 3)
So many great writing tools in use here. The hook: hinting at insanity which is always interesting as a topic. Throwing in larks and katydids, a reality that’s associated with peace, harmony, happy summer days and nights. That’s a nice contrast to insanity, no? And to assign them the ability to dream? And to put it out as a supposition? Brilliant work.
And then the coup-de-grace, bringing in Hill House as a living thing. If living, and living a long time, therefore, to endure it has to be insane.
Note the alliteration: larks and katydids–the hard k sound softened by the image of the words. And the next line: Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within. Could be lines in a poem.
Wonderfully well done. I know I’m going to enjoy this book; likely for the story, and most certainly for the writing skill.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology