It's clear why this is a classic. I had a lot of fun reading this and realizing just how many pieces of modern horror are clearly inspired by this, or make callbacks to this.

I loved the symbolism and the metaphor. I think writing the haunted house almost like its own character and tying it into the mental health decline of the main protagonist so interesting and especially inventive for its time. Eleanor is entirely unreliable, and it's unclear if any of the hauntings were real at all. I always think obviously unreliable protagonists are extremely fun, it makes you want to reread certain passages and try to pick apart things that happen.

I found Eleanor to be a very sympathetic main character. She's socially awkward, shy, and comes from profound trauma that leaves her feeling like she doesn't belong, constantly second-guessing her actions and wondering how others perceive her. I think a lot of people can relate to her. By the end of the book, although she's not a perfect character by any means, I felt an immense sadness for her.

However, I admittedly had trouble motivating myself to pick this up because of the writing style. It wasn't clear to me where the story was going, and I was expecting more tension and, well, horror. But this is more like a slow burn psychological thriller. The tension is definitely there but not in the way I expected. I honestly think if this were a longer work, I would have given it up. 

BUT the author makes up for it with tight prose and clipped dialogue. She doesn't spend too much time on the minutiae of descriptions or over-explaining her characters' thoughts and feelings. She definitely knows how to use her prose to create a feeling of claustrophobia, so you almost feel like you're going mad alongside the main character.

The ending was jaw-dropping. I had no idea where it was going but it was super satisfying in a wicked way.