House of Hollow

Gothic literature explores fear and hauntings, the nature of reality, morality, and the supernatural, as well as the boundaries between life and death and the past and present. Classic works like Dracula and Frankenstein are hallmarks of the Gothic canon, highlighting the horror and curiosities of the supernatural. Though apparitions, haunted houses, nightmares, vampires, and werewolves are all Gothic elements, the genre doesn’t need to be so removed from reality; stories simply need to possess some element of the unnatural or the uncanny, which tends to build suspense and curiosity for readers as they try to solve often frightening and thrilling mysteries.

House of Hollow can be considered a modern Gothic, as the plot and themes revolve around the Hollow sisters’ supernatural powers and mysterious past, which leads to a discovery with immoral implications—the murder of the real Hollow sisters. The premise drips with Gothic elements, and as the plot intensifies, so do the mentions of dark fairy tale elements (such as the horned beast who kidnapped Grey, carrion flowers, and the girls’ second skin) and an unknown world beyond reality. Iris’s reality changes drastically once she’s taken to the uncanny Halfway. The Halfway is a place of Gothic horrors, a liminal purgatory that the deceased must pass through, making the physical setting of some scenes a place between life and death and outside of time—a literal interpretation of Gothic themes

Various supernatural elements lead to the novel’s climax, in which Iris learns the truth about Grey’s actions and is filled with guilt over taking Iris Hollow’s form as a changeling. The Gothic tradition is a fitting lens through which to analyze the novel, as past and present, guilt and victimization, and otherworldly beasts and reality are all explored and embodied by Iris, Vivi, and Grey.