We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *We Have Always Lived in the Castle* features excellent writing and a distinctive narrative voice, especially through Merricat. They agree...
Gothic novel? Ghost story? Whatever it is, it’s not as scary as I believed it was supposed to be. Up until about the middle of the book, I was bored. But, then the story picked up and was quite entertaining. Definitely a screwed up family.
CONFUSED! Is what I'm after finishing this novel. This Novel does showcase some excellent writing and story telling skills by the author.
Chapter 1needed my utmost attention and I had to slow down my reading pace to understand all those directions and the story because there was a lot going on. From the chapter 2,the story began to flow more easily and was able to pick up some pace with my reading, by chapter 5, I was enjoying the story with the entry of cousin Charles and Merricat's attempts to frighten him with all that poison talk. By Chapter 7, I was back to the blurb in search of some missing element, like a plot or some kind of purpose or meaning to this story but failed to find any and by chapter 9, this book began to wear me out in terms of reading, I had to put it down and pick it back up a couple of times. This is how I actually felt at each of these stages throughout this book.
Though I enjoyed the writing and the narration from Merricat's POV but as far as the story goes, this book just didn't make sense to me. There was no plot or purpose as to why the characters behaved it a particular manner, were they dead or alive, I had no clue. It was absolutely not a horror story and was very childish. And the ending just went on in circles and the chapters grew longer and tiresome to get through. The book just left me with a lot of unanswered questions.
I personally wouldn't recommend this book unless you are looking for a good piece of writing.
Chapter 1needed my utmost attention and I had to slow down my reading pace to understand all those directions and the story because there was a lot going on. From the chapter 2,the story began to flow more easily and was able to pick up some pace with my reading, by chapter 5, I was enjoying the story with the entry of cousin Charles and Merricat's attempts to frighten him with all that poison talk. By Chapter 7, I was back to the blurb in search of some missing element, like a plot or some kind of purpose or meaning to this story but failed to find any and by chapter 9, this book began to wear me out in terms of reading, I had to put it down and pick it back up a couple of times. This is how I actually felt at each of these stages throughout this book.
Though I enjoyed the writing and the narration from Merricat's POV but as far as the story goes, this book just didn't make sense to me. There was no plot or purpose as to why the characters behaved it a particular manner, were they dead or alive, I had no clue. It was absolutely not a horror story and was very childish. And the ending just went on in circles and the chapters grew longer and tiresome to get through. The book just left me with a lot of unanswered questions.
I personally wouldn't recommend this book unless you are looking for a good piece of writing.
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