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.
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I think I was a little let down because I was hoping for something supernatural, but the real "scares" here are prejudice, mob mentality, and young girls with a loose grip of reality.
I don't know how to feel about this book. I feel very conflicted. On the one hand, I'm repulsed, but on the other hand, I feel sorrowful.
The plot revolves around Mary Katherine, who is clearly mentally unstable. She lives with her older sister, Constance, and their wheelchair-bound uncle, Julian. It seemed unclear to me how old Merricat was, but Constance was about 28, I think. They live alone because someone poisoned the sugar with arsenic a few years back, and the rest of their family all died. Uncle Julian was paralyzed and, it seems, a little addled.
On the one hand, murder. And lots of fantasies about murdering the local peoples.
On the other hand, the locals aren't nice people. And the Blackwoods seem like they just want to be left alone.
At the end, I just feel bad. The end.
The plot revolves around Mary Katherine, who is clearly mentally unstable. She lives with her older sister, Constance, and their wheelchair-bound uncle, Julian. It seemed unclear to me how old Merricat was, but Constance was about 28, I think. They live alone because someone poisoned the sugar with arsenic a few years back, and the rest of their family all died. Uncle Julian was paralyzed and, it seems, a little addled.
On the one hand, murder. And lots of fantasies about murdering the local peoples.
On the other hand, the locals aren't nice people. And the Blackwoods seem like they just want to be left alone.
At the end, I just feel bad. The end.
I kind of get what everyone loves about this book, but it really just wasn’t my cup of tea. I couldn’t have cared less about the characters, I didn’t enjoy spending time in Merricat’s head, and I saw the twist coming about a mile off. The last couple chapters had a bit of interesting social commentary (bc this is Shirley Jackson, after all). But not enough to redeem the rest of the book, which I just found too tedious.
I think I liked this one better than The Haunting of Hill House, if that's possible.
This book doesn't overtly answer a lot of questions, so I feel like I'll be reading it a second or third time to catch any hints at the why's.
I suppose, like any good scandal, we are left to draw our own conclusions with the scraps of information we get.
This book reminds me of Coraline and The Secret Garden, if only because it's a spooky story with young people centered in a house, with some very unstable families.
This book doesn't overtly answer a lot of questions, so I feel like I'll be reading it a second or third time to catch any hints at the why's.
I suppose, like any good scandal, we are left to draw our own conclusions with the scraps of information we get.
This book reminds me of Coraline and The Secret Garden, if only because it's a spooky story with young people centered in a house, with some very unstable families.
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