Monday, October 31, 2011

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson

Read: October 21-27, 2011
read in 6 days
pages: 214

File:WeHaveAlwaysLivedInTheCastle.JPG

This story was just all kinds of strange. The characters were weird. You could tell when reading it that the family was just a little off. Not that that gave the town any reason to treat them as they did, however it sure explains alot. I liked the sisters. I found the uncle to be very strange and I really disliked the cousin that shows up on their doorstep. And I'm a little happy to find his stuff destroyed in the fire thanks to little sis and happy to see he is displaced from the home!

I was a bit let down that the tragic event that took place is never replayed as things happened in the moment. Things are recounted a few times over the course of the novel through the uncle's memories and the sisters at one point, but given the distance of the retelling it had little chill effect aside from the nonchalance with which the sisters and uncle speak of the event as though it were not too horrible.

The book was not fantastic but its wasn't bad either. Nothing I'm likely to re-read, and not really sure I could recommend it to anyone because I'm not sure who would really enjoy it. What I liked was reading something else by Shirley Jackson. I remember reading her short story The Lottery in high school and I liked it. So this was a nice addition to being a little more familiar with the author. I would like to read another one of her novels like The Haunting of Hill House. One day. Not likely one I'll read too soon though.

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