Shirley Jackson’s beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secretTaking 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 … new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.
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I listened to the audio version of this tale.
As usual, Shirley Jackson’s prose is out of this world. But not only is her prose fabulous, the way she tells this story puts her miles above most horror authors working today.
This tale is about the Blackwoods; a family living an isolated life outside a typical small town. The Blackwood family has been decimated by a tragedy which leaves only two sisters, Constance and Mary Catherine, living alone with their disabled uncle Julian.
That is all I will say about the plot. I prefer to let Ms. Jackson tell this tale of neuroses and tangled family obligations.
The narrator of this version was the same as the audio version of The Haunting of Hill House. Her name is Bernadette Dunn and she did an excellent job.
Highly Recommended!
Mary Kat and Constance live in their family home, where Constance cares for both Mary Kat and their disabled Uncle Julian. Constance has been acquitted of murdering the rest of their family by poisoning the meal. Cousin Charles shows up, and the lives of Constance, Mary Kat, and Uncle Julian are never the same.
This was a creepy, but not really scary, story. I kept waiting for the plot twist, but I had the twist figured out long before it came. I kept waiting for more to happen….but it didn’t.
So I gave Shirley Jackson a try … and was disappointed.
IDK if the Audible format prejudiced my “reading,” or if it enhanced it.
Wonderfully unsettling.