I typically choose my reading material from browsing. I scan through Amazon’s lists reading blurbs and reviews and impulse buy from their options. Sometimes I even make it to an actual brick and mortar store and select books from their shelves, though usually if I’m buying from a book store it’s literary journals I’m going for.
Lately, however, I have been taking recommendations from people I don’t know. In this case, the writer from a webcomic, asofterworld.com, that I like to read mentioned on his site that he enjoyed Jackson’s 1962 short novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Having read Jackson’s short story The Lottery like every other American citizen and enjoyed it I decided to take his recommendation and request the book as a Christmas present.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a quick read about a young girl, her older sister, and their dying uncle living alone in a large house. Ever since the mass-poisoning of the other Blackwood family members the remaining three have been ostracized by the villagers and are forced to keep to themselves.
Told from the perspective of the young Mary Katherine (Merricat) we are shown the dark side of humanity and mob mentality. Mary Katherine is bullied when she goes into town for groceries, not just by meddlesome children but by their parents, as well.
The Blackwood girls are far from innocent, however. It is assumed that Mary Katherine’s older sister Constance intentionally put arsenic in the sugar, causing the death of almost her entire family. Mary Katherine hates the villagers and often wishes them dead while taking great pleasure in making people uncomfortable by offering them sugar for their tea and making other rather dark jokes about her family tragedy.
It’s a captivating story, dark and a little amusing. Jackson has a great way of drawing out characters that are simultaneously creepy and lovable. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a great option for lovers of The Lottery and anyone who wants a fun, quick read.
Bent Shelf Book Reviews 