Jan 2017
We have always lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson - Penguin Classics, 2009 (Kindle edition)
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I can't help but suspect that Jackson must have had an evil grin on her face for the entire time that she wrote this, because it is a masterpiece of dark humour. Ostensibly it is the story of a rather odd teenage girl, Mary Katherine (Merricat) Blackwood, who lives with her sister and her uncle Julian in a ramshackle house in rural New England. As she says in the first paragraph, "I like my sister, Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."
And so it continues, with little details, like the "safeguards" that Merricat buries in the grounds of the house, adding to the unsettling atmosphere. To a modern reader, Merricat shows several autistic traits, but to classify her as simply being on the spectrum would be a disservice. You could just as easily say that she's a witch, with her fetishes and her words of protection, but that's not really true either. Constance is also a fascinating character, a loving sister who is seemingly a doormat but is strong in her own way.
There is a mystery with a fairly obvious resolution, but that is not really the point of the book. It's about a strong relationship between two women and an atmospheric location. To analyse it more would be to spoil it, and Merricat would not approve. And you don't want to annoy Merricat. You really don't.
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