We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I can't remember exactly when I purchased We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but I do remember why I picked it up off the shelf. That cover! I didn't know anything about Shirley Jackson, but I loved the creepy illustration on the front. I took it home with me and even started reading it, but for some reason I never got past the first few pages (my fault, not the book's). The cover art still intrigued me though, so I knew I'd get back to it one day. I put in on my Classics Club list last year and I decided that now was the time to give it a try.

The plot concerns the troubled and mysterious Blackwood family. When the story begins, the youngest remaining Blackwood, Mary Katherine (or Merricat as she likes to be called), is heading into town to pick up groceries and choose library books for her household. Merricat is eighteen and she lives with her older sister Constance and her infirm uncle Julian in a large, older home at the edge of town. As Merricat goes about her errands, it becomes obvious that there's something odd about her family. The townspeople react to her with either fear or outright rudeness and children playing in the street sing creepy nursery rhymes about her as she passes by. Merricat makes up odd little games and sayings in her head to get back home safely. The entire trip emits a distinctive, foreboding feeling.

Once Merricat makes it home, more details slowly begin to emerge about her family. Years ago, most of the Blackwoods were murdered in a poisoning incident. Arsenic was mixed into the sugar they were all using for dinner one night. A total of four people died, including Merricat's mother and father. The only survivors of the incident were Constance and Uncle Julian, who didn't use much, if any, sugar, and Merricat herself, who didn't eat her dinner as she was sent to her room as punishment for something. Constance was put on trial for the murders, as she was the one who prepared the food that night, but she wasn't prosecuted due to a lack of evidence and the general belief that such a nice, innocent girl wouldn't do such a thing. She was, however, found guilty in the court of public opinion. As a result, the townspeople give the family a wide berth, hence Merricat's poor treatment in town.

The trauma of the trial has left Constance broken. She refuses to leave the house at all and spends most of her days doing chores, cooking, gardening, and caring for her uncle. Julian, who is ill and most likely suffering from dementia, constantly relives the day that most of his family members died and obsessively works on writing a history of the incident. Merrikat, despite being a young adult, acts like a mischievous child. There is something otherworldly about her behavior. She buries small personal items to protect the house, makes up odd rules for herself regarding what she can and can't do, thinks up magical words of protection to keep her family safe, and smashes things when she gets upset. As Merricat is the only narrator, her unusual point of view lends a feeling of oddness and unreliability to the story.

The three Blackwoods are getting along fine, in their own weird way, until the arrival of a guest disrupts their routine. Charles, their estranged cousin, arrives at their home and inserts himself into their family. He claims to be there to help them in the wake of the poisoning. Merricat instantly hates him and sees him as a demon, but Constance is willing to welcome him in. At first, his presence seems like it might help nudge them back towards some sort of normalcy, but it becomes obvious after a time that he has some ulterior motives behind his visit. His increasingly distasteful actions set Merricat on a quest to try and send him away that ends up having weighty consequences for the family.

This story was weird and wonderful. It's a slim little novel, but it manages to leave quite an impression within its 146 pages. I was completely engaged from beginning to end with it. The whole mood of the novel is so surreal, and Merricat's narrative voice is so odd, that you can't really know what's actually happening and what is just a quirk of her imagination. It seems obvious that she is mentally ill, but she holds so fast to her beliefs and the rest of her family is so eccentric, that you are constantly second-guessing yourself about story events.

As the novel is so short, nothing feels superfluous and nothing gets boring. Shirley Jackson does a wonderful job of creating a heavy atmosphere packed with story elements that make you think. There is a surprising amount of emotion stirred up in this story; this isn't merely a creepy, entertaining read. Themes of guilt, judgement, isolation, and kindness move throughout it's plot, raising all kinds of questions about what's right and wrong for the Blackwood family. I genuinely felt bad for Constance and Merricat, and was rooting for them to be okay as I read.

I generally wrap up my reviews by mentioning a few story elements that I didn't like or was confused by, but I really can't find anything to criticize in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This was one instance where the beautiful cover completely lived up to the story inside. This is the kind of classic that's fun to read, keeps you guessing, and gives you that unbalanced, weird feeling that comes with truly creepy books. This is a new favorite for me, and I'm quite glad that I chose it as one of my Classics Club reads.


Challenge Tally:  
Classics Club (#80 on my list): 30/100 

Total Books Read in 2018: 27