July 2018: Shirley Jackson

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July 2018: Shirley Jackson

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1sweetiegherkin
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 25, 2018, 2:47 pm

For this month, we'll be reading the works of Shirley Jackson. I for one am very excited that this author was nominated as I've heard so many good things over the years and just have never managed to find the time to read one of her books.

With a movie version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle coming out sometime this year, I plan on reading this title.

edited to fix touchstone

2sweetiegherkin
Apr. 10, 2018, 8:39 am

So I got a little ahead of schedule, based on what audiobooks were available at my library first. At any rate, I checked out and listened to We Have Always Lived in the Castle already. It's a quick read, as the book is rather short and it's very interesting.

This book is about the Blackwood family, six years after arsenic poison killed off most of the family one evening. The remaining family members isolate themselves from the rest of their small town. These few are:
- Constance, a 30-something woman, who never leaves the house after being acquitted of murdering her family;
- Mary Katherine ("Merricat"), an 18-year-old woman, who adores her older sister Connie and the only member of the family who adventures out to the village to secure their essentials;
- and Uncle Julian, an elderly man, who is obsessed with the death of his family and keeps extensive notes with every detail of their last day.
All is as "right" as can be with this trio until a stranger appears at their doorstep one day, changing everything.

I noticed one review here on LibraryThing referred to the book as "unsettling," which I think is an apt description. It's not exactly a horror book, not a exactly a mystery, and not exactly a thriller, but is somehow a combination of all three genres. I am left with a couple of questions and comments (spoilers hidden for those who haven't read this book yet):

-- The book was published in 1962, but I'm unsure what time is set during, although it seems it could be an earlier time period. Any thoughts?
-- In a book peopled with characters that were pretty awful, Charles takes the cake for worst of all. I absolutely couldn't stand him, and I'm glad that Connie eventually saw him for what he was, even if it was pretty much too late at that point.
-- That being said, Merricat herself could be annoying at times. I assume there is some sort of developmental delay or mental illness going on with her, especially given her magical thinking (e.g., protective items, her life "on the moon") and how the family limits what can she do (e.g., can't go in Uncle Julian's room), but her obsessive clinging to Constance and her temper tantrums were too much sometimes.
-- The big reveal that Merricat was actually the one who murdered the family wasn't actually a surprise, but I must confess I am baffled as to Connie's motives in never telling anyone and allowing herself to become Merricat's guardian. Again, given that I'm not sure what time period this is set in, perhaps the available options weren't great (Merricat was in an orphanage while Connie was on trial), but it seemed inevitable that Merricat's temper would get the best of her again and she would hurt others, so it would have been advisable to find a better solution for her (e.g., some type of medical care). Poor Constance blaming herself for everything all the time was hard to take, especially given that she was about the only character I liked in the whole book.
-- When Uncle Julian says that Merricat died with the others, for a split second I thought we had some weird The Sixth Sense thing going on, but then I realized he was saying this to unnerve Charles. However, later on in the book, Merricat makes mention in the narration that Uncle Julian thinks she's not around. Does he actually think this or did Merricat get confused? I seem to recall Julian never speaks or interacts with her, just Constance.
-- I want to say I'm shocked by the town people's response, as they all act like a bunch of playground bullies and it's so awfully cruel, but sadly I'm not surprised. People are awful. :/ My co-worker also read this book and said it gave him social anxiety. (He did say he did enjoy it though.)

I very much enjoyed this book and if time permits, I'll try to read about book by Jackson in July. I didn't realize until I looked an author's blurb that Jackson also wrote the short story "The Lottery." That was required reading in my junior high school curriculum, and let me tell you that's a story that stays with you!

3sweetiegherkin
Apr. 10, 2018, 8:46 am

Here are a couple of articles about the upcoming film version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/11/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle...

http://www.comingsoon.net/horror/news/755335-sebastian-stan-and-taissa-farmiga-o... (those costumes make me think it's set around the same time the book was released, more or less)

So far, I haven't seen anything more specific than "2018" as the release date.

4sparemethecensor
Apr. 10, 2018, 11:09 am

>2 sweetiegherkin: We Have Always Lived in the Castle is my favorite novel by Shirley Jackson and probably in my top ten novels ever. It's so compelling and atmospheric. I always assumed that it was set earlier than the 60s (perhaps the late 40s or 50s) and there was nowhere to send Merricat --- orphanages and mental institutions back then, both cures worse than the disease.

I'm not sure how it will translate to film given the revelations you have to uncover...I suppose we'll see!

5sweetiegherkin
Apr. 10, 2018, 7:16 pm

>4 sparemethecensor: Yes, it's quite possible it's set in the 40s or 50s, but for some reason I kept getting a Victorian vibe (as did my co-worker who also read it). I did quite enjoy it, and you're right I don't think the options for Merricat would have been great, but I guess I'm just somewhat surprised that Connie attempted nothing at all and pretended as though everything were fine. In fact, she might have ended up in jail herself by shielding Merricat!

And yes, I'm also wondering / skeptical about how well this will translate to film, but I am curious to see the result.

6sweetiegherkin
Jul. 14, 2018, 9:41 am

Still can't believe it's summer, and yet here we are half way through July already! Anyone reading any Shirley Jackson this month?

7sweetiegherkin
Jul. 14, 2018, 9:42 am

And, as far as I can tell, still no release date for the film version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. :/

8sweetiegherkin
Jul. 19, 2018, 6:46 pm

Did you know that there's a Shirley Jackson award given for psychological horror books? More info about this year's here: https://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/nominees/

9Yells
Jul. 20, 2018, 8:55 am

I have so many of hers on the shelf and really, really, really wanted to read one this month but I don't think I will get to it. Way too many projects going on.

I will definitely check out that site though. I love a good psychological horror!

10Yells
Bearbeitet: Jul. 20, 2018, 8:58 am

I did read The Haunting of Hill House a few years ago and it was awesomely spooky. She has a rather subtle way of scaring the pants off you.

I also read Life Among Savages and it was wonderful. Funny, honest and entertaining.

11elenchus
Jul. 20, 2018, 10:09 am

I recently completed We Have Always Lived In The Castle, and it was as odd and compelling as I'd hoped. Interesting to read in the Library of America chronology of Jackson's life that her life shared some strong parallels based on community reaction to her criticism of a local school teacher. I'd not known that before, and the LOA noted the parallel events without any comment so I don't know any more about it.

12sweetiegherkin
Jul. 28, 2018, 9:13 am

>11 elenchus: Hmm, that is interesting. I'm trying to find more info but haven't succeeded yet. Here's a little more background on her life though:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1214...
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/715...

13sweetiegherkin
Jul. 28, 2018, 9:14 am

>9 Yells: I hear you, there is never enough time! And this summer is just flying by! If you do read some later in the year, feel free to stop back over to this thread and share your thoughts :)

14elenchus
Jul. 28, 2018, 12:49 pm

>11 elenchus:
>12 sweetiegherkin:

Here's the relevant passage from the LOA Chronology, for the year 1956:
Jackson, noting odd and fearful behavior in eight-year-old Sally, believes her daughter and classmates are being physically abused and ritually humiliated by their second-grade teacher. After she and a handful of anxious fellow-parents gather corroborating evidence from their children, Jackson spearheads movement to oust the teacher. Meets with principal and schoolboard, who listen dispassionately but do not act, and is made a figure of fun and contempt by the teacher's many supporters and in local newspaper reports. Jackson's allegations are never proved, and they widen the rift between the Hymans and their North Bennington neighbors. In this and coming years, townsfolk will harass the Hymans with anonymous hate mail, soap their windows with swastikas, and repeatedly dump garbage into the bushes lining their front sidewalk. Feeling isolated, rejected, even hated by the community, Jackson becomes reluctant to leave the house, and everyday errands requiring social interaction --grocery shopping, trips to the post office-- are increasingly fraught with anxiety.
Jackson's husband Stanley was raised as a Jew though apparently professed atheism. Jackson published Castle in 1961, a novel "three years in the making" and in that respect not typical of her published work.

15sweetiegherkin
Jul. 29, 2018, 10:03 pm

>14 elenchus: It's mentioned here too:

But it was years later, after a much-publicized feud with the teacher of her third-grade daughter, that Jackson and her family were subjected to verbal harassment and vandalism in Bennington, including “even swastikas soaped on the windows”—painful material to be tilled into the rich soil of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. In his preface to The Magic of Shirley Jackson (1966), her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, remarked that Jackson “was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned ‘The Lottery,’ and she felt that they at least understood the story.”
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/10/27/shirley-jackson-in-love-death/

16Yells
Jul. 29, 2018, 11:14 pm

I was sick with a cold most of the weekend so unexpectedly found time to read (I guess there is always a silver lining!). I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle and the short story The Lottery (I have the more of her short stories but just read this one for now).

WHALiTC - I really enjoyed this one! I am not sure about the time period either but it felt a little modern; the family was certainly old-fashioned but the town itself didn't seem to be. I know it took place in the US but there was no talk about war or anything and I would have expected that to come up at some point if it was in the 40's. It definitely wasn't a horror but as usual, there is a subtle spookiness in there. The family's cavalier attitude towards the murder versus the reaction of the townspeople.

Spoiler alert:

As for the family, each one seemed to be dealing with some type of mental illness. I figured Constance was agoraphobic and clung to Merricat and Julian as they are all the remain of her once larger family. After the hectic trial, I think she just retreated to her safe place. She knew what happened but she was happy to have life fall back into routine again. Uncle Julian is older and senile. His brain seems to be on a never-ending loop. I felt bad for him because, really, how crappy is it that all he can think about is that night? And Merricat, well she loves her private little home and also craves routine but if something tries to interfere, she starts thinking of ways to take care of it. The fact that she poisoned the rest of the family tells me that she was targeting someone. She knew who would eat the sugar and who wouldn't. What if something was she done to her and she took that person plus those who ignored it out? This could explain why Constance had no fear of her later on.

17elenchus
Jul. 30, 2018, 9:03 am

>16 Yells: The fact that she poisoned the rest of the family tells me that she was targeting someone. She knew who would eat the sugar and who wouldn't.

It was noted several times that love from her parents seemed conditional to Merricat, that dinner was withheld and so forth. I took these hints as ambivalent, however: it's not clear whether Merricat's outlook was shaped by that impression, or was there all along.

Merricat displays classic symptoms of PTSD: first the magical thinking which defines the majority of the book, and after the fire, the OCD behaviors with the front door lock. I am curious whether PTSD (under whatever terminology) was clinically defined in the 1950s, didn't research that but suspect so since the First World War made "shell shock" a cultural reference point.

18Yells
Bearbeitet: Aug. 6, 2018, 10:14 pm

She would make a fascinating psychological study, wouldn't she? There is just so much going on in her world.

19sweetiegherkin
Aug. 17, 2018, 9:31 am

>16 Yells:, 17 Very thought-provoking points re: Merricat. Since we see if all from her POV and she's a somewhat unreliable narrator, who knows what she is holding back from us? It seemed like her parents just did a typical parent thing for the time(?) by withholding dinner, but Merricat reacts to the extreme. However, what if there was something else going on further back in time? That might help explain.

>16 Yells: It definitely wasn't a horror but as usual, there is a subtle spookiness in there.
My current audiobook is The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and it keeps reminding me a bit of We Have Always Lived in the Castle because it has that similar hint of the uncanny. I'm less than halfway through though, so that may change.

20sweetiegherkin
Sept. 17, 2018, 8:35 pm

FYI, this author's books are described as being in the same vein as Shirley Jackson's works. I have not read them myself so cannot confirm or deny.
https://bookriot.com/2018/08/31/nova-ren-suma-books/