Reviews

"The prevailing mood was one of keen excitement; no one there really wanted Caroline Desmond safe at home, although Mrs. Perlman said crooningly behind Marilyn, “The poor, poor woman,” and Mrs. Donald said again, “If we’d only known in time.” Pleasure was in the feeling that the terrors of the night, the jungle, had come close to their safe lighted homes, touched them nearly, and departed, leaving every family safe but one; an acute physical pleasure like a pain, which made them all regard Mr. Desmond greedily, and then turn their eyes away with guilt."

cat_thecatlady's review against another edition

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2.0

don’t know if it was my overall feel of slump or the book itself, but regardless, this was the only shirley jackson book I really didn’t like. there’s really nothing going on and the character are so bland, they end up blending together. the ending was interesting and the overall weird atmosphere kept me going but this first book of jackson really wasn’t it

noirbettie's review

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2.0

This book is a mess. Shirley clearly had not yet come into her stride as a writer.

aezhuno's review against another edition

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3.0

Interesting enough and an easy read, but the denouement was much less dramatic than I expected from Shirley Jackson.

bubblescotch's review against another edition

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Haven't had a chance to pick it up in a few days so I'll just start over. Hngh.

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