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A review by leaflinglearns
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
5.0
This book is horrifying. But the characters who live in the Blackwood house are actually the quirkiest ever. Merricat, the main character, is super into magic words, not allowing herself to go into certain rooms, and poisonous mushrooms. Just normal 18-year-old girl stuff. Her cat is her best friend, so it's easy to relate.
Anyway, this book is a big, weird puzzle surrounding the death of her family due to arsenic put in the sugar bowl. Her sister was arrested for it, but got acquitted. Now the two girls and their uncle rarely leave the big, old house. You'll be immediately sucked into how creepy and bizarre they all are, and you'll need to keep reading as fast as you can to figure out what's going on. If you haven't read Shirley Jackson before, read her short story "The Lottery" then this. Also, this book has the greatest opening paragraph of all time:
"My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Robert Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."
Merricat, you have my heart.
Read more: 5 Quirky Books to Make You Feel Normal
Anyway, this book is a big, weird puzzle surrounding the death of her family due to arsenic put in the sugar bowl. Her sister was arrested for it, but got acquitted. Now the two girls and their uncle rarely leave the big, old house. You'll be immediately sucked into how creepy and bizarre they all are, and you'll need to keep reading as fast as you can to figure out what's going on. If you haven't read Shirley Jackson before, read her short story "The Lottery" then this. Also, this book has the greatest opening paragraph of all time:
"My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Robert Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."
Merricat, you have my heart.
Read more: 5 Quirky Books to Make You Feel Normal