A review by sophee_568
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I like Constance and Merricat as characters.  even uncle Julian is pretty cool. Jonas is the star of the book, naturally. i think all characters were well developed and the dialogue, although weird, seems quite fitting for them. Jackson was exquisite with her character building.
Honestly, i was captivated by Merricat. she is a child trapped in an adult persons body, obsessed with death and poisonous mushrooms and plants, too wrapped up in her magical thinking; and having her as a narrator really got to me. i liked her a lot, sided with her when Charles wanted to put some order in their lives, tried to find a reason for her

killing off almost her entire family, wanting to kill villagers, wanting to kill charles

. deep down, i knew something was wrong with her, but i couldnt admit it to myself. somehow i didnt find her guilty at all. i saw her as this misunderstood child who wants to be taken care of, when in fact she is a 18yr old young woman very well capable of taking care of herself, which she definitely doesnt or cant do. in the very first paragraph she states that she doesnt like to clean herself and later on that becomes obvious. i think merricat lives in a fragile world, made up of natural elements, spells, magical words, specific rules for keeping the house in order and love for her sister and cat. nothing outside of that matters, but if something were to disturb that delicate peace she established, she would resort to defensive mechanisms (murderous tendencies), which were quite specific to her only.