Scan barcode
A review by mariacandet
Come Along with Me: Classic Short Stories and an Unfinished Novel by Shirley Jackson
dark
funny
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is such an exceptional collection. Come Along With Me showed so much promise; eerie, funny, and hinting at something life-affirming. Angela Motorman is a very different Shirley Jackson heroine—older, self-assured, (newly) independent—and it's unfortunate that we don't get to know how she evolves or what her entire journey is. The beginning of her story is one of emancipation; recently widowed, thus free from an abusive husband, and financially independent, she sets out into the world, reinventing herself and fully embracing her clairvoyance. Jackson set out to write a "happy book," and had she had the chance to complete it, it would have been one of her best.
The stories gathered here were also brilliant—my favourites being "Louisa, Please Come Home," "A Visit," "A Day in the Jungle," "The Summer People," and her two autobiographical ones, "Pajama Party" and "The Night We All Had Grippe"—as were Jackson's three lectures. I took many useful notes from "Experience and Fiction" and "Notes from a Young Writer." Instead of rereading "The Lottery" for the umpteenth time, I decided to listen to Shirley Jackson's recording of her story. It was the first time I heard her voice (❤️❤️❤️), and it definitely enhances the experience/understanding of the story. I thought of what Ruth Franklin wrote about this recording in her biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life: “Grudgingly, Jackson agreed to record “The Lottery” for Folkways Records in 1959. Along with her recording of “The Daemon Lover,” on the B side, it is the only recording of her voice that still exists. The agoraphobia of her late years had not yet begun, but she preferred to avoid New York City if possible, and refused to make a special trip to do the recording. Laurence, then a technically adept senior in high school, did it for her on a reel-to-reel recorder at Bennington. Jackson, nervous, brought along a glass of bourbon; the clink of ice cubes in her glass is occasionally audible. Her voice is low, with the slightest hint of an English affectation. She reads the story calmly, almost without expression. A sharpness enters her tone only when Tessie Hutchinson begins to speak. Jackson’s voice ascends shrilly as she reads the lines: “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right.” She gives the final line of the story a curious inflection: “And then they were upon her.” Like the pointed collar around the throat of the dog Lady in “The Renegade,” the recording cuts off abruptly before her voice has a chance to die out, making the last line sound like a question: And then they were upon her? The irony is audible. They have been upon her all along.”
The stories gathered here were also brilliant—my favourites being "Louisa, Please Come Home," "A Visit," "A Day in the Jungle," "The Summer People," and her two autobiographical ones, "Pajama Party" and "The Night We All Had Grippe"—as were Jackson's three lectures. I took many useful notes from "Experience and Fiction" and "Notes from a Young Writer." Instead of rereading "The Lottery" for the umpteenth time, I decided to listen to Shirley Jackson's recording of her story. It was the first time I heard her voice (❤️❤️❤️), and it definitely enhances the experience/understanding of the story. I thought of what Ruth Franklin wrote about this recording in her biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life: “Grudgingly, Jackson agreed to record “The Lottery” for Folkways Records in 1959. Along with her recording of “The Daemon Lover,” on the B side, it is the only recording of her voice that still exists. The agoraphobia of her late years had not yet begun, but she preferred to avoid New York City if possible, and refused to make a special trip to do the recording. Laurence, then a technically adept senior in high school, did it for her on a reel-to-reel recorder at Bennington. Jackson, nervous, brought along a glass of bourbon; the clink of ice cubes in her glass is occasionally audible. Her voice is low, with the slightest hint of an English affectation. She reads the story calmly, almost without expression. A sharpness enters her tone only when Tessie Hutchinson begins to speak. Jackson’s voice ascends shrilly as she reads the lines: “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right.” She gives the final line of the story a curious inflection: “And then they were upon her.” Like the pointed collar around the throat of the dog Lady in “The Renegade,” the recording cuts off abruptly before her voice has a chance to die out, making the last line sound like a question: And then they were upon her? The irony is audible. They have been upon her all along.”