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A review by porgyreads
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Shirley Jackson you GOAT. We have always lived in the castle is hauntingly simple, there’s no jump scares or massive twists and still I felt nauseous and my skin felt taut reading it.
The theme of isolation versus seclusion is so wonderfully explored interpersonally and societally in Merricat’s world. Merricat is such an interesting main character, she is feral, anti-social, the quintessential Miss Foolishness yet she logical, considerate and good in a crisis. This dichotomy makes you understand all of her actions but one and you can’t help but use her as your moral compass.
What the sisters endure is harrowing and their fate though heaven in their eyes is objectively sad. I love that we capture this short period in which mythology that will live beyond the Blackwood sisters is written. The house is haunted in real time and relics of the past and future are destroyed in the same breath.
I have to let this stew in my brain a little longer because i have so much to think about. But no notes, obv!
The theme of isolation versus seclusion is so wonderfully explored interpersonally and societally in Merricat’s world. Merricat is such an interesting main character, she is feral, anti-social, the quintessential Miss Foolishness yet she logical, considerate and good in a crisis. This dichotomy makes you understand all of her actions but one and you can’t help but use her as your moral compass.
What the sisters endure is harrowing and their fate though heaven in their eyes is objectively sad. I love that we capture this short period in which mythology that will live beyond the Blackwood sisters is written. The house is haunted in real time and relics of the past and future are destroyed in the same breath.
I have to let this stew in my brain a little longer because i have so much to think about. But no notes, obv!