We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is a modern classic. I recently referred to The Road as a modern classic and everyone asked me in the comments what I meant by that. After some pondering, I think of a modern classic that was written since 1950 (or so)  that has had long-reaching impacts. It could have been a bestseller, but not all bestsellers are classics.  Girl, Wash Your Face was a bestseller, but it didn't change the world, you know? Think The Color Purple, The Kite Runner, or The Joy Luck Club. 

“Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!”

Anyway, Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood lives with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian in their estate outside of town. When Merricat has to go in to town to purchase food and other goods, she is ostracized. We learn that, outside of the three surviving family members, all of the others died under mysterious circumstances. Constance was tried for their murder, but was acquitted. But their cousin Charles appears and tries to change things. What's going to happen to the Blackwoods?

Look, it's creepy. Shirley Jackson can write a gothic novel like no other, complete with a black cat named Jonas. You don't really know what happened to that family and if one of the survivors did murder the others, why would they do that? The sentences are crafted so well - I was listening to the audiobook and for the first chapter, I was tempted to just mark every sentence to come back to later. Here's an online version if you just want to read the first five pages. 

First paragraph:

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 Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita Phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead. 

Okay, this paragraph is amazing and the foreshadowing is amazing. 

But here's the thing. It's a really chilly story. I feel as if I don't really understand Constance or Merricat or Charles. Because it's all gothic-y and mysterious and they don't really talk about their feelings and what happened in the past, we don't truly understand motivations. I assume, based on the way Julian and Charles are, that the women in the Blackwood family were treated poorly. On they day the rest of the family was killed, Merricat was sent to bed without dinner. It's not too far a leap to assume Constance and Merrikat were neglected/abused/treated poorly. But? Does that explain what happened? Why did the town turn on the family so suddenly? 

Maybe it's fine for what it is. It's 150 pages and every sentence glitters. But I sort of wanted it to be more? 

3/5 stars

Lines of note:

The last time I glanced at the library books on the kitchen shelf, they were more than five months overdue and I wondered whether I would have chosen differently if I had known that these were the last books, the ones which would stand forever, on our kitchen shelf.  (Chapter 1)

I honestly feel that way about the books I had from the library when it closed during the pandemic. If I had known they were the ONLY books I'd have for an extended period of time, would I have chosen differently?

I disliked eating anything while people were looking at me, so I had my tea afterwards in the kitchen. (Chapter 2)

There are SO MANY people in my life who don't like people to eat while other people watch. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

put a hat or a handkerchief or a glove on the dresser (Chapter 5)

wore a hat proclaiming him "CHIEF" (Chapter 8)

anonymous men in hats and raincoats (Chapter 8)

his hat saying "CHIEF" (Chapter 8)

set his hat down on the front seat (Chapter 8)

top coat and a hat (Chapter 10)

a hat made of bird feathers (Chapter 10)

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Have you read Shirley Jackson? Do you like a good gothic story?