Regular marked price: $15.00Discount Price: $10.20
Cost Savings: $4.80 (32%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780143039976
ISBN number: 0143039970
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 160
Printing Date: October 31, 2006
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 94133
Studio: Penguin Classics
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
Amazon.com:
Visitors call seldom at Blackwood House. Taking tea at the scene of a multiple poisoning, with a suspected murderess as one's host, is a perilous business. For a start, the talk tends to turn to arsenic. 'It happened in this very room, and we still have our dinner in here every night,' explains Uncle Julian, continually rehearsing the details of the fatal family meal. 'My sister made these this morning,' says Merricat, politely proffering a plate of rum cakes, fresh from the poisoner's kitchen. We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson's 1962 novel, is full of a macabre and sinister humor, and Merricat herself, its amiable narrator, is one of the great unhinged heroines of literature. 'What place would be better for us than this?' she asks, of the neat, secluded realm she shares with her uncle and with her beloved older sister, Constance. 'Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people.' Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic, burying talismanic objects beneath the family estate, nailing them to trees, ritually revisiting them. She has made 'a powerful taut web which never loosened, but held fast to guard us' against the distrust and hostility of neighboring villagers.
Or so she believes. But at last the magic fails. A stranger arrives--cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune. He disturbs the sisters' careful habits, installing himself at the head of the family table, unearthing Merricat's treasures, talking privately to Constance about 'normal lives' and 'boy friends.' Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods. The result is crisis and tragedy, the revelation of a terrible secret, the convergence of the villagers upon the house, and a spectacular unleashing of collective spite.
The sisters are propelled further into seclusion and solipsism, abandoning 'time and the orderly pattern of our old days' in favor of an ever-narrowing circuit of ritual and shadow. They have themselves become talismans, to be alternately demonized and propitiated, darkly, with gifts. Jackson's novel emerges less as a study in eccentricity and more--like some of her other fictions--as a powerful critique of the anxious, ruthless processes involved in the maintenance of normality itself. 'Poor strangers,' says Merricat contentedly at last, studying trespassers from the darkness behind the barricaded Blackwood windows. 'They have so much to be afraid of.' --Sarah Waters
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Having gone through all of Shirley Jackson's writings that I could get my hand on, I have to say that "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" is my favorite. On one hand it is a tale of murder, poison, obsessions and isolationism. On another it is about the bond between sisters and the power of fear. Jackson does her signature twist with the end and, although you may see it coming, it is still jarring. Instead of leaving us with the twist, however, she continues on to make a comment on guilt and the aftermath of mob mentalities. What remains with you after you have finished, though, is an intense sense of family and, considering the actual premise of the novel, this is no small feat for Jackson to have accomplished. Jackson's writing is, as always, simple and believable with such an attention to detail that the characters seem to pop off the page. In my opinion, this novel is truly her best.
Rated by buyers 
-
I read this book in about two or three sittings as the pages flew by. And although I guessed the main surprise, I still loved the way it all unraveled. It made me laugh at times (especially with Uncle Julian) and it made me feel sorry for the characters at times. Merricat was an excellent narrator and I was kind of sad when the book ended. Recommended to those who like a quick read with three dimensional characters.
Rated by buyers 
-
Although it explores some creepy psychological depths, "We Have Always Lived In the Castle" never really rises to great storytelling - or great story, for that matter. It's a very inward, and at times repetitive, tale about a family that has, for better or for worse, become isolated from its own community. One problem is that after a short while, it generates little interest in the reader for people living in this doomed, backwards household - nor of the people living outside it.
Rated by buyers 
-
Here is a book that is hard to review. I know that most of the other reviews are glowing, as Ms. Jackson has a fervent fan base and a brilliant writing style. However this story was not really to my taste. First of all, I did not find this to be a horror story, more of a darker drama, perhaps something you would see on the Lifetime network. The tale is of Constance and Merricat Blackwood two girls of 28 and 18 respectively. Merricat is the voice of the book and all is told from her perspective. Merricat is not entirely sane so her perspective and the voice of the book is not always truthful or even realistic. Mentally she is very young for her age, and after a tragedy that befell the house (the poisoning of all of her family save herself, her sister, and a dying uncle) it is clear that the two sisters have locked themselves away from society and in doing so, reality. Constance stood accused of the murders however was acquitted by the legal system, but not the minds or memories of the townspeople. Taunted and harassed by all but their Uncle they shut themselves in and live a strange, ritualistic life. Throughout the story the truth of what happened that evening makes itself apparent, however the oddness of the women makes the truth obvious from the beginning.
When their money grubbing cousin appears and tries to take the girls estate, the truth about all involved comes to light, but it is expected from the beginning. I guess after reading Jackson's other works, I was disappointed at how simple and unexciting this book turned out to be. Rather than being a story, this is a character study of three deeply disturbed individuals whose grasp on reality has been shaky for years. The book itself is beautifully written, and I can see it being a made for TV movie, or perhaps an old grey and white film. Unfortunately I was happy this book was so short because I don't know that I would have wanted to read much more about the characters.
Rated by buyers -
Jackson's dark tale centers upon 18-year-old Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood and her older sister Constance - two survivors of a family mysteriously poisoned six years earlier. The two keep to themselves, preferring to stay away from the villagers who taunt and accuse Constance of the murders.
As the story progresses, some of the circumstances surrounding that awful day begin to emerge - though it's clear that Merricat is an unreliable narrator, at best. Thus, the more details are revealed, the more questions the reader has.
Despite the bleakness, the Blackwood sisters are fairly content in their isolated life. They have one another, as well as their elderly uncle Julian, who managed to survive the poisoning, though now with physical and mental issues.
One day, a long-lost cousin suddenly appears at the Blackwood home. It's quickly apparent that it's rumors of the sisters' fortune Charles is after - making Merricat desperate to stop him, no matter what it takes.
Despite the creepiness of the Blackwoods and their "castle," it's also easy for readers to sympathize with some of their feelings about the outside world -- and wonder just what IS really "normal."
Find other books like this one:
