Haunting and chilling
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The Dark Fantasy's front cover is nowhere near as exciting as the Penguin one. Front covers are very important to me as they are what attract you to stories and are something to refer back to during the novel as I often feel they reveal something about the plot or characters. If you are into your cover art go for the Penguin version rather than the Dark Fantasy one.
Right, the plot. Four members of the Blackwood family died eating a poisoned meal. For six years the survivors lived in their great house, fencing out the villagers who hated and feared them. Then Cousin Charles came to visit and it all changes. We are invited into the Blackwood world by Mary Katherine Blackwood (Merricat) who is now 18 and lives with her sister Constance. Merricat is really a likeable and interesting character, more so for me than Constance. Cousin Charles is a dreadful character, mean and nasty to Merricat and only after what he can get - the family money.
From the back cover of the Dark Fantasy version the reader is asked which world is richer in sympathy, love and subtlety - the house in habited by a lunatic, a poisoner and a pyromaniac, or the real world outside. In this short novel you will find yourself addressing this very question.
An enjoyable read that is very well written. Easy enough to read in one sitting and an author I will go on to investigate further.
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Delicious
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For some reason, it has taken me years and years to get round to reading this book, and I wish that I had read it sooner, as it is excellent. Easily digestible in one sitting, it repays the time spent with a dark and tender fairy-tale, with a happy ending that is also heart-breaking.
I came to this book via Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, and a wider interest in the horror genre, but there is lots to recommend We Have Always Lived In The Castle to those with no interest in horror whatsoever.
(The book seems to be a distant and genteel ancestor of Ian Banks' The Wasp Factory, although the tone of the two tales could hardly be more different.)
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Great Gothic Read
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This is a satisfyingly macabre and sinister book. The family that live in the castle are supposedly a murderous bunch, and are definitely not your average neighbours. Mary Katherine Blackwood lives in an isolated house with her sister and their Uncle. The rest of their family died after being fed sugar laced with arsenic. It's Mary Katherine who tells their tale and the reader will soon be entranced by what she has to say, particularly in the events that follow the unwelcome stay of a cousin. A fantastic gothic read, full of humour and a little sadness too. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.
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Easily digested at one sitting
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The story is written in very simple format, unravelling like a favorite and somewhat familiar mystery, and though largely predictable, the slim tome sticks to your hands by some supernatural force, and doesn't release you until the last page is turned and the last word read. Mary Katherine Blackwood, known as Merricat, the main character, lives with her reclusive sister Constance and their Uncle Julian, the surviving members of a large family that came to a sad end through the consumption of arsenic laced sugar. The intriguing Merricat tells the story, regaling the reader with her rituals, talismans and magic, but these alone are not enough to counteract the interloper, who threatens her familiar lifestyle, and tries to destroy the strong family unit. The conclusion was not quite was I was expecting, being of macabre humor and vivid imagination, but was fitting and satisfying. A haunting but not chilling read. ^AR
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AN DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY CARRIES ON...
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I am afraid that I am in the minority, as I found this book to be a little disappointing. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that Time magazine, at one time, had named it one of the ten best novels of the year. The story revolves around a family that has sustained a major tragedy. Apparently, most of the family was murdered at supper one day via the introduction of arsenic into their food. Only three family members survive, sisters Constance and Mary Catherine Blackwood, and their elderly Uncle Julian. Constance, who always cooked for her family, was charged with their murder but acquitted at trial. The surviving three Blackwoods now live in splendid isolation in their mansion, as they are reviled by the villagers. Mary Catherine, the younger sister known affectionately as Merricat, is a strange girl. Bright, imaginative, and compulsive, she has an assortment of rituals that she carries out in her daily activities, which are somewhat limited. She rarely ventures beyond the curtilage of her stately home, except for trepidaciously entering the village to get necessary supplies. Her sister Catherine, however, never ventures beyond the immediate perimeter of her home, though this is clearly something that she wishes to do. Uncle Julian is an invalid, living out his remaining days trying to figure out the mystery behind what had happened to his family that caused them all to be poisoned. They are truly alone, except for the rare visitors who knew their family prior to the tragedy that took place. Even these few visitors are almost too much for them. Still, Constance does her best to entertain them, although Merricat clearly wishes they would not come. Their highly structured world, however, is slowly torn apart, when Charles, a cousin, comes to visit them. He inveigles and tantalizes Constance with visions of having a normal life. Needless to say, Merricat and Charles do not get along, as she perceives him to be the enemy, seeking to disrupt her orderly, though dysfunctional, world. The writing style is spare, taut, and, at times, quite compelling, as well as darkly humourous. Still, what happens to Constance and Merricat is no real surprise. What is problematic is one never really understands what makes Constance tick nor what makes Merricat do what she does. There is no resolution in the book, leaving the reader to fill in the blanks. While this a moderately enjoyable work, readers would do better to seek out Ms. Jackson's dazzling novel, "The Lottery", a much better and more satisfying book.
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