We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Ratings450
Average rating4
The title sounds like it could be one of those repeated foreboding lines from an episode of Doctor Who. I am intrigued.
It was really good, little sinister, and haunting in a way I didn't quite see coming but, not really scary. I really enjoyed learning and having the secrets and the characters. After reading The Haunting of Hill House I was expecting an unreliable narrator. [ But I mean it was super obvious anyway right? How is Merricat not a witch? She buries things and does simple witchcraft, is a part of nature, and has a familiar, Jonas the cat! (hide spoiler)] Many things are very subtle and relationships are a bit complicated. This is a good read! ~Ashley
This was our very first pick for book club and I might have made my reading partner a little nuts flip-flopping from liking a character to disliking him/her and then liking them again. An unreliable narrator and events that keep building up and leaving you with questions you need answered, like right now, make for a good read because it keeps you reading until you get to the answers. I tacked on an extra star because having someone to share my thoughts about this read provided me with some insight and different perspectives on the characters that I would not have come to had I read on my own.
3.75-ish, maybe?
Weird freakin vibes, but I kinda dig it lol
Definitely not like anything else I've read before
i enjoy a good old atmospheric story as much as the next person but this just read like a pointless narration. a little unsettling at times, but mostly inconsequential...
Even though the ‘twist' was a tad bit predictable, the story had me hooked. Jackson's voice as a writer never ceases to amaze me, straightforward and blunt but also unnerving and uncomfortable. This book is one of those I'm going to have to re-read to catch all the little subtle details that I missed on my first read-through.
5:
Eating a big ol' plate of my own damn words because I'd insisted that I hated this book and that it was dull and boring and I DNF'd it a couple of years ago, only to go back and finish it and now I have a new hyperfixation, I'm sorry Ms. Jackson I wasn't for real.
After finishing The Haunting of Hill House I wanted to read more by this author and this was a good book to follow up with. This one was less about horror and more character-driven. It's still good in its way. It's more of a weird story than anything else. Think a little about the film Corpse Bride. Not scary but eclectic.
The writing is just as good as the other book I read. You could say there’s not much of a point to this story but it's still interesting learning more about the family. Not what I was expecting but I liked it anyway.
I was expecting a creepy sort of book, and honestly this just felt incredibly sad and more of a statement about mental health than any crime. Gothic, sure, but not creepy or a who-dun-it in any form.
a bit too close to being a treatise on the horrors of autistic little siblings for my taste
This had me completely captivated after the first third. I was thinking there was more behind it. Something rather paranormal (had been going in completely blind) but the reality of it all was way more devastating than anything paranormal could have been.
I think it was good. Catriona Ward must have used some ideas from this book and transformed them into her excellent book "The Last House on Needless Street".
Several things I liked here, weird vibes of the characters, the obscure mystery in the background, odd narrator. I'm struggling between putting this as Good or Very Good.
You will likely enjoy reading this through if you enjoy creepy atmosphere in stories.
I changed my rating to five starsa because while I was left scratching my head after the novel, I cannot stop thinking about it and missing the gorgeous and bizarre atmosphere.
don't think there was a single word out of place or a single sentence that felt clunky. brings up lots of questions about human nature & blame & isolation & what can happen when all your physical needs are met but emotional needs are not. pretty quick read but felt very long (in a good way) as i was immediately invested in the characters & knew exactly the kind of world they were living in, what the town & house looked like, etc
I liked this book but I respected it more than I liked it.
This is an example of the kind of story that's worth having the plot spoiled beforehand, just so you can focus on what actually makes it good: the creeping tension and evocative setting.
It also didn't help that I spent a large chunk of the book being reminded of Iain Banks brilliant first novel The Wasp Factory. It's not a totally fair comparison because the two books have slightly different styles but still, I couldn't help it and this book was never going to come out on top in that match up.
This is amazing.
brilliant.
Go in to this blind at first. Don't read the summary until like 20%, it improves the experience. Trust me.
There's a special kind of eeriness in Shirley Jackson's books that makes me want to cozy up in them.
Wow! I picked this up from my local library following a Small Press book club discussion of “At the Edge of the Woods” by Kathryn Bromwich. That book features blurbs comparing it to Shirley Jackson, an author I've never read. Members of the book club who had were nonplussed with the comparison and spoke highly of this and another book, Hangsaman also by Jackson.
I checked both out from the library and read this first as it was shorter and I'd heard about this one before. I am surprised at how gripping it was! I was frequently questioning what was going on, what had happened, trying to figure out the backstory. It was enjoyable when I did find out. The back third of the story is pretty different and I feel like I will need to sit with it for a while before coming to a full conclusion. I finished the book about 5 minutes ago and thus have not had time to cook on it. I had fun reading this!
I love Shirley Jackson's writing. The reader never quite knows what the expect. My only criticism is that the ending is a bit quick and not super climactic, but with all of her stories it's more about the journey than the destination.
