sábado, 8 de marzo de 2014

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (The Library of America, 2010)
by Shirley Jackson
USA, 1962

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is fairly tasty, more or less satisfying aesthethically and yet still puzzlingly popular fare--the reading equivalent of being promised an old school hearty meal along the lines of a juicy steak and a Caesar salad and then having to settle for a high end chicken pot pie "with an incredibly flaky crust" and no salad whatsoever.  Whatever, why I'm not bummed that I read the book: 1) Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood, the 18-year old narrator who spends much of her time fantasizing about taking her loved ones on a ride to the moon, is an undeniably fascinating creation: at once adorable--you may even want to protect her--a bit of a kook, and a sick puppy.  For example, a revenge-minded line like "I wished they were all dead and I was walking on their bodies" (429) might seem like typical teenage sass when taken out of context except that Merricat has already confided that "I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom.  Everyone else in my family is dead" (421) and "I always thought about rot when I came toward the row of stores; I thought about burning black painful rot that ate away from inside, hurting dreadfully.  I wished it on the village" (426).  Get the picture?  2) For a dark fable that can be read as a somewhat cynical anti-bullying but pro-poisoning attack on our notions about the nuclear family, conformity, and the idea of small town community, the loving relationships between Merricat, her older sister Constance, their sickly Uncle Julian, and even Merricat's pet cat Jonas are warmly and not at all cynically observed.  Humorously, too: crazy old Uncle Julian's loaded remark to Constance--"You have been a good niece to me, although there are grounds for supposing you an undutiful daughter" (465)--is exactly the sort of thing I would have wanted to hear from the eccentric uncle who survived the arsenic poisoning that killed off most of the rest of his family and for which his niece was accused but acquitted of committing. Why the book isn't anywhere near as big a deal as its legions of admirers maintain: 1) Cousin Charles Blackwood, the money-hungry (and would-be romantic) threat to the Blackwood sisters' family dynamics, and almost all of the town villagers are mostly caricaturish types as villains.  2) In a novel in which the narrator's fairy tale-like interior life requires more than the usual amount of suspension of disbelief from the reader but offers such extravagant joys in return, how disappointingly ironic that the act of "realistic" violence that turns the Blackwood home into a castle in ruins near the end of the novel is so totally unconvincing and lacking and pedestrian from a storytelling standpoint.  It completely breaks the narrative spell.  Why so many bloggers are willing to bestow their highest Zagat ratings on books that have little more than an incredibly flaky crust to offer: you tell me, comfort food readers!  Chicken pot pie for the soul?  Yes, that must certainly be the answer to the We Have Always Lived in the Castle popularity question for, as one emo Amazon reviewer has so earnestly put it, "Anyone who reads this novel and is not deeply affected emotionally is simply not human."

 Shirley Jackson (1916-1965)

The edition of We Have Always Lived in the Castle referred to here appears on pp. 419-559 of the LOA Shirley Jackson anthology, Novels and Stories (New York: The Library of America, 2010).

10 comentarios:

  1. I will say that the cynical darkness as you describe this one makes it sound fun. I also want to give The Haunting of Hill House a try if only because the 1963 version of The Haunting is a favorite film of mine.

    Of course I LOVE pot pies with flakey crusts.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Brian, I have no beef with chicken pot pies (if you'll pardon the expression). However, they're not steak! On that note, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is fun enough as long as you don't expect too much more from it than that. There's not much to chew on here.

      Borrar
    2. Richard, if you do not think that there is enough to chew on in this book you aren't reading very deeply.

      Borrar
    3. Alexandra, either that or my standards are just higher than yours! Thanks for the comment (seriously), but please don't be shy about sharing what you think is so deep about this novel. Maybe you can convince me I was wrong but not if you don't bother to tell me why. Cheers!

      Borrar
  2. Haven't read this but as I am one comfort food reader I might really enjoy it! This never truly appealed to me before but seeing as how it gets half points from you, that counts for a lot. :)

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Claire, it's not a bad read at all--plus it's short! Not a mindblower either, though...

      Borrar
  3. Richard, you've obviously learned that the way to a reader's heart is through his or her stomach. The flaky crust amanita phalloides pie that this sounds like may actually lead me to read it. I knew Shirley Jackson only by that perennially-assigned-in-high-school story, "The Lottery" until I picked up The Haunting of Hill House late last year, which I liked very much more than I expected to like. Subsequently, I found a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle at a book sale, so it's already in house, waiting to be eaten (or at least nibbled upon).

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Scott, that "flaky crust amanita phalloides pie" is a classic riposte & your last line is amusing as well. Thanks for the giggles! I can see reading The Haunting of Hill House at some point now that you and the Argumentative Old Himadri (!) have both vouched for it, and I prob. should reread "The Lottery" at some point as well. Just not anytime soon for either, I'm afraid, as there are tastier and heartier offerings at hand.

      Borrar
  4. The Haunting of Hill House I did indeed find marvellous, but then again, I'm a fan of the genre. I'm afraid i haven't read any others of Shirley Jackson's work, although this one has been strongly recommended. I did get the impression from "The Haunting of Hill House" that she had a very strange imagination, and your post conveys a similar impression. I really must put this one on my to-be-read list. I just wish I could read a bit more quickly and get through the backlog!

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, Himadri, but thanks very much for the comment. I guess my "disappointment" with We Have Always Lived in the Castle is that while it was stylish and entertaining for the most part, it was also rather hollow and insubstantial--like a well written genre novel or something. I'll likely read The Haunting of Hill House at some point on your and others' recommendation, but I just won't expect as much out of it and instead hope to be pleasantly surprised if it's suddenly a meatier affair. I also wish I could get through that reading backlog a bit quicker, of course!

      Borrar