Page Count: 214
Published on: October 31, 1962
Published by: The Viking Press, Inc.
Genre(s): Gothic, Mystery, Classics
Source: Hardback from IUPUI
Where To Find It: Amazon // Book Depository
My Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads synopsis:
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.
“Fate intervened. Some of us, that day, she led inexorably through the gates of death. Some of us, innocent and unsuspecting, took, unwillingly, that one last step to oblivion.”
Hello Lovely People! It Courtney and I am back with an overdue review for you guys ☺
During one of my latest literature classes,one of my favorite professors had the class read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and I instantly fell in love with her writing style. If you have seen Netflix’s adaptation of Haunting of Hill House it was inspired by Jackson’s book under the same name. Gothic literature is one of my favorite genre’s and when you mix it in with a classic my heart explodes. I have fallen in love with Jackson so much she made my top five list of topics I want to explore in my senior capstone project next semester.
Most gothic novels rely on the supernatural to get the reader to be scared, this one, does not. The scariest part of this book is the unknown and the comments that come out of our main characters mouth. I think this is why the book works. In other similar books like The Turn of the Screw, the author relies heavily on supernatural events to scare the reader. (I know there is a debate whether the governess is seeing ghosts or mentally ill in this book but to keep it simple we are going to assume that there are ghosts). As a reader, I found myself being more scared of the main character than the thought of any supernatural beings and that was a first for me.
Jackson’s book takes the readers on an adventure as they slowly begin to find out the mystery that lies with the Blackwell family. The family is rich but is feared by the village nearby for something other than the money they have. This fear comes from the events that took place six years prior to when we meet the characters. One night at dinner, the family was slipped arsenic in their food. Only three of them were able to walk away from the event. Uncle Julien, who now confined to a wheelchair and remains mentally unstable and obsesses over the murders; and Constance, who uses cooking in order to deal with the event. Constance is also too afraid to leave her home due the assumption she was the one behind the poisoning. And finally, Mary Katherine, also known as Merricat. Merricat becomes the narrator of this story and she was the only one not present at dinner during this event. She is the only link the family has to the outside world. Twice a week she goes into the village collecting the items the family needs but beyond that, they live in isolation.
To survive, the sisters have created a strict routine that keeps them going each day. Essentially they are shut-ins until a family member from the outsides comes and threatens the safety the sisters have. The events that come from the ending, left one that pulled at my heartstrings. As a reader, the thought of someone murdering their family chills me to the core but the way the ending plays out made me feel sorry for the sisters. They essentially do not have a life beyond three rooms and it made me think.
The minute I finished this book I went to Amazon and purchased a copy for myself. I cannot explain it but this is a book I want to read over and over again. If you have the chance to read it I strongly suggest you do.
Courtney
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