Friday's Forgotten Books: Friday, December 28, 2012

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. -This is an amazing novel on my second reading, decades after my first. Its characters are few, they are pretty much nailed to one spot, and not much action takes places. Its high quality depends on Jackson's ability to create characters that speak and act like real people despite being essentially ghosts. You can easily see the mind that created both THE LOTTERY and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE in this novel. It was her last novel, written in 1962, three years after HILL HOUSE.

The Blackwood family lost four of its members six years earlier. Since then Mary Katherine, a teenager, her older sister Charlotte and the elderly and ill Uncle Julian haven't strayed farther than the country store. Uncle Julian lives completely in the past, reliving a specific day in time. Charlotte spends her time cooking, canning and hiding. And Mary Katherine (Merricat) dreams and devises spells to protect them. The townspeople thinkCharlotte got away with murder and Merricat's trips into town incite their rage and amusement at the Blackwood's fate. When Cousin Charles comes to stay with them, he sets events into motion that send the family even farther into isolation. He is a villain you can really hate.

The writing in this novel is sublime. Jackson creates a world that is both seductive and frightening. I read this as a teenager but I think it takes an adult to appreciate what strong characters Jackson created.
Jackson died at age 48. What a loss. I can only imagine the novels she might have written if she had lived longer.

Todd Mason will collect the links next Friday. 

Sergio Angelini 
Joe Barone ,
Les Blatt,
Bill Crider,
Scott Cupp,
Martin Edwards,
Elizabeth Foxwell
Jerry House
Randy Johnson,
George Kelley,
Margot Kinberg, 
Rob Kitchin
B.V. Lawson,
Evan Lewis,
Steve Lewis,
Todd Mason,
J.F. Norris,
Neer,
James Reasoner,
Richard Robinson
Ron Scheer,
Michael Slind, 
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang
Prashant Trikannad ,
Zybahn,