COMMENTARY: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
The following are thoughts and reactions I had while reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) by Shirley Jackson. They do not reflect my overall post-reading opinion of the work.
⚠️ SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ⚠️
- First 10-20%. What the hell is going on? Mary wants to see everyone dead. Mary is hated by all the villagers. Is it a commentary on wealth divide? I mean, they own a lot of land. So why do they go to the library? Wait. So there’s a tragedy in their family. Is Mary dead? Constance? Julian? Is one of them a ghost they interact with? Or is this just my stupid default theory for everything when it comes to mysteries because of stupid Fight Club and Sixth Sense?
- ~23%. Ooooooh. That’s fucked up. So now they just live on the house where it all happened despite the constant animosity? Is Julian giving a fucking ghost tour? Lol. Constance is literally in the next room dude. Wtf.
- Why would Uncle Julian say if he said the right lines? What are they hiding?
- 35%. Oops. Looked up the Wikipedia and found out who did it. That was stupid of me. I rarely do that. But then again, this audiobook is only 6 hours and I’m already two hours in after starting today (gym day).
- 43% JFC, Mary Kat is unstable as fuck.
- 48%? Charles shows up at around the midpoint driving the rest of the narrative to its end.
- 59% she’s going to kill him yes? I mean… and also, who has spiced cookies for dinner?
- 61% or is she going to finish the job and kill everyone else?
- 64% what? I’m so confused. MK is dead according to Julian? What?
- 66% the delusional dinner. Holy fuck MK is really really insane isn’t she? Being in her head is horrifying.
- 72% heh. So it’s like The Lottery but with a house? haha
- 79% - Constance is in complete denial or has an optimist set point that’s extremely high
- End - yeah, what a fucked up book. Five stars and also tagging it as a book I aspire to. I was unhinged the entire read.