For our October Mystery Book Club we are read any Shirley Jackson book.
About:
"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-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."
That is quite a spooky cover isn't it.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the story of two sisters living with their uncle in an old dark house that has been in the family for many generations. Constance, Mary Catherine (Merricat), Uncle Julian and Mary's cat, Jonas make up the household. The sister's parents and aunt were poisoned in the house at dinner six years ago. Uncle Julian survived the poisoning but was left in a wheelchair with memory issues and issues with reality. Constance was tried for murder becausae she had cooked the dinner. She was found not guilty. Now the three live in the house with as little contact with the outside world as possible. Uncle Julian lives in a world of his own, working on a book about the deaths, day after day. Constance is the eldest of the two sisters, and does the cooking with things from her garden. She has many fears about the villagers and never goes beyond the property. Merricat is the one that goes to the village once a week to get what they need. Merricat has some odd rituals; delusions, magical thinking? The characters are all very strange. Constance takes care of Julian. If you pay attention, you will see moments of lucidity in Julian. Mary swears "to be kinder to Uncle Julian" almost daily. Their cousin Charles shows up to help them, uninvited and unwelcome by Merricat. The story is told by Mary and it is quite disturbing to see her thinking. Hints of what might have happened to the rest of the family are woven into the story.
Several in the group read it and all agreed there was some things that were not clear; why the poisoning, what is wrong with Mary and Constance. Someone mentioned there was a movie made of the book and it is on Netflix. I watched it as soon as I got home.
Shirley Jackson's most famous book is The Haunting of Hill House. I chose We Have Always Lived in the Castle, because I am very familiar with The Haunting.
About:
"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-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead."
That is quite a spooky cover isn't it.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the story of two sisters living with their uncle in an old dark house that has been in the family for many generations. Constance, Mary Catherine (Merricat), Uncle Julian and Mary's cat, Jonas make up the household. The sister's parents and aunt were poisoned in the house at dinner six years ago. Uncle Julian survived the poisoning but was left in a wheelchair with memory issues and issues with reality. Constance was tried for murder becausae she had cooked the dinner. She was found not guilty. Now the three live in the house with as little contact with the outside world as possible. Uncle Julian lives in a world of his own, working on a book about the deaths, day after day. Constance is the eldest of the two sisters, and does the cooking with things from her garden. She has many fears about the villagers and never goes beyond the property. Merricat is the one that goes to the village once a week to get what they need. Merricat has some odd rituals; delusions, magical thinking? The characters are all very strange. Constance takes care of Julian. If you pay attention, you will see moments of lucidity in Julian. Mary swears "to be kinder to Uncle Julian" almost daily. Their cousin Charles shows up to help them, uninvited and unwelcome by Merricat. The story is told by Mary and it is quite disturbing to see her thinking. Hints of what might have happened to the rest of the family are woven into the story.
Several in the group read it and all agreed there was some things that were not clear; why the poisoning, what is wrong with Mary and Constance. Someone mentioned there was a movie made of the book and it is on Netflix. I watched it as soon as I got home.
Here is the description on IMDB: "Merricat, Constance and their Uncle Julian live in isolation after experiencing a family tragedy six years earlier. When cousin Charles arrives to steal the family fortune, he also threatens a dark secret they've been hiding."
Hmmm. The movie was pretty true to the book. The actors were mostly unknown to me. Taissa Farmiga plays Merricat. She does an excellent job of portraying her as a misfit, weird and disturbed. Alexandra Daddario plays Constance. Very good job of portraying a young woman trying to keep it together. Crispin Glover is Uncle Julian. I do know him. He looks very different in the movie. Sebastian Stan is Cousin Charles.
The movie has a different ending. It suggests what is behind the sisters' issues and the poisonings. It also offers a different ending which was more final.
Interestingly, Michael Douglas was the Executive Producer and Laurence Hyman, Shirley Jackson's son, as Assistant Executive Producer.
I found the story to be pretty creepy and perfect for the Halloween season.
Thanks for sharing the info about the movie. It's interesting that her son was involved as a producer.
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