From the Bookshelf of Never too Late to Read Classics…

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Shirley Jackson

Start date: January 1, 2025

Finish date: January 31, 2025

Discussion: The Horror of it All

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The Horror of it All

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* 2025 Horror Reading Schedule
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last updated Aug 21, 2025 07:16AM

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What Members Thought

Sep 17, 2020 Amy (literatiloves) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2020

I finally read this at the behest of my coworker so we could discuss it. It was kooky and just got more and more bizarre as the book went on.

We know from the beginning that everyone in the Blackwood family, except Mary Katherine “Merricat” and her older sister Constance, were poisoned to death but we don’t know who did it. Meericat, Constance and their elderly uncle are left to live in their family home but have been completely shunned by their community. Told from Merricat’s perspective, we fo ...more

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Aug 24, 2023 Mary Paul rated it it was ok

There is something I find inherently cringe about schaudenfreude porn. I really struggle with novels that follow a privileged character around as they wholeheartedly ruin their lives and waste every opportunity afforded them. (See: Catcher in the Rye. Where the Crawdad’s Sing.)

I just can’t.

Oh, and the plot twist at the end? Were we supposed to not see that coming? Because…

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2016 Rachel rated it it was amazing

It figures that a book about people who are happy in their isolation would resonate with me. Shirley Jackson's self proclaimed "paean to agoraphobia" gives of a sense of unease even during what should be the most mundane domestic scenes.

Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood, her sister Constance and their ailing uncle Julian are the surviving members of a once prestigious family. The surviving Blackwoods are hated and ridiculed by the surrounding villagers due to an incident which resulted in the ...more

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Dec 13, 2023 Jeffrey rated it really liked it

Shelves: peterman-society

This one was short and creepy and fun. It’s the first I’ve read Shirley Jackson since “The Lottery” was assigned back in middle school, but I really dug it. I especially dig the narrator, Mary Kate (or Merricat) – she was just the right kind of eccentric to make the story a somewhat-sinister delight.

Really considering grabbing a copy of The Haunting of Hill House if I keep up with reading again and get through my backlog.

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