We Have Always Lived in the Castle

By: Shirley Jackson

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Shirley Jackson’s deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family takes readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, macabre humor, and gothic atmosphere.

Six years after four family members died suspiciously of arsenic poisoning, the three remaining Blackwoods—elder, agoraphobic sister Constance; wheelchair-bound Uncle Julian; and eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine, or, Merricat—live together in pleasant isolation. Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic to guard the estate against intrusions from hostile villagers. But one day a stranger arrives—cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune—and manages to penetrate into their carefully shielded lives. Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods, resulting in crisis, tragedy, and the revelation of a terrible secret.

Jackson’s novel emerges less as a study in eccentricity and more—like some of her other fictions—as a powerful critique of the anxious, ruthless processes involved in the maintenance of normalcy itself.

©1962 Shirley Jackson (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator Especially Good

I'm usually pretty neutral at best about narrators who are not the authors. However, I like this reader particularly for this story. It is a really good match. Enjoy! ....great spooky story too.

How very strange.......

There's a lot of strangeness in this story - strange characters, strange setting, strange history - and it all mixes up nicely into an unsettling and kind of creepy story. Not frightening, just kind of weird and disturbing. It's clear from the set up that the protagonist is suffering from an undisclosed psychological issue - her words and actions are too juvenile for her actual age - but you never really know if it's always been a factor in her life or if it's secondary to the changes she's gone through since the murder of most of her family by poisoning.......She now lives a mostly secluded life in the old family home with her older agoraphobic sister and her wheelchair-bound uncle who survived the poisoning but with a loss of both mental and physical capabilities. Most of the townspeople blame the older sister for the murders, in spite of her legal acquittal, and so the sisters have reacted to the town's shunning and malevolence by withdrawing further and further into their own lives in seclusion, but managing to be content in their own little world. When a distant cousin comes to try and bully them into allowing him to rule the family home and money, it upsets their isolated fantasy world and causes unexpected changes.

Old fashioned creepy story

This book was originally published in the early 60's and in that context this is a really well written Twilight Zone, Amazing Tales sort of scary story.
I listened to it all the way through in one afternoon and I really enjoyed it. The narrator stays out of the way of story without dazzling.

A Twist

You don't see it coming, but when it happens, you realize it was meant to happen!

recommend!

loved it! good book . we had to read it for class but was to busy to sit down and read, so I got the audio. either way this is a great book!

Beautiful and strange.

Beautifully written. A slow, peculiar drama through the eyes of a demented woman who is both childlike and sinister. Predictable in a sense, but I enjoyed the author's style enough and wanted to see how it ended. It ended appropriate to the story although I would have enjoyed a more conclusive finish. Not scary or suspensful but masterful in character detail and I like it!

sad classic

really enjoyed this story.. it's a quick and easy read, about half a day to finish... it's sad and the characters are simply in misery...

Spooky and Spectacular!

I had read a collection of Shirley Jackson's short storires and The Haunting of Hill House, but this one was new to me and, as an audiobook, a new way to experience her weird stories. By far and away my favorite of hers. The basis of the novel about two sisters and their relationship was fairly ordinary, but like all Jackson's work, was spun into such an odd and unsettling way that I was instantly swept up by it and didn't want it to end. The narration was excellent (although I listened at 1.5 speed) and brought the characters to life. I would give it 6 stars if I could.

An old favorite of mine.

I discovered this book so long ago, I must have been Merricat's age. I have come back to it many times, but this is the first time I've heard it read out loud. The narrator was delightful.

Almost to soft

While I liked the book itself the readers voice was so soft and the cadence so steady I almost fell asleep. It put me in a kind of lull. So not sure if I would listen to another book read by her.