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.

A Wonderful Gothic Tale

I wouldn’t expect anything less from Shirley Jackson. "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" is not a horror story per se, like "Haunting on the Hill House", but a gothic one. An old house far away from the nearby village, a mysterious tragedy, the last surviving members of a once great family living in isolation, and a small town that is terrified of them. Jackson takes these classic tropes and creates a great story with a very unique, unsettling atmosphere.
The performance really adds to the overall experience, enhancing the gothic elements without taking away from the dark humor of the story.

Amazing use of an unreliable narrstor

We Have Alwaya Lived In The Castle is a touching story about love and protectiveness. Jackson does an astounding job of telling a heart-breaking and funny tale about a family isolated by a crime and guilt. The narrator is superb at creating the voice of the viewpoint character.

Eerie but not what you expect

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not really, its a story that takes a long time to get to its point. You have to really enjoy listening to stories and have a dedicated imagination to stick with this story.

What does Bernadette Dunne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice helps draw you into a story that would otherwise be painful to follow

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes to compare to my own vision

creepy

This was well done and an excellent story, but I can't give it more than a three because I thought it was kind of scary and a little disturbing. If you like kind of scary and a little disturbing, this is an excellent listen.

Full of suspense

The whole time got me so stressed and curious, I almost ended it in a day. The story seems simple at first, but it's not, it's captivating.

Not my favorite

Definitely not my favorite audiobook. I kept waiting for a twist or something to perk up my interest but it was mostly slow and confusing at times.

Pleasantly disturbing.

This is an interesting story that does remind me of The Lottery in the way it portrays towns folk. The entire story I sat listening feeling disturbed by and sorry for the main characters.

Wicked

My first audio book. It's amazing to finish a book within two days like I used to do in the old days and this opened a whole new window. For the first time in years I I feel like I have the time to experience to words of the authors like Jackson. A "wicked" smart woman that I love. The narrator used her voice and pauses effectively. Even though English is my second language I had no difficulty in understanding the sentences and never once stopped to repeat something that I didn't get. Overall, this book is a very good choice to get used to listening a narrator.

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.