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A review by neonskylite
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I never understood people who read Lolita and are so charmed by Humbert they forget that he's a pedophile. And then I read this book and that distinct first-person narrative voice of Merricat draws you in when she is childish and psychopathic and spends most of the book doing complicated rituals that have no effect on her world because this isn't a magic realist book just Merricat being disconnected from reality and yet,
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Bullying, Dementia, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty
Incestuous themes: Charles is trying to marry his cousin, Constance, and they take on aspects of the Blackwood parents during their "courtship", or at least from Merricat's point of view. And Merricat and Constance are so thoroughly enmeshed with each other...