We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Most readers know Shirley Jackson’s chilling short story, “The Lottery,” or her gothic novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Her masterpiece, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is not as well known. 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a murder-mystery that combines Gothic elements with psychological suspense. 

Though it gives the routine of two seemingly ordinary women, it also peers into the mind of a deranged young girl:

“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 like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.”

Merricat, eighteen, lives in the past along with her sister, who is about 28, and her ailing Uncle Julian. For some reason, Merricat excludes him as a member of her family in the opening paragraphs of the novel.

Merricat, who believes in magic and protection spells, lives wholly in her own imagination. She believes her cat, Jonas, can tell stories. She thinks that burying objects and nailing items to a tree can protect her and her sister from the villagers. She often professes that she wants to go to the moon on a winged horse.

None of Merricat’s talismans have any effect though when a relative, Charles Blackwood, visits and takes over the family’s home. The visitor alters the family in irreversible ways. Much like the events that occurred six years ago, the visitor’s actions alters the fabric of their lives. 

Merricat insists that Charles is a “ghost” and a “demon.” He is, in fact, a greedy relative who wants access to the family’s safe. Merrricat’s fanciful imagination however will not allow such a prosaic explanation. 

After the fire, and after the villagers exact terrible retribution, the Blackwood girls are more isolated than ever. 

Merricat and Constance insist, however, that they are happy even if they are deprived of their beautiful things–the italian staircase and drawing room. Without their their fancy plates and drapes, they are in a barren, yet isolated place. They are finally “on the moon.”

A Sense of Belonging in The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Netflix series of the same title, though different, has spawned new interest in this classic about a haunted house. Dr. Montague invited participants to the house that he believes are susceptible to the paranormal. Only later does he realize the enormity of his misjudgment. One of the participants, who is more fragile than the others, is driven to insanity. What Eleanor wants more than anything is to be accepted. She has taken care of her ailing mother at the expense of her own happiness. Now, in her thirties, in want of adventure, Eleanor "borrows" her sisters car and meets the group at Hill House. Poignantly, Eleanor thinks that she has made lasting friendships in less than a week. Naively, she assumes Theo would want to continue their friendship after the Hill House adventure is over. Eleanor says she intends to move into Theo's small apartment after she leaves Hill House. This is surprising at first given how much they argue. They fight over foolish things e.g. Luke's attention or being in the group's "spotlight." More than anything else, The Haunting of Hill House is about yearning for a sense of belonging. "Come Home, Eleanor," a ghostly hand writes on a wall in blood. Eleanor is mortified that the ghost has called her out by name. This isn't the spotlight that she wants. Eleanor, who acutely yearns to belong, is afraid of appearing foolish and being rejected. When Luke says she isn't welcome anymore, after her unusual behavior on the staircase, Eleanor is beyond crushed. The tragic ending coincides with her lamentations at being rejected from Hill House.

Inheritance: a Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

This memoir, which is in four parts, is Dani Shapiro's most intimate memoir to date. Shapiro who has always considered herself her father's daughter is devastated to learn that he is not her biological father.

Despite clues along the way, nothing clicks until she takes a DNA test. She expected to find that she is 100% Jewish but the test reveals something else altogether. She is biologically related to her mother but not to her father. 

Gradually, more details come to light. Before Shapiro was born, her parents had visited an infertility clinic known to mix sperm. Though she hopes her parents had not concealed anything from her, it becomes obvious they knew she was donor-conceived. 

Shapiro claims she had always known something was amiss. For Shapiro, who was devoted to her father, but always felt at odds with her family, the DNA results answer many troubling questions. 

The DNA results opens old wounds, leaving Shaprio completely unmoored. 

She describes how lost she feels in poetic language:

"I am the black box, discovered years--many years--after the crash. The pilots, the crew, the passengers have long been committed to the sea. Nothing is left of them. Fathoms deep, I have spent my life transmitting the faintest signal...I am also the diver who has discovered the black box...I had been looking for it all my life without knowing it existed."

Eventually, she has a meeting with her biological father whom she strongly resembles. They are brought together through the magic of social media.

Shapiro digs deeper, investigating the way cryobanks currently operate. She interviews dozens of donor-conceived individual who feel just as exiled and lost as she does.

As she forges deeper relationships with her biological family, however, Shapiro begins to see everything in a new light: as a blessing.  

Shapiro, who was raised as an orthodox Jew, is peppered with Jewish phrases and expressions. Her identity is still firmly Jewish, even if she is half Christian.

She puts all of her previous writings in perspective, realizing nearly all of her works were about family secrets.

Though she gives her social father "kol hakavod" (all the honor), she comes to cherish her biological one as well.

Shapiro's story is so important in this age when DNA kits are becoming more and more recreational. As more and more individuals have genetic testing done, more connections will be made. The likelihood of family secrets becoming accidently unearthed--as Shapiro's had--will increase over time.

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley is a retelling of Beowulf and a social critique of contemporary society. On some levels, it succeeds. Gated community residents label anyone who live outside their boundaries "monsters".

Dana and her ancestors have actually lived on the mountain long before it was turned into a high-end suburb. 

After serving in the military, Dana returns to a cave and an abandoned railroad station. After nearly dying overseas, she awakes to find herself six months pregnant.  

When he is born, Gren draws startled reactions. He is described as having fur and claws. 

Wishing to protect him, Dana chooses to isolate him from the world. Gren accepts isolation, at first, and then grows weary of it.

Like Frankenstein's monster, he yearns for what he cannot have--Herot Hall. For him, it all comes down to a piano and the boy who plays it, Dilly. They represent the outside world, the world that Dana has forbidden him to inhabit.

The reader can easily identify with Gren's desire. The friendship between Gren and Dylan is breathtaking. The duality of Gren, his inability to fit in either world, is beautifully captured.

The unique narration and magic realism are startling beautiful.

The saint that follows Dana and who is known as "sorrow" is brilliantly rendered.

Without giving too much away, Headley orchestrates the ending perfectly. Dana destroys what has wrecked her life. She is a devoted mother who becomes monstrous in her devotion.

The novel which is about fierce motherhood, hearth and home will give book clubs much to discuss.

I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell.

This is a new memoir by novelist Maggie O'Farrell who lived through some horrifying experiences--seventeen brushes with death. Some are more chilling than others, like the time she met and almost succumbed to a serial killer.

Other times were less dramatic like the time that she jumped off a harbor wall into the sea from a cliff. 

Being Irish, she was cognizant of the cliffs and raging seas, yet her desire to experience wildness got the better of her. Worst still, a bout with encephalitis during childhood left her with limited spatial awareness. When she dropped herself into the sea at night, she was unable to tell which way was up and which was down.

When O'Farrell is close to death, the miraculous often happens. The only one who tries to save her when she is drowning is a boy who is secretly in love with her.

O'Farrell writes about being aware that she is about to die (at age 8) from encephalitis, her near drowning in Africa, and a tropical disease she acquired while visiting China, as well as many other instances she came close to dying.

Instead of feeling unlucky, O'Farrell feels incredibly lucky that she has traveled and has escaped many horrifying situations. 

In the last few chapters, she writes poignantly of her own child and her recovery from a severe allergic reaction.

A cleverly written book, this memoir also gives readers a deeper understanding and appreciation for life. 

   

Halloween edition of American Libraries Dewey Decimal podcast

The podcast, Dewey Decimal has a fantastic episode (episode #31) about the haunted library in Peoria, IL. 

Listen to the podcast and decide for yourself--supernatural events or urban legend? 

Multiple library directors have met untimely ends. Some say the land that library is built upon is cursed land.

Some staff members claim to have heard unusual experiences while working at the library--falling books, temperature changes, lights coming on and off on their own. One maintenance worker saw an entity enter an elevator.

The current director considers the ghost stories "local lore."


The podcast also features Mary Roach, who wrote Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and John B. Kachuba, Ghosthunting Illinois.

https://soundcloud.com/dewey-decibel-703453552

Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal

Katya is an Authenticities and Antiquities dealer in the far future where the details of life are recorded on Captures. She collects items before this time for their nostalgic value, ordinary things like typewriters and dictionaries. 

She relies on her A.I. like many would really one a friend. That is why she find herself so unaccountably alone when her A.I. goes off-line.

Most of the novelette is Katya's experience of being kidnapped for three days by a strange masked man. He shows no empathy toward her during the three days she is "off line," but mysteriously he allows her to live to tell her tale.

This is one of the stories that leaves readers hunger for more, yet Kowal keeps some things shrouded in mystery.

This is a captivating SF/fantasy tale about how we construct memories and how we survive is both puzzling and thought-provoking.

Playwright Lauren Gunderson

The most widely produced playwright in the United States is Lauren Gunderson. She has written I and You, The Silent Sky, The Revolutionists. We are Denmark and many other plays. 


She writes about smart, funny women trying to make their mark in the world. The Silent Sky is about Henrietta Swan Leavitt, one of the first female astronomers.

If you're looking for a STEM inspired drama, try Lauren Gunderson.

American Theatre keeps tabs on the most produced playwrights of the year.  For more playwrights on their list,

https://www.americantheatre.org/2017/09/21/the-top-20-most-produced-playwrights-of-the-2017-18-season/

Great openings to novels

From Leif Enger's Virgil Wander: 

"Now I think the picture was unspooling all along and I just failed to notice. The obvious really isn't so--at least it wasn't to me, a Midwestern male cruising a medium altitude, aspiring vaguely to decency, contributing to PBS, moderated in all things including romantic forays, and doing unto others more or less reciprocally.

If I were to pinpoint when the world began reorganizing itself--that is, when my seeing of it began to shift--it would be the day a stranger named Rune blew into our bad luck town of Greenstone, Minnesota, like a spark from the boreal gloom." 

The City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Perfect for Halloween, The City of Ghosts is the story of Cass who nearly drowned. Ever since, she has the ability to pull back the Veil between the living and the dead. Things are already spooky but they are about to get a lot spookier in this middle grade novel. 
 

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Though its hard to believe, in the not too distant past women could be placed in insane asylums by their husbands or families if they refused to conform to norms. 

Women could be sent to psychiatric institutes indefinitely if a family member said a woman was not behaving as she should. 

The novel begins by Iris learning she has a great Aunt she never knew about, Esme, who has been in a mental institution for sixty years.  

Since Cauldstone is closing, the institution looks to Esme's nearest relative to take her great Aunt into her home.

The central mystery that propels the narrative is how and why did Esme become confined. Esme who has an excellent memory searches her past for clues--when did her life go disastrously wrong? Did it go wrong on New Year's eve in the 1930's when she danced with an attractive boy? Or did her problems begin much earlier when the family lived abroad?

Iris, who owns her own vintage clothing shop, has her own share of problems. She has a complicated love life. She nearly does not take Esme into her home. Yet there's something compelling about Esme.

Esme, who is immensely likeable for her openness and intelligence, recognizes Iris' home as her family's old home.   


Deciphering clues as a detective would do, Esme learns the reason she was imprisoned along with new secrets that Kitty, her older sister, has been keeping.

O'Farrell takes a subject which could have been depressing and infuses with humor and telling details. The blazer, the photo of Iris's father, the green wool blanket, the photo of two women--one standing and one seated--are all vital clues.

The ending comes as a surprise but well-justified in this well-plotted, psychological novel. Kathy Hepinstall's Blue Asylum explores similar themes but is set in the civil war South.

If you liked this novel, you might also enjoy the short play, The Insanity of Mary Girard by Lanie Robertson. 

Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

Readers who likes eccentric characters and strange twists of fate will love Harry's Trees. 

Oriana and Amanda live near the woods in the Endless Mountains area of Pennsylvania. Life is ordinary until Amanda's perfect husband and Oriana's perfect father dies. 

 Dean dies sprawled out like a snow angel in a snowy field. His buddy, Ronnie, is convinced there are feather impressions in the snow. He believes Dean has become some sort of  winged creature--a red-tailed hawk--who can interact with the townspeople after his death. 

But its more than feathers that take on a larger significance. The lottery ticket Harry bought is piece of bad magic, an unlucky talisman.

Amanda Jeffers, Oriana's mother, doesn't believe in miracles, fairy tales, or magic but nonetheless she shelters Harry. She lets him rent out her tree house because they are in the same club--both having survived a year after a spouse's death.

Amanda thinks Harry is safe--that he is a "bland, levelheaded bureaucrat who understood rules." Little does she know that Harry is the opposite of what she thinks.

Harry is just like the "grum" in the story Oriana loves from Olive Perkins' library. He is the catalyst that will change everyone perspective; this is, if his brother, Wolf, doesn't catch up with him first.

Wolf is appropriately named because he is greedy and destructive--the villain of Harry's childhood. His greed is the opposite of Harry's altruism. 

Wolf is drawn to the only other character who is extremely voracious--Stu Gipner. Will Wolf and Stu bring destruction to the fairy tale world Harry and Oriana have constructed? Will Amanda, who is jaded and practical, believe in the fairy tale? 

On Writing

"Finish. The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish. Don’t talk about doing it. Do it. Finish."

E. L. Konigsburg  (via whatsinsideawritersmind)
Photo: picjumbo.com

The Dark Side of Innocence: Growing Up Bipolar by Terri Cheney

Terri Lynn was popular--she was a cheerleader and a Mauna Loa, a popular girls' group. She sat by the tiger--her school had a statue of a tiger where the popular kids gathered. Stoners and nerds weren't allowed anywhere near it.

Despite this, Terri Lynn is deeply unhappy. She contents almost every day with something she calls "the Black Beast." Under his direction, she alternates between being an people-pleasing overachiever and a teen who drinks, runs away from home, and wrecks her beloved car. She also writes till her fingers cramp, makes out with boys, and cuts herself with knives and pins.

She doesn't know it at the time but later she learns that "the Black Beast" is bipolar disorder. Cheney, who has also written Manic about her adult experience with bipolar disorder, writes eloquently about her childhood and adolescent battle with the disorder.


During a manic phase, Terri discards the graduation speech she had practiced and creates a new one on the spot. Luckily, her speech is well-received though it does raise eyebrows. 

Terri believes her drive is the catalyst for the "Black Beast." She vows not to strive for perfection at Vassar. As she explains in the afterward, though, and in Manic, her manic phases return with a vengeance.

Few books are written about mental illness and even fewer are written as well as this one. 

Powerful words--Octavia Butler

All that you touch
You Change.

All that you Change
Changes you.

The only lasting truth
is Change.

God is Change.

Instructions for a Heat Wave by Maggie O'Farrell

While a heat wave rages in 1970s London, a charming family is in crisis. The head of the household--Robert Riordan--has disappeared. The youngest daughter, Aoife, who left for New York, returns to help her family deal with her father's disappearance.

Aoife and her sister Monica who have a strained relationship attempt to settle their differences. Monica blames Aoife for divulging a secret to her ex-husband. Aoife denies revealing anything to Rob, Monica's first husband. 

In fact, none of the Riordan's have problem-free relationships. Michael Francis and his wife have a troubled marriage. Despite believing she had a wonderful marriage, Gretta suspects her husband abandoned the family after they find money taken from their account. 

Aoife is in love with someone but she hides the fact that she is dyslexic from him. 

O'Farrell does a wonderful job of balancing the different points of view of the siblings with those of Gretta. The problems in the Riordan family are well-developed and handled with humor and irony.   

The Beast and the Hummingbirds by Madison McSweeney

A beauty and the beast retelling by Madison McSweeney is in Rhythm & Bones: A Literary Magazine.












https://www.rhythmnbone.com/single-post/2018/06/25/The-Beast-the-Hummingbirds