Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

This is a delightfully creepy story, in which Jackson reminds us that the most frightening tales need not rely on graphic violence, spilling blood, or similar. This is the story of Merricat Blackwood, who lives in the family home with her sister and uncle. The rest of the family is dead, having been poisoned at dinner years ago. The Blackwoods have become pariahs in town; Merricat is the only one who ventures out beyond the old, Gothic manse they call home. How the family came to be poisoned, and how the sisters have come to exist on the fringes of society are revealed as the book develops.

This book is pure weird, psychological suspense. I loved it for that very reason, and stayed up half the night so that I could read this in one sitting. I was shocked to discover that Merricat is supposed to be eighteen. She behaves more like a stunted child than an adult. As unique as the characters are, it's the house that remains seared in my memory. When I think of this book, I think of the house, the castle, such as it is. The castle is a character in this book. It has a life, presence, and personality of its own. I would definitely recommend this book, especially as a classic for those who generally don't care for classics.

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Penguin, 2006, orig. 1962) ISBN: 0143039970

Review: The Butterfly Cabinet

Told in two voices, this novel explores life in a wealthy and secretive Northern Irish family. The two voices are those of Harriet Ormond, mistress of Ormond Castle, and Maddie, one of her young servants. Harriet's portion of the book is a diary, written while its author was incarcerated for the murder of her daughter, Charlotte. Maddie's portion is told decades later, in old age, as she narrates her story to Harriet's great-niece Anna, who visits Maddie in the nursing home. Through the interwoven stories we learn what role each woman played in Charlotte's death. The picture that emerges of Harriet is one of a cold and misguided woman, more at home in nature, with the butterflies she collects, than she is at home with her family.

This is certainly an atmospheric noel, and the cold and draughty castle serves as a fine backdrop for this rather Gothic tale. McGill makes the reader feel the dankness of the prison and the shadowy alcoves of the castle. I did not much care for the format of Maddie's narrative. She tells her story to someone who is not really a character, and I found that Harriet's portion flowed much more smoothly. The ending offered some exciting twists and turns, but I still would like to be rid of the unseen Anna.

Bernie McGill, The Butterfly Cabinet (Free Press, 2011) ISBN: 1451611595

Review: The Nine Tailors

This books is the epitome of the English countryside murder mystery. There's a mysterious dead body, an old parish church, a bumbling rector, and lots of foul weather. When Lord Peter Wimsey's car breaks down in Fenchurch St. Paul he is taken in by the rector. When an unidentified body turns up in the churchyard, Lord Peter is on the case.

In Fenchurch St. Paul Sayers weaves a gripping and atmospheric mystery. At the heart of the mystery are the ancient church bells. They are tended by a close-knit and somewhat suspicious coterie of bell-ringers, who display an almost-slavish devotion to their ringing. More broadly, the book is fully infused with bell-ringing culture. The bells give their name to the the book; each has a name and together they are called 'The Nine Tailors.' In all honesty, there was more about bell-ringing than I needed to know. Still, this is a gripping mystery.

Dorothy Sayers, The Nine Tailors (Mariner, 1966, orig. 1934) ISBN:0156658992

Review: The Thirteenth Tale

I could review this book in one sentence: This is one messed-up family, but its a family that makes for an enchanting story.

This is a book that reads like a fairy tale. Bookshop assistant and minor biographer Margaret Lea is summoned by dying writer Vida Winter to write the latter's life story. Winter has lived and secretive and reclusive life, and Margaret will be the first to get a look at her past. What she finds when she arrived is a story of abuse, abandonment, and twins helplessly devoted to one another. In the course of writing Winter's life story, Margaret will be forced to confront a tragedy in her own past.

I was fully enthralled and engrossed in this book. Once I started I read at every spare moment until I was finished. This is a novel full of gothic atmosphere and mystery. I must say that I found Vida Winter's story far more engaging than Margaret's. Margaret struck me as a fairly annoying individual. Luckily she is mostly a foil for the story of Vida, her family, and her childhood home.

Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006) ISBN: 0743298020

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Having heard so much about this book I felt obligated to read it and see for myself why it has generated so much buzz. As someone who didn't know a tremendous amount about the story going in, I found the book to be much more violent and horrifying than I expected.

The book consists of two storylines involving disgraced financial reporter Mikael Blomkvist, and socially-inept hacker Lisbeth Salander. Together the two are trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the death of corporate heiress Harriet Vanger, and expose the financial misdeeds of a prominent tycoon. I was much more taken with the Vanger mystery than with the story about corporate corruption. That was rather dry.

One of Larsson's larger objectives in this book is clearly to highlight the disturbing pervasiveness of violence against women. All of the significant violence in the book is gendered, and is perpetrated against female victims. One of its victims is co-protagonist Lisbeth Salander. She is certainly an interesting character, one who is uncomfortable with what many of us might consider basic sociability. She is also a woman who has endured much abuse, and that makes her essential to Larsson's larger point. One of Salander's most significant problems is that legally she is considered a ward of the state. She had been in this position as a child without competent parents, but her status as a legal dependent was allowed to continue into her adulthood. The fact that an adult who earns her own money, holds a job, and is capable of managing the basic elements of day-to-day life can be legally alienated from her money and her basic legal rights is, quite simply, frightening. Clearly Larsson is making an argument against the institution of guardianship. I was unclear if the portion of the text which explain guardianship were part of Larsson's original text, or if they were added by the translator for the non-Swedish audience.

This is not the most amazing book I've ever read, but it's a book I'll certainly think about for some time. I suspect I'll read the next two books in the trilogy, as long as I can stomach the violence. Larsson does not glorify the horrific violence about which he writes, but it is, undeniably, difficult to read.

Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage Crime, 2009) ISBN: 9780307454546

Review: The Book of Tomorrow

This book is best describedas chick lit with a magical twist. Dublin teenager Tamara Goodwin has lost everything. Her father has committed suicide, leaving the family in debt and leading to them losing their home. Tamara's mother is so overwhelmed by grief that she sleeps all day and rarely gets out of bed. She and her mother have been forced to move in with an aunt and uncle who live in the middle of nowhere.

If all of this was not bad enough something strange seems to be happening in Tamara's new home. Aunt Rosalind is evasive, and she refuses to let Tamara see her mother. The garage remains mysteriously locked, and Tamara is ordered not pursue any of her curiosity about the surrounding area. Most significantly, she acquires a diary that writes entries for her, foreshadowing the next day's events.

The course of the plot of this book is rather predictable, though the magical elements do offer a sort of interesting twist. I don't generally read books with any kind of fantastic elements, but I did think that Ahern offered just enough here to create interest without overdoing. The magic did not necessarily always seem logical. I know, it's magic, but whether Tamara could change the future or not did seem to vary from day to day. Probably the best thing about this book is the setting, on the grounds of a ruined castle and an old convent. The setting was somewhat magical in and of itself, and it definitely added to the atmosphere.

Cecilia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow (Harper, 2011) ISBN: 0061706302

Gothic Reading Challenge

Signing up for this challenge was really a no-brainer. I love a delightfully chilling gothic setting, and this will give me a great excuse to soak up a number of these books. I'm not sure which level I'll be attaining, probably somewhere in the 5-10 book range. We shall see. Still I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Interested in signing up? Click on the image!