We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
7 November 2012
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Merricat, Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Finished reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle a few days ago but didn’t want to review it immediately because I wanted to have a think about it. That isn’t a negative by the way. I really enjoyed it and it was a compelling read.
WHALINC tells the story of the Blackwood Family who live on a large estate in New England and just a short stretch from a nearby village. As the story unfolds we learn that the majority of the Blackwoods died 6 years earlier as a result of using sugar laced with arsenic. The remaining three members of the family live together in the family home and the villages harbour a deep resentment towards them, thinking that one particular member of the family has gotten away with murder.
The story is told by Mary Catherine, or Merricat, as she is known. Merricat is 18 years old although it is sometimes quite easy to lose sight of this fact and to think of her age as nearer to that of a 10/12 year old. The remaining members of the Blackwoods are Uncle Julian who survived the arsenic attack but is very frail and now uses a wheelchair and Constance, Merricat’s older sister who was tried and acquitted for the murders.
I would start by saying say that this story is beautifully told. It’s easy to envision everything that the author describes and yet she doesn’t labour the point. Her writing is simple and evocative. We look at this small family living almost in a dreamlike state in the ways of bygone years. They have a simple and almost idyllic existence, secluded away from all others – apart from the occasional intrusive visit that they suffer from one of their own ‘class’ trying to offer the hand of friendship (but more often than not displaying a sort of vulgar curiosity) or the weekly trip to the village made defiantly by Merricat as she goes to collect provisions. I say defiantly because each visit is received with ill-disguised mistrust at best and downright hatred at worst. The villagers have no hesitation in making their feelings known. They don’t like this family and more so they harbour deep resentment for what they believe to be a miscarriage of justice.
The three main characters are easy to like on initial contact although a bit puzzling. Clearly one of them is a murderer? And yet there is no recrimination or judgement. Constance is almost angelic, looking after Julian and Merricat whilst smiling lovingly and indulgingly at whatever antics Merricat may get up to. She tends her garden, grows and preserves produce and cooks for the family who still cling to their traditions -such as eating in the dining room where the terrible crime played out. Uncle Julian survived the attack but not unscathed. He’s weak and his memory is not good – he, in fact, sometimes thinks that Merricat also died during the poisoning. And then we have Merricat. As I mentioned above I think you could easily be forgiven for thinking Merricat is much younger than her 18 years. She has a wild and slightly out of control character that at first comes across as part of her childish charm but eventually starts to develop into something a little darker. Merricat seems to believe she is a witch of sorts. She practices burying things to create magic and believes that she keeps the family and estate safe from intruders by a number of ‘wards’ she has placed about the grounds. Plus, not to forget her trusty familiar, Jonas the cat.
However, Merricat’s wards are about to be tested when Cousin Charles comes to visit. Suffice to say that whilst one sister is pleased with the visit the other is not. Things quickly become ugly and events start to spiral out of control.
I won’t say anything more about the rest of the plot. I enjoyed the book very much. It was completely intriguing and compelling. It was also a little bit puzzling – although not in a bad way. I think that anybody who reads this will probably put two and two together fairly early on in terms of who actually committed the murders so it’s not trying to be a mystery or for that matter a thriller. It’s more of a chiller. Basically, we have the two sisters and the way I see it is one of them wants to live a quiet existence with just the two of them and whilst that seems a creepy sort of thing to say it’s also obvious that both sisters love each other.
Okay, being careful about what I say is not really helping this review. I think you just need to read the book. It’s very thought provoking – even the conclusion which was almost like a fairytale ending.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Just finished reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. This story is the touching tale of Conor, a 13 year old boy who’s mother has been diagnosed with cancer. Conor has been suffering nightmares and finding it difficult to sleep. He’s scared to go to bed at night fearing the return of the monster from his dreams. However, he receives a visit from a different monster than that which he has been dreaming of. He’s paid a visit by an earth elemental, a thing that is so old that time can no longer remember from when or whence it came. His visitor comes in the guise of a Yew Tree and he seeks the truth from Conor. He’s going to tell Conor three tales and in return he expects something much more scary. The darkness of the story is compounded by the illustrations created by Jim Kay that not only depict some of the scenes within the tale but sometimes also assist in the telling.
I don’t want to go into the plot of the book, this is only a short story and a very quick read and it would be quite easy to spoil it for others by running on about what takes place. Basically it’s a difficult book to put down once you’ve picked up and can be read really in one sitting – it really is that compelling and once you’ve started you simply have to continue to the end.
I actually liked the monster in this tale – which sounds like a contradiction in terms really. He’s dark and threatening, sometimes a little sinister. He has a strange way of talking in riddles and he demands respect in no uncertain terms and yet in spite of it I enjoyed reading his sections and listening to his stories. It had a sort of Christmas Carol type of charm to it the way in which he visits Conor to tell him these stories although the stories actual ending bears little resemblance to Dicken’s tale of redemption. Gradually the monster reveals to Conor a series of half truths and shows him that things are not always as they first seem.
This is without question a very sad read, made more poignant by the untimely death of the original creator of the concept, Siobhan Dowd, who passed the characters and storyline to Patrick Ness to complete when she herself died of cancer. I think there are very few people whose lives have not been touched in some way by cancer and yet rather than being something to fear I think this book is insightful. It gives us a glimpse into the life of somebody who is coping and living with someone suffering from the disease. It looks at the fear that we all have not only of this horrible disease but also of talking about it. I would defy anybody to not be touched by the story and I would certainly recommend that you keep a box of tissues handy. And, yet, in spite of the sorrow I came away from reading this book with something much more . It really made me think. It made me happy to be alive and made me realise that life is so short. Sorry, don’t mean to start preaching here!
I would definitely recommend. An eye opening tale.
A Monster calls – images by Jim Kay
Frankenweenie by Tim Burton
30 October 2012
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Frankenweenie, Tim Burton, Victor Frankenstein
Just been to watch Frankenweenie, Tim Burton’s latest animation, and really enjoyed it. In fact would happily watch it again (and probably again!)
Frankenweenie is apparently an extended version of an earlier film by Burton and I’m so pleased he revisited it. It’s shot in black and white and unsurprisingly tells the story of Victor! But, in this version, Victor is a school boy, mad on science and his only friend is his dog Sparky. Unfortunately Sparky meets an untimely death and Victor, besides himself with grief, falls upon the idea of trying to reanimate his best friend.
I loved the way this was shot in black and white. It’s well lit and and atmospheric. Victor and his parents live in surburia – a surburbia that looks much like that in Edward Scissorhands. He goes to school and has a bunch of creepy looking fellow students. A young girl with a cat that dreams about the future, a hunchback boy called Edgar and best of all a science teacher (called Mr Rzykruski) – who is the spitting image of Vincent Price and has the voice of Martin Landau.
What I really liked about this was the way that, whilst this is a family film and children will enjoy the animation, there’s plenty for parents to enjoy. It’s almost like a pastiche of horror movies ranging from Gremlins to Godzilla. There’s just so much going on here and it’s worth watching just to see if you can spot the many references. But that’s not the only reason to watch. I think Burton has, for me, had a couple of films recently that I didn’t enjoy as much but with Frankenweenie I felt like he’d really hit the mark once more and it’s such a treat when he puts a film like this together.
I absolutely love The Nightmare Before Christmas and never tire of watching it. I don’t necessarily think this film will take over that spot but it’ll be sat quite high up on the list.
Frankenweenie
Image taken from IMDB
Evil Dead 1 and 2
29 October 2012
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Evil Dead I and II, Sam Raimi, Stainless Steel Droppings R.I.P.
So to gear up for the Halloweeny-mood we watched the above two films over the past two nights. All the lights out and just a couple of candles to add to the drama – not that you really need any such effects!
Evil Dead was a low budget horror movie directed by Sam Raimi at the tender age of 21 (I think? but correct me if I’m wrong!). It has developed something of a cult status with it’s puss-oozing zombies, bad acting, excessive gore and poor and, now, dated effects. But, that being said it’s a great film – so long as you’re not squeamish that is. I must admit that over the years I’ve tended to think that this particular film was made almost tongue in cheek as though it was taking a mocking look at horror. And, yet, watching or reading other people’s reactions that doesn’t seem to be the case. Evil Dead basically takes the concept of a group of friends spending some time in a lonely cabin in the woods, they unwittingly unleash a demonic creature into the forest and one by one they become possessed. This probably all sounds very cliched nowadays and yet for me personally I think this film had some ground breaking moments.
Evil Dead II on the other hand definitely is meant to be a comedy horror and succeeds extremely well in that. It’s not actually a sequel to the first film however but more of a remake without as much gore and with some undoubtedly funny scenes. As with the first film, we have the cabin in the woods – and how big is that cabin – it’s like a bijou mansion! Room upon room with strange little corridors and never ending doors and yet from the outside it’s tiny – it’s lika a tardis. I love the scene where we have the rushing through the trees of some demon like beast, before crashing through the cottage and snatching Ash (played by Bruce Campbell) up and hurtling him through the trees then dropping him into a puddle (a rather large and deep puddle). Bruce Campbell does play such an excellent role in this film – much more so than in the first! My favourite part of this film is of course ‘the thing in the cellar’! Sweet Henrietta! She’ll swallow your soul (before morning apparently!)
Without a doubt these films are not for everyone but they do bring a new meaning to ‘not going to the woods alone’.
In the words of Bruce Campbell “groovy”.
I think this definitely qualifies for Stainless Steel’s RIP event.
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
27 October 2012
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Chris Bohjalian, R.I.P., The Night Strangers
Just finished reading The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. For a description of this story and in order not to give away spoilers I’ve stolen the text from the jacket:
‘It begins with a door in a dusky corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire. A door that someone has sealed shut with thirty-nine bolts.’
Now, down to the nitty gritty. I have mixed feelings about this book I must admit. It starts off and is really gripping. We begin with the story of Chip, an airline pilot, or at least he was a pilot until he had to crash land his plane onto a lake – killing 39 passengers with only 9 survivors including himself. This introductory chapter was OMG unputdownable and quite enough to put me off flying forever, or until I forget about it (so about 2 weeks). As you would expect, Chip is suffering from major PTSD and also will clearly never be able to fly again. He is suffering from major survivor guilt and his wife Emily, trying to come up with a solution to help, decides upon a change of home. A new place, different home, new people and a different vista. So, the family up and move to a large, rambling, 3 story Victorian abode in North Hampshire. However, far from being the relaxing retreat they imagined with the stunning views they find themselves in a house that now, instead of appearing quirky, seems more sinister, a town that seems to be held in the grip of paranoia and almost approaching hysteria and a bunch of grey haired, green fingered women who have an almost unhealthy interest in Chip and Emily’s twin daughters.
The strange thing that I can’t put my finger on with this book is exactly where it is trying to go or more to the point what to be. It starts off with a very sinister feel. I basically let my imagination run riot and was expecting all sorts. And, to a certain extent there are elements of horror. But, if you’re an ardent horror fan you probably won’t agree. Then it seems to move into another area, more psychological thriller (not to mention a bit of ghostly visitations thrown in). I don’t have a problem, personally, with the book spanning different genres in fact I think it made for an interesting read and clearly CB can write and set a scene, but, not only did there seem to be a mix up with what sort of story was going on but also the perspectives kept changing and there were in fact two stories going on, and, on top of that, there were too many unanswered questions – at least two major ones that I won’t go into further as they will spoil the plot.
To be honest, my main problem with this novel, is the ending, which I felt let down by and yet I can’t really pinpoint why. It gave me the sort of feeling that I experienced with the end of Her Fearful Symmetry which actually made me a little cross for some reason. I mean, to a certain extent I can appreciate what the author has done here and as I said he is a lovely writer. He sets the scene, he draws you in, you feel for the characters, you think you have an understanding of them, he introduces other elements that are a bit more twisted, he explores the vulnerabilities of the family, he draws upon their weaknesses and then he sort of lets it down a little bit at the end.
All this being said, I can’t deny that I enjoyed this book. It has a lot of tension, fear, horror and just plain scary factors going on. But, as I said, I did have issues and I think the story tried to become too many things. I’m thinking of elements from The Shining (check the cover out!), Rosemary’s Baby, then cut to your basic horror where visitations occur (remember Pet Sematary), followed almost by a Stepford Wives control freak type of thing!
I did have a number of criticisms for this book and yet I also enjoyed it. There was a slight feeling of drag in the middle and a little bit of repetition but apart from that it is very well written and engaging. I came away with queries and a sense of dissatisfaction in the ending but I also can’t say that I didn’t like it. I’ve read The Midwives by this author, which was a great story and I won’t hesitate to read more.
