About this title: Merricat, Constance and Uncle Julian Blackwood reside at their family estate. Once there were seven Blackwoods in the affluent family, until four of them were poisoned by arsenic in the sugar bowl. The survivors are snubbed, even openly reviled, by the not-so-wealthy townspeople, who believe that Constance did the killing. One day their cousin ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and may have creases. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Popular Library, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good. No Jacket as Issued. Some wear and rubbing to the covers with a scuff to the front top cover. Mild page toning. Otherwise a clean, tight copy with an uncreased spine. read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Viking Compass
Date Published: 1970
ISBN-13:9780670002900ISBN:0670002909
Description: Good. As issued No Jacket. Spine lean, corner bumps, reading and handling creases to the rear cover, a series of scuffs to the front cover, bookstore stamps to the inside cover, and other light to moderate shopwear. Novel by the author of The Lottery. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Popular Library, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Edgewear, spine uncracked. 173 p.; 18 cm. Popular Library; M2041. Audience: Children/juvenile. Shirley Jackson was a great writer, this is a great novel. read more
Binding: Paper
Publisher: Popular, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Cover Art. Fair. No Jacket. Vintage Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Cover Price 1.25----------X-Library with normal flaws.....The cover has creases.... read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Popular Library (1963).
Description: 1st printing. Popular Library M2041. cvr 60¢ [paperback] 4x7 inch. Cover art by W. Teason. Nice covers with no creases. **faults: Spine creasing. The first 36 pages getting loose near bottom only. Edge and corner wear. Else VG. [mystery]. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Viking Press
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good in Poor jacket. 2nd printing. The cloth on the spine is soiled; some discoloring to page edges; good solid book. The dj is present but heavily chipped and torn; tape repaired; price marked out and rewritten on front flap. Jacket by Paul Bacon. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Inventory No: 071133. read more
"Hands down--one of my all-time favorite books. No, it's not a horror or thriller in the contemporary sense, but just like her short story "The Lottery" this book exudes the "horror" of mass hysteria in its climactic scene. What does it take to make us stop being civilized, even for a moment, and do awful things to other human beings?
Yes, the residents of this house are different, especially the true murderer. But do they deserve what happens to them? And is their visitor any less a villain just because his hands are "clean" of the tragedy? I think not.
The Twilight Zone (both a radio episode and a TV episode) delved a bit into this question when a blackout in a neighborhood convinces folks who live on the same street that their neighbor is an alien invader just because he's different. They are ready to kill him when a person from another block comes over and says the lights are coming back on.
How quickly can we become scared? How much influence does it take from others for us to do something in a split second to another human being that is irrevocable? How far will we go when we become zealous in our belief that "we" are the only normal people and our way is the only "right" way?
I am an unapologetic and unabashed fan of Shirley Jackson, but please read the book anyway! ;-)"
"Every time I read a book by Shirley Jackson I am always blown away by just how damn good she is. One of the best, and perhaps most under-rated American authors, her prose is both poetic and clear, her dialogue witty and stylizied but very believable, her characters complex, sinister, gothic and dangerous but also endearing and relateable. Merricat is an infamously loved anti-heroine and she lives up to her reputation in the literary world as fierce, intelligent and irresistible. Uncle Julian, Constance and even a number of the lesser characters (Helen Clarke, Dr. Levy, Jim Clarke, Cousin Charles, Stella, etc.) all have deftly drawn personalities and voices. The story moves swiftly and never ceases to be intriguing; the act three reveal, so to speak, hits like a ton of bricks and yet makes total sense. The conclusion is haunting and beautiful, like a cobweb, and leaves you wanting more while still being totally satisfied to leave the sisters where they're hiding."
"There is something wonderfully strange about Shirley Jackson's imagination. On one hand, she was a housewife that lived through the good old days known as the fifties. And on other distant hand, she embodies the fact that such an ideal era had its dark side, a side focused on the strange attempting to appear normal in an age of conformity. What we get in this Jackson novel is a story of two sisters who seem to be hated by the rest of their community. Perhaps, it just a consequence of jealousy, that is, the fact that the two sisters are independently wealthy. However, this is Jackson's world, and things, however, are not going to be as they seem (Remember, "The Lottery?"). There is something VERY wrong with the Blackwood sisters, and yet, as a result of self disillusionment or as an attempt to conform to some ideal of normalcy, they attempt, or rather make themselves believe that they are normal and that it is the town that is disillusioned.
This is such a complex and eerie novel that seeks inspiration from a long standing women's Gothic tradition to tell a story that goes into the deep disturbing realm of the feminine psyche. The story is told with the use of simple and yet poetic language and framed in a manner that might arguably be the best representation of Jackson's genius, which is embedded with such a great deal of irony.
"This is one of my all-time favorite books. Jackson captures craziness in a way that no other author has ever been able to - you sympathize with her characters, even when they are being incredibly creepy. One thing that I love about this book is that everyone is not as they appear. I've read this half a dozen times, and every time I read it, I see the characters with a new perspective. There are so many layers to each of them that are not apparent with the first reading. This is a book that needs to be read several times in order to fully appreciate the complexities of the characters and the situation.
This book is so beautifully written that it brings tears to my eyes with every reading. The characters' eccentricities, psychotics, and even dialogue are so artfully presented that it makes one wonder how much of it is actually based on Jackson's own life (she had phobias and I believe must have identified strongly with Constance.)
Excellent book, definitely one worth purchasing! It will never get old."
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