Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

 

Reviewed by Christy

            Shirley Jackson is known for her quiet horror, specifically the novel The Haunting of Hill House and the you-probably-read-it-in-high-school short story The Lottery. While her horror writing is excellent, she also wrote about her family life and the chaos that is raising four children. I listened to her semi-autobiographical collection of short stories Life Among the Savages on audio from READS. It is in one word: charming.

            Having read a couple of Jackson’s domestic short stories, I expected to enjoy Life Among the Savages. What I didn’t expect was to laugh out loud several times, including when I read Jackson’s Wikipedia entry where she referred to this book as a “disrespectful memoir” of her children. I particularly enjoyed listening to their young son Laurie relay the horrible misdeeds of his classmate Charlie. Shirley and her husband are wrapped up in the many stories of Charlie’s anarchy, and Shirley is anxious to meet Charlie’s mother at the next PTA meeting to see JUST what kind of woman raises a wild child like that. Unfortunately, Shirley discovers that although those misdeeds certainly happened, there is no child named Charlie in her son’s class…

            Lesa Lockford narrates the audio book and does a wonderful job. She gives each child a distinct voice that is cute but not overly exaggerated. I think her delivery made the book even more enjoyable than simply reading it would have. But as always, Jackson’s prose is the real star. Whether writing about horrors or hand-me-downs, she is able to make the action or a character’s feelings vividly jump off the page. If you’re a mood reader like me, and need to break up heavier works with something light, I highly recommend these wholesome and delightful stories.

Come Along with Me by Shirley Jackson

Reviewed by Christy

            Shirley Jackson is mostly known for her work in horror – the novels The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as her infamous short story “The Lottery”. But she’s also written quite a bit of domestic fiction, none of which I had previously read. When I picked up Jackson’s short story collection Come Along with Me, I was still in the horror mindset so at first, I was left a little confused. But the best way to read her short stories is to completely wipe your mind of preconceived notions before starting a new one.

            There are a couple of stories that are unsettling but not particularly scary. “The Summer People” is about a married city couple who stays in the country side every summer and leaves around Labor Day. But one summer they decide to stay a little later than normal not realizing that maybe the summer town operates a little differently in the off season.

            My favorites of the collection all happened to be simple, domestic fiction. “A Day in the Jungle” is about a longsuffering wife who finally finds the courage to leave her husband. She spends the day at a local hotel, enjoying the luxury of free time and answering to no one. But she’s been ignoring the twinge of fear in her stomach, and it very slowly begins to creep in. It’s a heartbreaking, relatable story, and I loved it.

            I also enjoyed “Louisa, Please Come Home” about a nineteen year old young lady who runs away from home. The story “Pajama Party”, about an eleven year old who is permitted to have a slumber party for her birthday, is very cute and charming.

            “The Lottery” is also included as well as Jackson’s essay “Biography of a Story” which details the reaction to “The Lottery” after it was first printed in The New Yorker in 1948. Jackson received countless letters from around the world, most of them negative, much to her surprise. In the essay, she reprints the occasional remarks included in the letters. My favorite is from Canada: “My only comment is what the hell?”

            I don’t normally read short story collections but I picked this up for the BPL Bingo reading challenge. Come Along with Me is an enjoyable read, and I think it shows Jackson’s range very well.

Comments from Jeanne:
I also read and enjoyed Come Along with Me, but I would like to note that the title story is the first part of a novel which Jackson began but never finished.  I knew that before I started the story but was still disappointed--I was quite curious as to how the rest of the tale unwound but alas! we'll never know.  Also a couple of the selections I recognized from Jackson's two books about domestic life:  Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages.  These two books are utterly delightful and extremely funny. I highly recommend them as well. 

Chillers for the Season

 Selections by Jeanne

I’m not normally a horror reader.  Oh, I used to be, years ago, but that was before Richard Matheson’s Hell House aka The Legend of Hell House scared the bejezus out of me and kept me awake a couple of nights. Since then I’ve been cautious about the scary stuff I read because I am now much older and I need my sleep.  I do still pick up the occasional creepy book, especially this time of year.  Here are some I have enjoyed in the past:

Hell House:  Nope, nope, not going to pick this one up again.  The ending is still too vivid.  Matheson’s tale of a group of investigators who spend the night in an allegedly haunted house may be tame by today’s standards, even be considered stale after a legion of books on this theme, but I don’t care.  I’m not going to read it again.  I’m just going to respect it from a safe distance.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson:  Most people like The Haunting of Hill House, but I was drawn to this story of two sisters who are shunned by most of the town over an incident in the past.  Of course, Jackson's story“The Lottery” is an absolute gem; but I also very much like – and often refer to—“One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts.”  (For a different view of Jackson, by all means pick up her two domestic humor books, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons. )

The Seeker by R.B. Chesterton: Graduate student Aine Cahill has a journal written by a female relative who was a friend (and perhaps more) to Henry David Thoreau.   As part of her research, Aine has come to Walden Pond to try to find evidence to corroborate Aunt Bonnie’s story but soon she begins to wonder if there is something else lurking in the woods.  This is one of those books that the minute I finished I tried to find someone else to read the book so we could discuss it.  Extremely well written, atmospheric, and with fascinating characters, this is one I recommend often.  (Chesterton is a pen name for Carolyn Haines, who writes the Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries, but the Chesterton titles are darker in tone and, so far, are standalones.)

The Other by Thomas Tryon:  Another book I read years ago, but which left a strong impression.  The story revolves around young brothers Niles and Holland who live on a farm in New England.  While twins, the two boys are very different in personality:  Niles is sweet natured and cautious, while Holland is daring and reckless, with a cruel streak. But is he responsible for a series of “accidents” around the farm?  This was Tryon’s first novel, but it was followed by another semi-classic horror tale, Harvest Home. He later turned to historical fiction before his untimely death.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill:  After a number of folks on DorothyL recommended this title, I picked it up.  I soon put it back down again. This tale of a young solicitor sent to a remote village to settle an estate was written in the Victorian first person style and just seemed too slow.  A few months later, I picked it up again and was drawn in immediately.  The setting is vivid: a dark, desolate old mansion out in a salt march with the fog rolling in, and a dampness that seems to seep out of the words and straight into the reader’s bones. The ending is abrupt, shocking.  At first I felt a bit cheated, but I certainly remember it; so it certainly fulfilled its purpose.  By the way, if you’ve seen the movie with Daniel Radcliffe, then you have some idea of the atmosphere of the book.  That part was very well done.  However, the movie took a number of liberties, including changing the ending and turning it into more of a standard horror movie.

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King: This was King’s second novel after Carrie and I liked it better.  For one thing, it was a dandy modern-day vampire story.  Set in Maine, the story revolves around a small town where two strangers have moved into a house with an unsettling reputation.  Then things really start to go downhill. . . . King has said that the inspiration for the book was wondering what would happen if Dracula moved into to a contemporary American village and the parallels are easy to see. 

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin: Long before the first Game of Thrones book, Martin wrote a number of science fiction/fantasy books, including this gem.  Abner Marsh is a Mississippi steamboat owner whose fleet has been pretty much demolished.  Enter Joshua York, a mysterious gentleman who is willing to bankroll a fantastic new boat. . . but York’s secrecy worries Marsh.  Just what is York hiding? And what plans does he have for this boat? This is another great example of Martin’s ability to take a genre and reform it in new and interesting ways.

Happy reading!

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Reviewed by Christy H.

 

            Schizophrenia is a mental disorder with symptoms that may include hearing voices, persecutory delusions, as well as thought and movement disorders just to name a few. Onset symptoms usually occur between the ages of 16 and 30 with women on average showing signs around the age of 25. Marjorie’s symptoms begin at the age of 14. Because we the readers see events through the eyes of Marjorie’s eight year old sister Meredith we don’t get all the details of what is happening. What we do know is that something’s very wrong with Marjorie, and all the trips to the doctor and the medicine she’s taking isn’t helping.

            The family is already under quite a bit of strain when the novel opens. (Aren’t they always?) John, the girls’ father, has lost his job. Finding new work has been difficult and taken such a toll on his psyche that he’s turned to religion for guidance and peace – a fact that greatly annoys his wife Sarah and baffles his children. But with Marjorie’s illness getting worse and no sign of relief in sight, even Sarah reluctantly agrees to involve the church and, eventually, an exorcism. In a series of events unknown to us, because they are unknown to Meredith, the church somehow gets a production crew involved which uses the story to create a reality show called The Possession. The show is enough of a hit to inspire blog posts about its run years into the future – which we are occasionally privy to.

Early on in this book Merry, as her family calls her, refers to her big sister as “my Marjorie”, and I was immediately called to mind of the Blackwood sisters in Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. It sounded like something either one of them would say. I then noticed the back cover had reviews with so many comparisons to Jackson (mostly Jackson meets fill in the blank with Stephen King, William Peter Blatty, or Stanley Kubrick). As I read on I did notice quite a bit of similarities: close sister relationships, broken families, slow building tension, large Gothic houses, and even similar nicknames for the youngest daughters.

I loved this book. I loved the foreboding atmosphere, and the unsettling imagery. I loved sweet, eight year old Merry who tried so hard to be a good sister and daughter. She made me wish I could hug her and make her feel okay again. Tremblay wrote her wonderfully; she acted and spoke like a real child.  I loved how pieces of important information were slowly revealed, some so casually I had to re-read them just to make sure it said what I thought it did. I loved how it was the perfect book to read during autumn. Luckily my house stays cold so it was easy to imagine crisp air outside and changing leaves while bundled in a blanket – even in unfortunate 90 degree weather. I am planning on purchasing this book for my collection because I can definitely see many re-reads in the future.

(sidenote: I have discovered Tremblay has written a short story titled We Will Never Live in the Castle which I love already and will have to hunt down.)