I have read fantasy books to science fiction and even historical fiction. I have found all of the books that I picked and read interesting and a fun read.

However, none of them that I have read made me feel any emotion while reading. Not dread, anger, happiness, or even sadness. I was always interested while reading but never really invested in the book I’m reading. 

There’s only been one book that I have read that made me actually feel something and wanted me to continue reading even though the book is over. 

And this book is called We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, is a psychological thriller and mystery novel. The book’s story is about a rich family household that was shortened to only 3 family members due to an incident. Marry Katherine Blackwood, who is referred to as Merricat through the story as her nickname, is the main character and also the narrator in the story. She tells us about her daily life and routine during the early parts of the book but as you go you feel something isn’t really right with her. 

Her older sister, Constance Blackwood, is a sweet, kind, caring, and a very patient person. Even though Constance is a very sweet person she is blamed for the reason that their family shortened to just three members and she fears the outside world for these reasons. 

And the final member of the family, Uncle Julian, an old and sick man. He was a part of the incident and the only one who barely made it out of the incident with a bad memory and in a wheelchair. He tries to piece together what happened during the incident with the little memory  he has all while also trying to remember things after the incident as well.

One of the two elements that are important to this is the setting and the conflict. The setting in this book is a very big and old mansion that is very dark and gloomy due to what happened in the mansion. The mansion itself is like its very own character hiding truths and secrets it only knows and over the book slowly takes those secrets to the grave. 

The main conflict of the whole story is Merricat and Constance’s cousin named Charles that wasn’t a part of the incident  that shortened the Blackwood family, and the second conflict being the villagers in the village near their mansion. The villagers in the story actively hated the Blackwood family even before the incident and after the incident they now bully and hate them more forcing Constance to stay isolated and afraid of the outside. Merricat goes into the village to get food and books from time to time, just to get harassed and bullied when she does go into town.

And then there’s their cousin Charles. Charles is a manipulative and jealous piece of garbage that tries to tear the family apart by guilt tripping Constance and making her feel that everything is her fault.

In the movie version,  there are a lot of changes that happened in the movie from in the book which I won’t spoil if you wish to watch the movie. Plus it helps understand some moments in the book. I would only recommend the movie if you finish the book since unlike the book that’s a psychological thriller and a mystery and has more information about the mystery side of things, the movie is more of a drama.

Overall, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a great novel that will make you ask for more and even do more research about the book. It will make you feel stressed, angry, and Conflicted about its characters and how they act in the story. This book overall in my opinion is a ten out of ten must read if you’re into mystery or psychological thriller novels.