“In ninth grade my class read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. I was in my I-don't-give-a-shit-about-school faze so I really only skimmed but I remember the discussion the class had about the story and the interest it sparked in me. I never did read The Lottery for one reason or another but when I discovered the new-ish Penguin Deluxe Classics covers I knew I had to collect some of them and this one caught my eye instantly. This book is one of the oddest things I've ever read. You can't fully grasp it in the beginning, but there is an overall sense of off-ness to everything that's going on. Our main character is named Mary-Katherine and she is an eighteen year old who throughout the story acts increasingly childlike. Slowly the reader is let in on why the people living in the village surrounding Mary's house seemingly hate her and her sister Constance. Six years ago their entire family was poisoned with arsenic that was mixed into a sugar-bowl. Everyone assumes that Constance (Mary's older sister) murdered their family because she was arrested for the crime (and later acquitted) and all of the evidence points towards her. It was only a few chapters in that I figured it was really Mary who killed their family, though, my suspicious aren't confirmed until much later in the story. I don't really know exactly how to explain the story or how this particular author's writing has a way of staying with me but I get the feeling this book is going to be a favorite of mine for a very long time.
http://fangedunicorn.blogspot.com/”
Dija wrote this review Saturday, September 22, 2012.
Was this review helpful? Yes | No