Bow all your heads to our beloved Shirley Jackson. This book is a masterpiece. An absolute joy to read. The Narrative of Mary Katherine Blackwood is so thoroughly gripping, so suffocating, that at times it was difficult for me to differentiate my thoughts and Merricat's thoughts. If that is not brilliant writing I do not know what is. So childlike and eerie, yet strangely sweet and innocent, How can murder be kind? Ask Shirley Jackson. She combined these themes masterfully. I have never read anything like this in my life,"The Castle" has opened my eyes to a style of writing I have never seen until now.I chose not to read the introduction by Johnathon Lethem until after I had read the novel, and i am glad for it. The introduction would have obstructed my vision, distorting it. It was a very informative and accurate description though very helpful in sorting through my thoughts and feelings towards the tornado of words I had just survived. Well done Johnathon. "We Have Always Lived in The Castle" is now and forever more one of my all time favorite literary works.