Before We Have Always Lived in the Castle, my only and brief encounter with Shirley Jackson's writing had been The Lottery, the popular tale about a grotesque custom in a could-be-yours sort of village. I am much interested in how environment and cultural background intervene in the forming of moral charts as opposed to a "true notion of reality", if such a thing exists; and therefore, The Lottery has long since been a reference to me for its shortness, clarity and brutality. But I suppose that when you think of classics to read and you're not American, Shirley Jackson will certainly not be the first one to pop into mind. While wandering through Goodreads, I fortunately re-bumped into her and quickly read some review that mentioned this book also explored the way masses can turn into nonsensical armies by collective ignorance and euphoria, which sparked my interest. 
 This book is so simple and tender, and yet so complex and disturbing. Merrycat, a very biased narrator, tells us of her "castle" and her sister Constance and Uncle Julian, six years after the rest of the family mysteriously perishing at the dinner table by poisoning. 
 Merrycat introduces herself as being eighteen years old, and yet, she reads like a kid, acts like a kid, thinks like a kid, which makes everything all the more distressing. Her own sister acts much younger than the age she is. Uncle Julian has been sick and confused ever since the poisoning and relives the day over and over again, trying to find out what happened. The house where they live seems to be part of an alternate dimension where time means nothing. Old things are always carefully kept where they have always been. This stagnation means safety. 
 The house is not only at odds with time, but also space. Despite its proximity to the village, no one comes or goes from one place to another, except for Merrycat. She is chosen as the "transcender" of spaces, but only for two days a week, for shopping, and she herself is the most pro-reclusion member of the household. 
 The intrusion of an extern element, a male cousin, is the factor that puts the following events into motion. The peace contained in the "castle of reclusion" is threatened and the reader is invited to speculate and observe what happens when the borders between a world and another are strained and broken: be that barrier suspicion, class differences, or even the introduction of sexuality into this island where its castaways are up to a certain point voluntary. 
 To me, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is about choosing to be in or out, and how sometimes our choice is irrelevant in the end. The crowd is an overwhelmingly large and irrational force - to break it, it would require converting each one, and some people will refuse to be converted. And yet, we are all supposed to want in (or else we're marginal people, and heaven forbid such thing happening), while our societies are constructed to reject minorities. The great strength of this book is that it makes us question these ideas by making one choice and the other both absurd. What criteria must we apply to resolve our indecision when our common sense fails us? (Should we be relying on common sense in the first place?) 
 To find out whether Merrycat and Constance choose to be in or out, you must read this delightful piece. I have my own opinion about their choice too, but I'll save that for myself to avoid spoilers.