Goodreads Ireland discussion

Finished it last night. Really enjoyed the book. A short enough read but interesting. I loved some of Uncle Julians comments to Charles. Very cheeky. A bit warped and weird so perfect for Halloween.

I really liked this novel and got me in the mood for Halloween. It had the feel of The Lottery and I will read more of her novels. I assume that the main characters survived and are feed by the village because of guilt but how long would that last? I'm confused by how they will pay their bills for lights.I figure they have a well for water. I wasn't surprised that Merricat was the one or that it was in the sugar bowl but I couldn't understand why? Did they have another sister Lucy? I think and she was the good child ? Uncle Julian said Mary Catherine was dead but was that really Lucy ?

Colleen, she did it because they sent her to bed without supper. They mentioned she was upstairs so she missed dinner. Then when cousin Charles threatened to send her to bed without supper she had that little freakout and said she should never be punished thst way. That led to the fire. I don't know about the sister but not sure but I do know your reference. I know there was a brother.

Susan at the end of chapter 8 is when I thought that there was another daughter but I reread it and it was just how she dreamed it was . That her family adored her. She must have planned to kill them not like with the fire. I think she thought she had to break the spell Charles had over Constance . I think he had plans to ship uncle juliAn and Mary Catherine off somewhere And have complete control over Constance

Oh, yes. He was a little dasterdly. He was only in it for the money. I wish he really cared about Constance. If anyone deserved happiness it was her.

Charles actually outshadows the actual killer and all the horrible towns people for evilness. Quite the horrible character

Was anyone surprised that Mary Catherine turned out to be the killer? At what point did you figure it out? I think I figured it out about halfway in.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archi... (NYRB review)

I think I knew around tge point were she dreams about never being punished making it ckear she resented being sent to her room. The build up of comments made it clear she wasnt uncomfortable at the thought of killing

I don't know when I first realized it. It came upon me slowly. It was certainly before she ravaged cousin Charles room.

I am amazed at Constance's attitude. She knew Mericat killed almost all of her family and yet she cheerfully took care of her. She even went on trial and didn't say a thing.

There relationship is quite odd. I had assumed at the start the killings were a mystery but its nearly harder to understand Constance's acceptance than to understand Merricat herself

I don't know when I knew for sure that it was Mary Catherine who was the killer but I knew it didn't make sense that she wasn't allowed to cook and Constance who was the "killer" did it all. I don't know if Uncle Julian knew Mericat was alive or if she died.Did Uncle Julian ever speak to her?
I think Constance was so lonely with just Mericat and Uncle Julian for companionship she was willing to overlook the monster that Charles was.

Sara wrote: "Was anyone surprised that Mary Catherine turned out to be the killer? At what point did you figure it out? I think I figured it out about halfway in."

I think I thought about it, a bit, but never really realized the whole truth. This whole book made me very sad, yet happy and I loved the book and loved the love in the book.

I've read this book many times, over many years, and each time something new peeks its head out at me to notice and wonder about.

I think Constance was willing to go on trial for Merricat's murder, to cover for her, because she truly loved Merricat. Constance was old enough to know what would happen to a twelve-year-old girl who had poisoned her entire family. She wouldn't go to an orphanage, or to jail; she'd be locked up in an institution for the criminally insane, all the rest of her days. I don't think Constance could have borne that. So instead she went to trial, where (as several characters point out) she was acquitted -- though the villagers seem hell-bent on making her pay for it anyway.

I do not think Julian believes that Merricat is alive. There are several instances in the book where he grows confused about whether it all happened, who the people are around him. This may be because he is an old man or due to some lingering mental damage from the arsenic. But if you were an invalid, and some hidden part of your brain knew you were living with the person who had tried to murder you, how would you respond? In Uncle Julian's case, to cease to recognize the existence of that person. And if you notice, in the six years since her family's murder, Merricat has come to accept that Uncle Julian does not acknowledge her; any time she thinks to be kinder to Uncle Julian, she brings some small unobtrusive item such as a leaf, or goes to Constance and asks her to do something for Uncle Julian by proxy.

In truth, all three remaining members of the Blackwood family are a little mentally off; Julian is becoming senile, Constance has terrible agoraphobia and social anxiety after the trial, and Merricat -- well, she murders people who send her to bed without dinner. (I wonder about that fragment of argument that Uncle Julian remembers from the day they died -- where their mother is saying "I won't stand for it" and the father is responding "We have no choice" -- was not about money at all, but was about whether Mary Katherine should be institutionalized. They must have realized something was wrong with her. And it sheds new light on Constance's outburst to the police that they all deserved to die. Perhaps she knew what they had planned; they might even have discussed it with the family at dinner before the blackberries at dessert. Perhaps that comment wasn't entirely made to cover for Merricat.)

I sort of hope it was deeper than going to bed without supper. Its disturbing. I think a lot Julians dementia is due to brain damage from the poison. Its a very strange book. Shirley Jacksom herself was severely agoraphobic. We dont really know the family backround of Merrikats family. What causes child to kill her family? Most children feel very dependant. Abuse is one reason to kill the adults in her life. The other is just being a born psychopath. If shes a psychopath, then no supper is a good enough reason for her...chilling...

TPK, what an interesting insight. It well could have been about institutionalizing her and actually makes better sense than money. I love books where there always new things to find in it.

Especially if it's a novella or short story.

And yet another great book!