Comments on: The Sundial, Shirley Jackson

By: Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:33:14 +0000

In reply to Simon T.

I am reading The Bird’s Nest now! As you say it’s not Jackson’s best work but I’m enjoying it a lot anyway. I had heard she was agoraphobic and you can definitely see it in her work.

Glad I was able to recommend The Sundial! 🙂

By: Simon T

Simon T — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:02:26 +0000

In reply to Simon T. ...and now I've made a merry fortune for it!

By: Simon T

Simon T — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:00:12 +0000

Really late to this… just to say how pleased I am to see a Shirley Jackson reviewed which I know nothing about, and now (of course) am desperate to read. The only off-the-beaten-track Jackson I’ve read is The Bird’s Nest, about someone with multiple personality disorder – really interesting, but not as well written as the more famous novels. But amazingly ahead of its time.

Also I love your comment on the houses in Jackson’s novels (although not Life Among The Savages, really) – Jackson (as you probably know) was agoraphobic, and that really comes through in her creepy novels.

Ok, off to see how much I’m going to have to pay for The Sundial…

By: Sunday Salon: the Almost-Christmas Post « A Striped Armchair

Sunday Salon: the Almost-Christmas Post « A Striped Armchair — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:15:20 +0000

[…] impression that she hadn’t written any other longer fiction. I was so wrong! Jenny’s recent post on The Sundial made me immediately want to pick it up. And while it hasn’t dislodged We Have […]

By: Eva

Eva — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 07:36:32 +0000

I’ve read this now! So you can e-mail me and we can chat about the ending! And the beginning! Damn Jackson and her ambiguous ways. 😉 (Only not really…that’s why we love her. hehe)

By: Claire (Paperback Reader)

Claire (Paperback Reader) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:20:29 +0000

Many thanks to Eva for directing me to this post (I have been a bad blogger recently and missing great posts like this one).

Isn’t Rachel lovely? I’ve been lucky to meet her a couple of times; I’ve been lucky to meet several bloggers. Book shopping with them is always dangerous; Verity and I are INSANE when we are together, complete enablers of the other.

This review makes me frustrated as I know how difficult it is going to be to find a copy of The Sundial in the UK – I do like a challenge though! I’m also peeved at myself for not realising Jackson’s obsessions with houses (not so evident in her short stories but certainly the novels).

By: Library Loot: December 1st to 7th « A Striped Armchair

Library Loot: December 1st to 7th « A Striped Armchair — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:15:12 +0000

[…] of a novel than short story phase this year, which is why I’m starting with her second book. Jenny’s review made me request The Sundial by Shirley Jackson; I loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The […]

By: Memory

Memory — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:39:28 +0000

BECF is totally my goal for 2011.

Also, I need to read more Shirley Jackson. How is it that I’d never even heard of this one? I am such a disconnected book lover. I’m always the last to learn about these things.

By: She

She — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 01:03:40 +0000

I never knew this existed, and I need it now!

By: Nathalie

Nathalie — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:51:02 +0000

I am in the middle of her memoir-ish Life Among the Savages, about moving out of NYC and to Maine and raising a family there. Very funny, very wry. Keep tripping up on the references to smoking, though. Funny how that dates things.