brew yourself a little bevvy

Shirley Jackson’s “Hangsaman” follows teenager Natalie Waite as she becomes more dissociated from reality during her freshman year of college. External pressures from her family, professors, and peers, as well as an internal desire to find herself result in Natalie’s grip on reality loosening.

Like many of Jackson’s novels, the prose at times is very “stream of conscious,” which can make it difficult to follow. But this writing style and confusion work to better illustrate the mental state of our protagonist- in reading her jumbled thoughts we become as unsure as her.

The idea of what a woman’s place in society should be is also explored throughout the novel. Natalie’s mother is depicted as weepy and morose- wanting desperately to hold on to Natalie while Natalie is determined to leave for college. Her mother’s rambling advice to marry better than she did results in Natalie primarily feeling pity for her mother.

This coupled with the closeness between herself and her father calls to mind a quote form Bonnie Burstow's "Radical Feminist Therapy: Working in the Context of Violence." “Often father and daughter look down on mother (woman) together. They exchange meaningful glances when she misses a point. They agree that she is not bright as they are, cannot reason as they do. This collusion does not save the daughter from the mother’s fate.”

This sentiment is further explored with the character of Elizabeth, a girl only a few years older than Natalie who dropped out of school to marry the University’s English Professor, Arthur Langdon, a man whom many of the girls at the University have a crush on and potentially have affairs with.

Elizabeth is depressed, drinking herself into a stupor on the daily. We learn she often forgets to extinguish her cigarettes, resulting in small fires that nearly kill her. Elizabeth is mocked by the other girls at the university and feels she has no friends; no one to confide in. This leaves Natalie torn between wanting to make a connection with Elizabeth, whom she feels sorry for, or to fall in line with the other college girls in their exiling of Elizabeth, which would give Natalie a place within the hierarchy of college life.

It's not until Natalie meets Tony that her thoughts of breaking out from societal norms and behaving strangely finally result in action. Natalie and Tony often act out their elaborate daydreams and imaginative realities. Tony is as much an ally as an antagonist to Natalie, encouraging her to be true to herself but also egging her on to take risks and behave erratically.

Truthfully, I spent much of the book unsure if Tony was a real character or just a projection of Natalie’s subconscious. And if I’m being honest, I finished the book still unsure. I think there can be merit in both interpretations- Tony as an external force acting upon Natalie or Tony as an internal expression of Natalie’s true desires.  

Overall, “Hangsaman” is an interesting read, falling more inline with Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” than her “Haunting of Hill House” in regards to supernatural activity and magical thinking. I personally believe that had I read this book in the later part of high school or during the beginning of my college experience, it would have made a bigger impact on me.

I recommend this book to anyone who has lied about their interests to try and fit in, people who entered college with an undecided major, and anyone who has been in a crowded public space and been overtaken by a deep desire to scream.

While vampires in suburbia seems like the setup for a c-tier soap opera or the punchline to a middling funny joke- the concept when executed well is comedic and compelling at the same time.

On top of the worries of being a normal high schooler- like studying for upcoming exams or trying to find out if the girl you have a crush on likes you back- you now have to deal with your uncontrollable thirst for blood?

Matt Haig’s “The Radleys” follows the titular family living an idyllic British middle-class life while hiding the fact that they’re vampires. But when youngest daughter Clara’s bloodthirst causes her to attack a boy from school, the family is thrown into a crisis they’re unsure they can get out of.

This book plays into a lot of tropes found in the average sitcom in suburbia. The parents who maybe aren’t as in love as they should be, the fear of affairs or divorce looming overhead. The moody teenage son who’s hopelessly in love with a girl out of his league. The precocious and cynical younger sister. And who could forget the bad influence uncle who makes a surprise appearance?

While these archetypes are well-known, and frankly over-done, the vampiric twist on them is what makes them interesting.

The twists and revelations within the story are formulaic, but the looming anxiety and anticipation as you know what’s coming next makes the book more interesting than if the reveals came out of left field with no foreshadowing or hints left previously in the story.

As far as vampiric world-building goes, it features both vampires that are born and vampires that are created. These vampires are also less-so immortal, and more-so extremely long lived- which means they’re capable of aging, if at an incredibly slow rate.

And these vampires don’t need blood to live. The Radleys begin the novel as “abstainers”- vampires who subsist on a meat heavy diet rather than the blood of humans.

This book didn’t leave a profound impact on me, and I’m unlikely to re-read it in the future. But it was a fun read and had an interesting take on vampiric lore which I can appreciate.

I recommend this book to anyone who grew up wishing they were a vampire, anyone who DVRs “The Real Housewives,” and anyone who feels their family could benefit from open communication.

Gillian Flynn's sophomore novel Dark Places follows Libby Day, the lone survivor of the massacre of her family which was carried out by her brother Ben. But more than 25 years after the murders, Libby begins to question if Ben is really as guilty as initially believed. Told through chapters alternating from Libby's perspective in the present day, Ben's perspective the day before the murders, and their mother Patty's perspective on her last day, the storylines weave together revealing a truth that tragically only the reader is privy to. A family massacre with unclear motives committed on a farm in rural Kansas is very reminiscent of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood- a book that is almost always required reading for kids growing up in Kansas (which I was). As someone who grew up in Kansas, it was nice to know the places in Flynn's novel. I've been to Lawrence and Manhattan, I'm familiar with Kansas City, I know the geography of the Flint Hills. It was all familiar to me- but I think that even if you've never been to the Sunflower State, Flynn's descriptions take you there. The locations themselves are practically characters in their own rights. And while I had my suspicions on the truth behind the Day Family Murder, it wasn't until Flynn's twist reveal that all the pieces truly fell into place for me.

While this is not my favorite of Flynn's work (I loved Sharp Objects), it is nonetheless a compelling read. I recommend this book to anyone who grew up in Tornado Alley, anyone who was subscribed to Buzzfeed Unsolved, and people who find a protagonist in mental turmoil interesting.