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Hangsaman Shirley Jackson 9780445031173 Books

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Hangsaman Shirley Jackson 9780445031173 Books

I am giving this book 5 stars even though I did not understand the ending at all; only Shirley Jackson is capable of winning my praises in spite of my confusion over her work. This book is quite difficult to review; I cannot give voice to my questions without potentially giving something away to the reader (if it is even possible for me to give away something I never really "got"). Natalie is an unusual young lady. Her mother is unable to express her love to her, and her father spends his time training her for a life of writing and affable intellectualism. He daily meets with Natalie to review things she has written and to converse on an adult, though instructional, level. He is a writer of sorts and has frequent parties; Natalie is allowed if not encouraged to engage in adult conversation, drink, and smoke. Natalie lives in two worlds at once; she is constantly imagining vivid exchanges between herself and others--particularly a cop trying to make her confess to a murder. At one party, she is led off into the woods by an older man, and something important and probably not good happens to her--she constantly pretends that nothing happened, but an important change in her begins at that point. As she goes to college, she changes drastically. She is unhappy at school; the other girls are silly, conniving, vain, deceitful, etc. She becomes friends with her English teacher and his wife, both of whom are dysfunctional human beings; the teacher is especially bad and spends way too much time drinking and meeting his young female students outside of class. Although she seems to adapt to college and make some friends, her personal struggles take a turn for the worse; this process is accelerated when she meets a strange girl named Tony, endures the laughter her classmates direct toward her, and isolates herself more and more from those around her. Tony's influence helps set the stage for the conclusion of the story.
I imagine that loners like myself will strongly sympathize with Natalie and her struggles. I was amazed to see her expressing thoughts I myself have at times: Am I really here? Am I really alive or just dreaming that I am alive? Are the people around me real or are they just "actors" in the performance that is my life? Are they all conspiring against me and plotting my downfall? If I think of something today that I have not thought of in a long time, will I not encounter (and thus have created by my thoughts) that thing tomorrow? Natalie clearly deteriorates mentally as the story progresses, but I (like her) am left with questions about the events described--What was real and what was not real? What really happened with the man in the woods? Was Tony real? To what does the title Hangsaman really refer? There are many questions I am left to ponder after finishing this book. I can't say that the ending was bad; my expectations were proven wrong, which is always a good thing about a book's conclusion. If the whole story had been explained in detail, I realize that its effects on me would have been minimal, whereas my questions will keep the story in my mind for some time to come and will probably compel me to re-read the novel at some point in the future. Shirley Jackson tells a gripping story and makes Natalie a character I strongly liked, sympathized with, cheered for, and worried about. The writing is really quite magical and unlike anything else I have read from other writers. As weird as the story and characters sometimes are, you still feel a close, emotional connection with both. The writing is so powerful that it is quite capable of bringing on anxiety attacks of a sort for this reader. Jackson's writing is equivalent to a roadside accident--although you may see something unpleasant, you have to look, and then it is all but impossible to ever look away. In its own way, Hangsaman is as good a read as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.


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Hangsaman Shirley Jackson 9780445031173 Books Reviews

Shirley Jackson is a master of enticing readers into a world that is creepy and off-putting while magical at the same time. The premise for "Hangsaman" is immediately intriguing, as it follows a college freshman through her descent into schizophrenia. Yet for all of Jackson's expertise at crafting vividly strange and disturbing worlds, "Hangsaman" falls short because it depends too much on the concept rather than the narrative.

Readers first meet Natalie Waite, a shy introverted seventeen-year-old, while she is about to embark on her first year of college. Her parents have anything but a loving relationship, the family gathering around the dinner table as a formality, with stilted communication. Natalie meets daily with her father to discuss her thoughts and writing. Their relationship is that of teacher to pupil, rather than father to daughter, and readers can clearly see the father trying to press his views and ideas onto his impressionable daughter. Natalie is almost without boundaries in her father's eyes, free to experiment with cigarettes and alcohol, and to play hostess at his various parties. Right before she enters college, something happens to her at one of these parties that drastically affects Natalie, who tries to suppress the fact that 'anything' happened.

Yet while the world sees one Natalie, there is another world going on inside the main character's head. While she is having conversations with other people, imaginary conversations are going on in her mind. In the most frequent one, she is being questioned by a detective about a murder. There is no break beteween the 'real' conversation and Natalie's 'imagined' conversation, which can make reading these passages difficult. As Natalie settles into college life, she finds that she is unliked and alone; the other girls make fun of her. Yet she manages to find one friend, a girl named Tony, who gives her strength; however, readers must figure out if Tony is real, or just a figment of Natalie's fractured mind.

And author Shirley Jackson doesn't necessarily give answers to these questions. While the premise of following a character through a descent into schizophrenia is intriguing, the fact that the lines are blurred for the reader and not just the character makes reading "Hangsaman" confusing. While the novel maintained my interest, I found myself reading it more slowly than others of Jackson's works, and that I needed time away from it to sort out the story before I could read further. "Hangsaman" is still a compelling read, full of Jackson's incredible eye for detail with a setting so evocative that the lines between every world are hard to distinguish.
I am giving this book 5 stars even though I did not understand the ending at all; only Shirley Jackson is capable of winning my praises in spite of my confusion over her work. This book is quite difficult to review; I cannot give voice to my questions without potentially giving something away to the reader (if it is even possible for me to give away something I never really "got"). Natalie is an unusual young lady. Her mother is unable to express her love to her, and her father spends his time training her for a life of writing and affable intellectualism. He daily meets with Natalie to review things she has written and to converse on an adult, though instructional, level. He is a writer of sorts and has frequent parties; Natalie is allowed if not encouraged to engage in adult conversation, drink, and smoke. Natalie lives in two worlds at once; she is constantly imagining vivid exchanges between herself and others--particularly a cop trying to make her confess to a murder. At one party, she is led off into the woods by an older man, and something important and probably not good happens to her--she constantly pretends that nothing happened, but an important change in her begins at that point. As she goes to college, she changes drastically. She is unhappy at school; the other girls are silly, conniving, vain, deceitful, etc. She becomes friends with her English teacher and his wife, both of whom are dysfunctional human beings; the teacher is especially bad and spends way too much time drinking and meeting his young female students outside of class. Although she seems to adapt to college and make some friends, her personal struggles take a turn for the worse; this process is accelerated when she meets a strange girl named Tony, endures the laughter her classmates direct toward her, and isolates herself more and more from those around her. Tony's influence helps set the stage for the conclusion of the story.
I imagine that loners like myself will strongly sympathize with Natalie and her struggles. I was amazed to see her expressing thoughts I myself have at times Am I really here? Am I really alive or just dreaming that I am alive? Are the people around me real or are they just "actors" in the performance that is my life? Are they all conspiring against me and plotting my downfall? If I think of something today that I have not thought of in a long time, will I not encounter (and thus have created by my thoughts) that thing tomorrow? Natalie clearly deteriorates mentally as the story progresses, but I (like her) am left with questions about the events described--What was real and what was not real? What really happened with the man in the woods? Was Tony real? To what does the title Hangsaman really refer? There are many questions I am left to ponder after finishing this book. I can't say that the ending was bad; my expectations were proven wrong, which is always a good thing about a book's conclusion. If the whole story had been explained in detail, I realize that its effects on me would have been minimal, whereas my questions will keep the story in my mind for some time to come and will probably compel me to re-read the novel at some point in the future. Shirley Jackson tells a gripping story and makes Natalie a character I strongly liked, sympathized with, cheered for, and worried about. The writing is really quite magical and unlike anything else I have read from other writers. As weird as the story and characters sometimes are, you still feel a close, emotional connection with both. The writing is so powerful that it is quite capable of bringing on anxiety attacks of a sort for this reader. Jackson's writing is equivalent to a roadside accident--although you may see something unpleasant, you have to look, and then it is all but impossible to ever look away. In its own way, Hangsaman is as good a read as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.