'The Walls Around Us' Brings Life to Ghosts of the Past


Perhaps you know Shirley Jackson for her short story ‘The Lottery’ that you read in an American literature class. She published tens of short stories and several novellas, centering on themes of isolation, ‘otherness’, and a perverted sense of justice. Everytime I read one of her stories, I talk about them as creepy, eerie, disturbing, mind-bending, unexpected, yet familiar. They are familiar because she has so influenced our current generation of authors (Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Suzanne Collins, etc) that we surely know her tales just by rubbing shoulders with more contemporary works.

As I read The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, I kept thinking about We Have Always Lived in the Castle, published a few years before Jackson’s death in 1965. The two stories are so similar that if I described key elements in Jackson’s story, it would reveal important plot points in The Walls Around Us. Both tackle Jackson’s favorite themes that I mentioned earlier, and even some finer details make a dual appearance.

That’s not to say that the stories are identical, however. The Walls Around Us has two narrators: Amber, an inmate in a maximum security juvenile detention center in upstate New York, and Violet, a rich ballet dancer on the cusp of a successful career at Juilliard. They narrate their lives and experiences, but they both have a curious obsession with Ori. Ori, who is a former ballet dancer and Violet’s best friend, is convicted of murder and becomes Amber’s cellmate.

As the story progresses, you realize that Amber’s words, “I knew that just because people on the outside were free and clean, it didn’t mean they were the good ones,” ring true. Both Amber and Violet are telling Ori’s story, but they are deliberately not telling all of it. As you piece together different angles, versions of events, and correct the timeline that is given, you see that something very dark and disturbing emerges.

The narrative style itself is very beautifully written. Though I usually dislike first-person narration, it made sense to use it in this book because it highlights the differences in the ways each character tells her version of the story. Besides that, the prose and rhythm of the sentences are gorgeous, and I appreciated that the paragraphs were built in a way that wasn’t always linear and straightforward.

I enjoyed reading The Walls Around Us because the story is intriguing, it’s well-edited, and the storytelling itself is of such a high caliber that I would point to this as an example of what to aim for in a YA novel.

On a side note, after reading The Walls Around Us, I was inspired to read all of Shirley Jackson’s stories this year. Anyone with me??


Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing an e-ARC for me to review! That didn’t affect my opinion of the book in any way.

9 comments :

  1. Ooh I've been interested in Shirley Jackson's work since watching The Haunting of Hill House - but I don't think I've read any of her works yet. I wonder if I did read The Lottery in high school, but I don't remember.... Well anyways, I'll sign up with you to read all of Shirley Jackson's stories!

    ReplyDelete
  2. *does happy dance* I have an idea! I'm gonna email you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You sold me after saying that it was like We Have Always Lived in the Castle! I read it last year and loved it! I am adding to my library hold list now.


    On a un-book related side note. My maiden name is Wilhelm. . . .

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh awesome, I look forward to your email!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha funny! My uncle did some family research and found that there are tons of Wilhelms on the East Coast that all hang out, but they don't know about our family line due to some adoption/black sheep/mail-order-bride-arriving-pregnant issues. Are you related to all of them?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those Black Sheep stories are always pretty interesting. My people skirted the East Coast and came down through Canada to settle in Minnesota so I am not sure about the East Coasters.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm even more itnerested in reading The Walls Around Us now! I actually never read Shirley Jackson, but the things you said about her work and this book - the creepiness, the way things aren't what they seem and the beautiful writing - have intrigued me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. PAUSE, whoa whoa whoa. My dad's side (the WILHELM side) grew up in Minnesota. I think they were there for 3+ generations back. Maybe we are long-lost distant cousins??

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maybe we are cousins! This is getting all twilight zone!

    ReplyDelete