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1edwinbcn
The Bird's Nest is a 1954 novel by Shirley Jackson. The plot concerns a young woman with multiple personality disorder.
2rebeccanyc
My review.
Wow! I could hardly put this book down once I started it; it was equal parts compelling and disturbing. The reader first meets Elizabeth Richmond as a somewhat timid young woman living with her aunt Morgen after her mother has died, working in a low-level, almost clerical position at a local museum, and subject to punishing headaches. But odd things start happening: she receives hand-written letters that meanly poke fun at her, her aunt complains that she has been out all night when she believes she has been home with a headache, and she makes horrifying remarks that she is completely unaware of when she and her aunt visit a neighboring couple. So the family doctor refers her to the local psychotherapist, Dr. Victor Wright.
I am revealing no more than the blurb on the back of my copy does to say that it soon develops that Elizabeth has at least two more personalities, the polite and happy Beth, and the angry and funny Betsy. What makes this book so stunning is the way Jackson gives each personality a life of her own, the way she lets one after the other have a position of some control, the way they are and aren't aware of each other and the gaps that happen in their lives because of this. Equally stunning is the reader's growing awareness that something happened in the past, something relating to Elizabeth's mother, to the relationship between the mother (also named Elizabeth) and her sister Morgen and her husband who died young, to the mother and a man named Robin and to Robin and Elizabeth, to the mother's death, but what that something is is filtered through the very unreliable memories of the personalities making up this troubled girl. When Betsy manages to gain enough control to run away to New York, in search of her mother, the creepiness of her interactions with the people she meets kept me glued to my reading chair. Dr Wright (called Dr. Wrong by Betsy) narrates two of the chapters, starting off somewhat pompously and definitely revealing his own weaknesses and prejudices, but he does seem to want to help, in his own way.
If I have any complaint about the book, it is the ending, which seemed a little more pat and hopeful than I would have preferred. Nonetheless, this is Shirley Jackson at the top of her form.
Wow! I could hardly put this book down once I started it; it was equal parts compelling and disturbing. The reader first meets Elizabeth Richmond as a somewhat timid young woman living with her aunt Morgen after her mother has died, working in a low-level, almost clerical position at a local museum, and subject to punishing headaches. But odd things start happening: she receives hand-written letters that meanly poke fun at her, her aunt complains that she has been out all night when she believes she has been home with a headache, and she makes horrifying remarks that she is completely unaware of when she and her aunt visit a neighboring couple. So the family doctor refers her to the local psychotherapist, Dr. Victor Wright.
I am revealing no more than the blurb on the back of my copy does to say that it soon develops that Elizabeth has at least two more personalities, the polite and happy Beth, and the angry and funny Betsy. What makes this book so stunning is the way Jackson gives each personality a life of her own, the way she lets one after the other have a position of some control, the way they are and aren't aware of each other and the gaps that happen in their lives because of this. Equally stunning is the reader's growing awareness that something happened in the past, something relating to Elizabeth's mother, to the relationship between the mother (also named Elizabeth) and her sister Morgen and her husband who died young, to the mother and a man named Robin and to Robin and Elizabeth, to the mother's death, but what that something is is filtered through the very unreliable memories of the personalities making up this troubled girl. When Betsy manages to gain enough control to run away to New York, in search of her mother, the creepiness of her interactions with the people she meets kept me glued to my reading chair. Dr Wright (called Dr. Wrong by Betsy) narrates two of the chapters, starting off somewhat pompously and definitely revealing his own weaknesses and prejudices, but he does seem to want to help, in his own way.
If I have any complaint about the book, it is the ending, which seemed a little more pat and hopeful than I would have preferred. Nonetheless, this is Shirley Jackson at the top of her form.
3pamelad
The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson
Elizabeth Richmond lives with her aunt, Morgen, and works as a clerk in the local museum. By day she is sad, meek and almost devoid of personality, but at night Elizabeth leads another life, of which the daytime Elizabeth is unaware. As the wild Elizabeth intrudes herself more and more and Elizabeth's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, Morgen seeks help from her G.P. who refers Elizabeth to his friend, Dr Wright, who dabbles in hypnotism and psychotherapy. Under Wright's care, Elizabeth disintegrates into four warring personalities.
Jackson's writing, as usual, pulls the reader along. Morgen and Wright are both fallible, believable people. Wright's pompous self-centredness is amusing, as is the brandy-swilling Morgen's sardonic wit. Elizabeth is not as successful. I could not immerse myself in the book because multiple personality disorder does not fit well in a work of imagination: it is too clinical, too defined. Jackson has more impact when she subverts our familiar reality and shows the murkiness beneath the surface.
Despite my reservations, I would recommend The Bird's Nest.
Elizabeth Richmond lives with her aunt, Morgen, and works as a clerk in the local museum. By day she is sad, meek and almost devoid of personality, but at night Elizabeth leads another life, of which the daytime Elizabeth is unaware. As the wild Elizabeth intrudes herself more and more and Elizabeth's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, Morgen seeks help from her G.P. who refers Elizabeth to his friend, Dr Wright, who dabbles in hypnotism and psychotherapy. Under Wright's care, Elizabeth disintegrates into four warring personalities.
Jackson's writing, as usual, pulls the reader along. Morgen and Wright are both fallible, believable people. Wright's pompous self-centredness is amusing, as is the brandy-swilling Morgen's sardonic wit. Elizabeth is not as successful. I could not immerse myself in the book because multiple personality disorder does not fit well in a work of imagination: it is too clinical, too defined. Jackson has more impact when she subverts our familiar reality and shows the murkiness beneath the surface.
Despite my reservations, I would recommend The Bird's Nest.
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