It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan (Book Review)

We Have Always Lived with Ghosts

Shirley Jackson dragged Gothic literature away from its crumbling castles and moors into the small towns and suburbs. Her families are still falling apart in crumbling settings, but you've seen these places. You've walked past their abandoned houses. You've experienced the family dynamics that drive her characters. Her best novel is still We Have Always Lived in a Castle, a tale of demented sisters living in a lonely house at the edge of town. We Have Always Lived in a Castle is not a ghost story. Nothing supernatural affects the sisters, only the intrusion of a cousin shakes them from their inertia.

While It Will Just Be Us has ghosts, every ghost is a manifestation of a house burdened with centuries of history, from the heroic days of helping slaves escape to the witches that live in the swamp to a creepy psychotic child who may very well be a harbinger of a grim future.

Sam Wakefield, the heroine, lives in the bifurcated world of the present and the past. Her entire family's history intrudes upon her at every moment even as her mother is unraveling. When Sam's pregnant sister shows up, Sam is stuck in the role of caregiver, not only to her sister and mother but also to a legion of ghosts that are all acting like they want something from her.

This is one of those books that centers the horror on the family dynamics of sister relationships as well as an abusive husband that shows up wanting to throw his weight around. It's definitely one of the best tributes to Shirley Jackson's work I've read in years.

In the past I've railed against “quiet horror”, ie, horror that is supposed to be about characters instead of anxieties. This book is not quiet horror. There's too much chaos and too many tense moments throughout to qualify for that title. However, the main reason that I hated Charles Grant was due to the lack of compelling characters. In the absence of blood, guts, thrills, terror, etc, you need characters. Grant never bothered to write decent characters so instead he stuck the reader with boring nobodies that were investigating a mystery that amounted to nothing.

Had this book been quiet horror, I would have still enjoyed it because Kaplan's family members have a realistic feeling. You know these people – the sister who can't say no to an abusive man, the mother who seems to be off in her world and Sam who has been taking care of these people. Had this book not included ghosts, it would have still been a compelling horror tale with a palpable sense of dread throughout.

Jo Kaplan has written many books since she gave me this book as a review copy. In fact, I was going to write a review for medium, back when I thought that I could make money on medium. You definitely should buy the book only to convey my apology for sitting on this review for so long.

You can get your copy here.

Jo Kaplan has written other books including When the Night Bell Rings

Check out the Jo Kapan website.