Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Will the real Elizabeth Richmond please stand up?, Jun 15 2006
No writer has ever plumbed the depths of psychology as deeply as Shirley Jackson. While not as powerful as We Have Always Lived in the Castle or even Hangsaman, this novel does succeed in giving the reader a remarkable look into the mind of a disturbed individual. Elizabeth Richmond is a perfectly drab, mousy creature wanting nothing more than to pass her days as quietly and demurely as possible. A fragile emotional soul, she is tormented by terrible migraines and backaches. Her problems mount when her aunt begins accusing her of terrible things she has no recollection of doing. A trip to the doctor results in a referral to the good Doctor Wright, a man practicing psychology while proudly announcing he is not a psychologist. Using hypnosis, Dr. Wright comes to recognize and converse with three distinct personalities in his patient--the quiet, demure Elizabeth, the exceedingly nice and wonderful Beth, and the childish, prankster Betsy. Betsy, gaining more dominance over her other selves, manages to escape to New York to search for her mother. It is there that a fourth personality emerges, this one a spoiled brat who cares only about the money she is supposed to inherit. As the story progresses, Elizabeth's split personalities fight for dominance, often switching back and forth between one and another.
Jackson gives us two (or maybe I should say five) viewpoints on the young lady's case. Most often, we are allowed to see things from Elizabeth's viewpoint(s), but in sections we are given an external, non-clinical account of events by Doctor Wright. We also see and learn much about Elizabeth's Aunt Morgen, who is quite a character and rather unbalanced herself. As the doctor pursues his therapy, we learn many things about Elizabeth's mother and Aunt Morgen's less than sisterly relationship with her, we pick up confusing images of a character named Robin from Elizabeth's early childhood, and we find a reference to Elizabeth's four selves once going in search of a bird's nest. I have to admit the bird nest thing escapes my comprehension, and I am still quite muddled about the Robin character. Of course, if the entire story made sense, this would not be Shirley Jackson. As it is, this is a wonderful example of character development as only Jackson could provide. Aunt Morgen is almost as mysterious as Elizabeth herself. While I sympathized greatly with three of Elizabeth's personalities, including the mischievous one, I strongly disliked the fourth. With the constant switching between selves, I found myself hating Elizabeth one second, and caring for her the next. I regarded Aunt Morgen at different times as a fool, a wretch, a loving aunt, and a neurotic. Dr. Wright is a rather ambivalent character, although he is given to fits of exasperation when Elizabeth's case or her aunt frustrate him. Jackson ingeniously made one of the four personalities left-handed; this allowed her a most telling and effective means by which to have two personalities communicate simultaneously. I do not know how much scientists knew about multiple personalities during the time this novel was written around 1950, but I am sure Jackson possessed insights more penetrating than those of many clinicians. Few psychological horror novels can rival The Bird's Nest.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Needs More oomph, Jul 18 2002
There is no doubt of Shirley Jackson's recurring genius and writing style in this book, it had a great initial blow, but it needed more power in the follow-up.Good,smooth, story-line, strong characters, interesting ending. From Sam Flowe's Internet School Of Writing: A+
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