Submit your Article

Shirley Jackson is best known for her short story ‘The Lottery’ and the novel ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ that is considered the best haunted-house story till date. It has also been made into a movie, twice. Published in 1962, ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ was her final work. Jackson died shortly thereafter in 1965. She was just 48.

The Blackwood girls, Mary Katherine, also known as Merricat, and Constance, and Uncle Julian are the last surviving members of a grand old family. The rest of the clan were all murdered. Someone put arsenic in the sugar bowl and the family added it to their dessert. Merricat survived as she had been sent to her room before supper and Constance didn’t have sugar. Uncle Julian only took a little so he didn’t die even though it led to tons of health issues later on.

Constance is believed to have been behind it all because she cleaned the sugar bowl before the police arrived. There was a spider in it, she said. The three, and a cat named Jonas, live in the castle where the massacre took place, with only Merricat going into town every now and then for groceries and books.

The story is basically about how the three of them live their lives on a day-to-day basis, isolated from the rest of the town folks and hated (also somewhat feared) by them too. Then a cousin arrives. Charles claims to be worried about them and just visiting but he never leaves, especially after he finds out that the girls keep a lot of cash in the house. While he warms up to Constance, Merricat hates having him around and tries to get rid of him. That eventually complicates things even more.

Narrated from Merricat’s perspective, we only get a sense of what she sees and feels. But she’s neither an amicable person nor a reliable narrator. She hates everyone she meets and though there are many characters in the book, they are all portrayed in an unfavorable light. The mystery is easy enough to figure out with only one main twist a little more than halfway into the story. What makes it charming and creepy is the claustrophobia-inducing setting. You feel trapped in a castle with three eccentric characters, one of whom seems troubled and determined to go to any length to protect her family. There isn’t anything supernatural in this book but you get the feeling that something’s lurking somewhere all through. It spooks you and makes for a compelling read.

3.5 stars
Fiction
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson
Published in 1962 by The Viking Press
The current Penguin Edition published in 2016
(For the 70th Anniversary of Penguin Classics)
Pages: 146, Paperback

Watching movies on YouTube, for me, is pretty much watching Nepali movies in toto. They are not on popular OTTs and I know of official channels that legally release Nepali movies on YouTube. This way, I don’t have to be disappointed by misleading titles and pirated uploads as is the case with most Bollywood/Hollywood movies.

But the viewership of Nepali films on YouTube is declining, probably because there have been no new releases in some time and most films made in the past couple of years have been disappointing. Anyhow, I feel sad for the handful of Nepali movies I really enjoyed that haven’t gotten many views on YouTube.

Released in 2017 “Dhanapati” is one such movie I think is criminally underrated and deserves more attention. Directed by Dipendra K. Khanal, the film stars the very talented Khagendra Lamichhane in the lead. Lamichhane also takes credit as the writer of this political drama that spells only reality when it comes to narrating a common man’s life.

Dhanapati, our common man, lives life in poverty with his wife (Surakshya Panta) and a daughter. The family shares a tiny flat in an old house in Kathmandu, striving to lead a better life but unable due to Dhanapati’s meager salary as a waiter at a restaurant. Had Dhanapati been born poor, he would probably not have been as distraught. We learn that Dhanapati comes from a socially and economically strong family that was displaced by the Maoist revolution.

Now away from his village in the Tarai, Dhanapati wants to lead a respectable life and give quality education to his daughter. But the various challenges that come with poverty entangle him in a struggle he desperately seeks to win. Initially against the idea of joining politics, Dhanapati, driven by desperation, falls into the trap laid by Kamal (Aashant Sharma), a local politician who has been assigned to recruit Dhapanati into a political party to leverage his family name. Dhanapati’s entry into politics marks the peak of the film and how his life changes thereafter is the rest of the story.

The movie begins with a Nepal banda and ends with a Nepal banda. In between, Dhanapati and his family’s lives are completely changed. A simpleton, lured by greed for money and power, turns into a sinister politician, forgetting how politics had ruined his family in the past. But life still has a lesson or two for him and Dhanapati learns them the hard way.

Khagendra Lamichhane, who has found success with almost every experiment he has tried in Nepali cinema, writes and plays a heavily layered character. Dhanapati is a common man and like all common men, he has his vices too. He might be a good father and husband but there’s also ego, anger and greed that prevent him from making the best decisions for his family. No wonder political power possesses him sooner than expected.

While Lamichhane writes and performs Dhanapati’s characters with utter conviction and also gives the supporting actors personalities of their own, there are a few flaws with the writing that prevent the film from reaching its potential greatness. For one, Dhanapati’s wife does not have an agency or even a name. Dhanapati’s struggles are not his alone. His wife plays an equal part in the hardships they face but she does not even get a name, let alone some power over how the story unfolds. With an actor like Surakshya Panta playing the character, this is a huge letdown. Also, the character of Kamal has an important contribution to the story throughout and actor Aashant Sharma plays him with the earnestness of a central character. His exclusion from the climax just drops the energy of the film and doesn’t do justice to the actor and the character.

A side note to Nepali filmmakers: Most of them do not bother to update their IMDB or Wikipedia pages with correct information on cast and crew. In Dhanapti, the filmmakers seem to have forgotten to credit their casts with the names of the characters they are playing. This makes it difficult for the audience to recognize which actors are playing what. You don’t expect the audience to know the entire cast, do you? 

Who should watch it?

Dhanapati is an entertainer that depicts a common man’s encounter with dirty Nepali politics. The Nepali audience, especially those who have lived through the ‘people’s revolution’, will understand. We most probably have seen or known a ‘Dhanapati’ in our lives. This movie is for anyone looking to watch a serious reality-based Nepali film. 

Rating: 3.5 stars
Actors: Khagendra Lamichhane, Surakshya Panta, Aashant Sharma
Director: Dipendra K Khanal
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1hr 53mis

Shari Lapena published her first book in 2008 but she only became a popular name after ‘The Couple Next Door’ came out in 2016 and became a bestseller in Canada and internationally. I loved Lapena’s 2020 book ‘The End of Her’. It had so many mind-bending twists and turns. Even as someone who has read hundreds of thrillers till date, I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. Just when I would make up my mind about one thing, something would happen that would make me rethink my previous stance. Lapena knows how to keep her readers on the edge.

 I had been trying to get my hands on her other works for a while, when I came across ‘A Stranger in the House’. I wanted more of this amazing writer who had crafted such real but complex characters and stories. I couldn’t wait to read this psychological thriller that delves into a couple’s seemingly-perfect relationship and the secrets they keep to ensure their lives are smooth. (Trigger warning: the book has repeated references to gun and domestic violence as well as pregnancy and fertility issues.)

Following a whirlwind romance, Karen and Tom have been married for two years. They are very much in love. Then, one day, Karen gets into an accident in a part of town that she never goes to. There has been a murder nearby and the police think she killed the man and fled. The man, who was murdered, had been snooping around their house on and off, claiming to be a ‘friend of the wife’s’. The couple’s neighbor, Brigid, had seen a harried Karen get into the car on the night of the accident.

At the hospital, the last thing Karen remembers is that she was preparing dinner and waiting for her husband to come home. Each of the characters, and there aren’t that many, recollect the night’s events as they try to piece together what might have happened. We see the story unravel through different perspectives.

I wasn’t disappointed but having been exposed to Lapena’s writing style, I saw what she was trying to do. I won’t say I could predict what was going to happen next but I had a good sense of the general direction of where things were headed. Lapena is good at creating tension but her stories, settings, and style are eerily similar. She seems to have a trope or perhaps she thinks she has figured out the formula of success with The Couple Next Door and can’t think beyond that. I’m not saying you shouldn’t read her books. Just don’t read two of her books back-to-back or when one of her stories is still fresh in your mind.

3 stars

Fiction

A Stranger in the House

Shari Lapena

Published: 2017

Publisher: Transworld Publishers

Pages: 371, Paperback

I’m not a die-hard fan of fantasy although I read books in the genre every now and then. Don’t come at me, fans of ‘Harry Potter’ (Potterheads?) and George R.R. Martin, but I never really saw the appeal behind those doorstopper books. I read all seven Harry Potters (not counting the various add-ons here) and the first part in the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series. They didn’t feel as mind-blowing as they were made out to be.

So, naturally, I wasn’t much enthused about the ‘Shadow and Bone’ trilogy despite coming across it at multiple bookstores and people asking me if I had read it. My favorite booktuber (shoutout again to @paperbackdreams) hated it, especially the main character, Alina. She thought Alina was annoying and lame. I usually like and agree with her reviews so I had made up my mind not to pick it up. Then Netflix came out with a series and the promo looked interesting. I hence decided to read the book before binge-watching it. The book is okay, albeit a bit predictable. I want to watch the series now to see what they have done with the story.

A war orphan, Alina Starkov is raised on the estate of a minor noble in Ravka, along with her best friend and fellow orphan, Mal. The two are tested as children for the rare magical ability that would make them a Grisha, elite magician-soldiers of the kingdom. When they are found to have none, they get recruited into the common army instead. Then, during a trek across the Shadow Fold, a swath of impenetrable darkness that crawls with monsters, Alina unleashes a dominant magic that even she didn’t know she possessed. This catches the attention of the Darkling, a soldier close to the king, who believes she is the ‘Sun Summoner’—the only one with the power to destroy the Fold.

My problem with fantasy is that it feels a little too trope-y: There is a hero, a problem to solve and a villain to fight. Just the names and settings are different. Shadow and Bone too follows the same tried and tested path. There’s nothing new here. Hundred pages into the book, I could sense where the story was headed (and I was right). The story would have been riveting if I could have connected with Alina, Mal, the Darkling or any of the many characters that appear in the book. But they are all half-baked and I felt nothing for them. That, in turn, made it difficult for me to get sucked into the world Bardugo has created even though the scene setting is quite good. 

Shadow and Bone was fun while it lasted but I wasn’t actually living in another world while reading it, which is kind of the main point of fantasy, isn’t it?

3 stars 
Fantasy
Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo
Published: 2012
Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
Pages: 307, Paperback