Customer Reviews

Raising Demons

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RAISING DEMONS is the second and last of mystery writer Shirley Jackson's autobiographical accounts of her life as a small-town mommy in bucolic Bennington, Vermont in the Baby Boomer Fifties. Although many of the chapters in this book were originally published as short stories in various women's magazines and the NEW YORKER, in final form together the work functions as a good chronological novel set in the "Together-ness" mid-fifties.

But if the prospective reader thinks that Shirley Jackson's acceptance of the roles of Housewife, Mother of Four and Faculty Wife doomed her to an empty-headed vacuity, think again: there's a universe of verbal subversion going on in her mind and on these pages.

At the time RAISING DEMONS opens little Barry, with the remarkably flexible nomenclature characteristic of this family now called "Mr. Beekman," is headed firmly toward toddlerhood and the older children (counting upwards Sally, Jannie, and elder son Laurie) are all spaced conveniently three years apart. And that, to hear her tell it, may be just about the only orderly domestic act Mrs. Stanley Hyman, the social and familial name for Our Heroine Shirley Jackson, saw to conclusion. Not that her children were outrageously disruptive or combative (but perhaps a bit more than other people's kids, she worries) -- but they certainly had their own ways of talking and thinking.

Laurie fell in love with jazz and jivester slang, to the point where his father started fining him for that "oleaginous jargon" as though terms like "real cool" were real obscenity. Jannie's take on logic was to enter a house filled with toxic gas from a dead, antique refrigerator and when her mother confronted her with "That sign says DO NOT ENTER," countered with "I didn't think you meant me." (And I thought that trait only emerged in adolescence!) Sally so desperately wanted to help Laurie find a critical gym shoe for his basketball game that she ignored Dad's edict not to perform white magic:
" 'Laurie's shoe is weaker and creaker and cleaker and breaker and fleaker and greaker . . .' Sally wound through the study, eyes shut, chanting. Barry came behind her, doing an odd little two-step. . . 'Now wait a minute here,' my husband began. . . . 'We're just untending,' Barry explained reassuringly."

Quite often Shirley graciously consents to make herself the butt of the humor--and then, like a good mystery writer, offers a twist ending as she barbs her way out. When her husband joins the faculty at Bennington College, watch how la Jackson confesses mixed feelings about hubby's (all-girl) students as she breaks dams of faint praise: "I never saw any student, of whatever year, kick a sick cat. They were, as I say, neat, well-mannered, and demure. Their clothes were subdued, sometimes so much as to be invisible. . . "

As with LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES, even the most trivial of domestic upsets turn, in Jackson's high prowess, into high drama. And RAISING DEMONS is consistently funny and consistently filled with a wide variety of humor: sitcom-but-twisty outcomes, barbed repartee, and perhaps best of all the legendary Shirley Jackson revelations of the occult on brilliant display, here a kind of mythical kiddie-occult that at times out-Tolkiens Tolkien. All from their own little minds, too, which makes it all the more endearing and frightening. I know Modern Moms who have read RAISING DEMONS and love it for its pinpoint accuracy of family life, archaic references to dry-clutch automobiles and afternoon newspapers notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, and for no reason I can fathom, RAISING DEMONS is out of print as of this emendation (January 2006), except for a two-in-one edition of LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES and RAISING DEMONS put together by the Quality Paperback Book Club people. If DEMONS proves difficult to purchase, the neophyte might want to try out LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES first, because it is cheaper and comes first chronologically. Dollars to (1950s) donuts 'most all readers will be more than happy to scout out RAISING DEMONS after that!

I received "Raising Demons" as a gift from my teacher in 8th grade (1972) and have read it hundreds of times. I even named my children after the children in the book and find that all-too-often my life as a busy mother parallels Ms. Jackson's, even though the book takes place decades ago. The children are realistically eccentric, the relationships true, the pets demanding, and the house... well, anyone who has ever bought an old house will surely recognize the situations found here.

This book should be included in the recent printings of "Life Among the Savages." (especially as "Life" is much too short!) It is very funny and also serves as an historical peek into the flavor of it's time.

This is the sequel to 'Life among the savages', which describes the trials and tribulations of raising four children. Here we have more about the Jackson children as they grow older and more complex. Shirely jackson is wonderful at describing the weird behaviour of children, and the sometimes even weirder behaviour of adults. There's a wonderful description of the tensions that occur between mothers while watching a Little League baseball match in which her older son is playing, and a very funny account of a trip to New York, where her daughter Sally has her own unique view of the Empire State Building. Shirely Jackson describes the ups and downs of family life with great humour and a complete lack of sentimentality. She is very sound on the subject of husbands. Writing about the trials of being a faculty wife, she says "naturally a husband presents enormour irritations no matter what he is doing" (how could anyone argue with that?) Whether she is writing about a dangerous refrigerator, a daughter who does magic, or a husband judging a beauty contest, she is always very entertaining and very funny.

Shirley Jackson proved with this book that she is not only an excellent mystery writer, but by writing Raising Demons and Life Among The Savages she can have the reader laughing until he cries!

Along with Life Among the Savages, this is one of my very favorite books. If you have children, or have ever been a child, you will love it! Jackson was such a talented writer and possessed of such enormous wit and perception about human nature, you couldn't find a better book to raise your spirits along with her demons. I grew up reading and rereading this book, and continue to reread and to give it to friends who need cheering up.

I first read this book during my middle school years (in spite of its title, which scared me way back when!). How I happened across it I couldn't tell you, but I'm glad I did. It has been a source of laughs for me many times over the years through my readings of it, at least 20, quite probably more. As I've grown older and had children, I've also grown to appreciate the book more. The nuances of family life - marriage and children and day-to-day occurrences, the minutiae that comprise the lives of us ordinary people -- all of that is here. Cleverly conveyed, bitingly sarcastic, touching, and just downright funny. If you can lay your hands on this book, read it, then read it again. Put it on your bookshelf and prize it amongst the best. Then read it again.

The seller for this Shirley Jackson book was efficient and the transaction went smoothly. The book arrived in good condition in a little over a week.