Holy mother of god, what a b•••••• crazy household! I would lose my mind if I had to live in the Halloran house for even a day.

I love Shirley Jackson, this one was like a mix of [b:The Haunting of Hill House|89717|The Haunting of Hill House|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717._SY75_.jpg|3627] and [b:We Have Always Lived in the Castle|89724|We Have Always Lived in the Castle|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1746532708l/89724._SY75_.jpg|847007], in terms of cast size (though Sundial has three times the number of Hill House characters) and being character-driven (like Castle).
Besides one sequence halfway through the book, The Sundial is pretty plain plot-wise, instead it's entirely character-driven. But one thing about Shirley Jackson, she's gonna write the hell out of characters!
The story itself is... crazy and hilarious at times.
For a good part of the book, Fancy, the 10-year-old granddaughter of Mrs. Halloran, seems to be the only sane person in the whole house. But after a certain point, I was - unfortunately - turning into a believer in the apocalypse too.
But evidently, whether the apocalypse is really happening or not is not the primary point of The Sundial (the household obviously believes in it). It's the characters and their interactions, their beliefs, and the way they view others. And let me just say, this story included some of the most interesting, messed up, weird, hilarious, and intriguing instances of these.