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The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

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sarahbc93_'s review against another edition

5.0

Each of these stories contain a different element that makes them different from each other. But what they all have in common is the ability to make you say “Erm, what the hell did I just read?” Naturally, some are more engaging than others but they are all as enjoyable as each other.

The Lottery is messed up, friends. Like, really messed up. But it’s so good!! Shirley Jackson is a really special author and I think this is one of the stories that I would use to demonstrate that. It was not the ending I expected but that’s what makes it so good. You read the story thinking, “Well, what comes next?” Which is what makes the best mystery stories so good.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into books by Shirley Jackson, but I would also recommend this book to anyone who is in a bit of a reading slump. Or someone who is having difficulty finishing a novel, as the short nature of the stories mean that you can easily finish one or two a day.

alliebex's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Some of the stories are a 3, some (including obviously The Lottery) are a 5. So middling out at a 4.

katharinaxx's review against another edition

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4.0

I picked up Shirley Jackson for the first time after watching Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House, and with some disappointment (which wasn't fair to the original author), I realized none of the stories in this book were horror.

Genre aside, though most of the stories weren't a pleasant read, I really liked the masterful depictions of humanity and society. Reading the book, I was often reminded of Eileen Chang's (張愛玲) writing: Both Shirley Jackson and Eileen Chang had a way of describing the subtleties of the wicked and calculating human nature underneath the seemingly bland and amiable day-to-day life. Shirley Jackson wrote about suburbia housewives and disorienting city lives; Eileen Chang wrote more about romance with a history backdrop - one of Americans, one of Chinese, yet it was surprising how similar humanity could be.

To me, both Shirley Jackson and Eileen Chang tended to have fairly negative outlooks on the stories they were writing. I can't help but notice that both authors were educated women with unhappy upbringings and unsatisfactory marriages. The fact that they were very observant people probably didn't help themselves lead a more blissful life, but (if it's any consolation) it truly yielded great literature, with those fable-like stories voicing many different aspects of suppressions.