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batrick_pateman's review against another edition
5.0
The worst stories of this collection are pretty good; the in-between ones are very good; the best (The Daemon Lover, Like Mother Used To Make, The Witch, The Renegade, Flower Garden, The Tooth, and of course The Lottery) are brilliant and some of Jackson's best work. Her ability to draw menace out of everyday domestic life and suggest worlds of repressed resentment and discontentment with just a few words is on full display here. I loved the organization of the stories and the way each epigraph hints at overarching themes for each section. Overall, a book full of really fun, eerie little short stories. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.
Edit: raising my rating to 5 stars because the best stories are just that good.
Edit: raising my rating to 5 stars because the best stories are just that good.
brookshrich's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cranberry__sauce's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars rounded down
"The Intoxicated"
rating: 3/5
"The Daemon Lover"
rating: 2.5/5
"Like Mother Used to Make"
rating: 3.5/5
"Trial by Combat"
rating: 4/5
"The Villager"
rating: 3.5/5
"My Life with R. H. Macy"
rating: 4/5
"The Witch"
rating: 4.5/5
"The Renegade"
rating: 3.5/5
"After You, My Dear Alphonse"
rating: 3/5
"Charles"
rating: 3.5/5
"Afternoon in Linen"
rating: 3.5/5
"Flower Garden"
rating: 4/5
"Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors"
rating: 2.5/5
"Colloquy"
rating: 2/5
"Elizabeth"
rating: 3/5
"A Fine Old Firm"
honestly, i think this one might have gone over my head because i don't understand it
rating: 2/5
"The Dummy"
rating: 4.5/5
"Seven Types of Ambiguity"
rating: 3.5/5
"Come Dance with Me in Ireland"
rating: 3.5/5
"Of Course"
rating: 4/5
"Pillar of Salt"
rating: 3/5
"Men with Their Big Shoes"
rating: 3.5/5
"The Tooth"
rating: 4/5
"Got a Letter from Jimmy"
rating: 4/5
"The Lottery"
rating: 4.5/5
"The Intoxicated"
rating: 3/5
"The Daemon Lover"
rating: 2.5/5
"Like Mother Used to Make"
rating: 3.5/5
"Trial by Combat"
rating: 4/5
"The Villager"
rating: 3.5/5
"My Life with R. H. Macy"
rating: 4/5
"The Witch"
rating: 4.5/5
"The Renegade"
rating: 3.5/5
"After You, My Dear Alphonse"
rating: 3/5
"Charles"
rating: 3.5/5
"Afternoon in Linen"
rating: 3.5/5
"Flower Garden"
rating: 4/5
"Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors"
rating: 2.5/5
"Colloquy"
rating: 2/5
"Elizabeth"
rating: 3/5
"A Fine Old Firm"
honestly, i think this one might have gone over my head because i don't understand it
rating: 2/5
"The Dummy"
rating: 4.5/5
"Seven Types of Ambiguity"
rating: 3.5/5
"Come Dance with Me in Ireland"
rating: 3.5/5
"Of Course"
rating: 4/5
"Pillar of Salt"
rating: 3/5
"Men with Their Big Shoes"
rating: 3.5/5
"The Tooth"
rating: 4/5
"Got a Letter from Jimmy"
rating: 4/5
"The Lottery"
rating: 4.5/5
naomixnaomi's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
cel_red's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Definitivamente Shirley me gusta más como novelista que como cuentista.
En general los cuentos me parecieron terriblemente aburridos, pero seguí leyendo porque también estaban todos y cada uno de ellos bien pinchis incómodos y el cringe que provocaban era un tanto adictivo 😂
En general los cuentos me parecieron terriblemente aburridos, pero seguí leyendo porque también estaban todos y cada uno de ellos bien pinchis incómodos y el cringe que provocaban era un tanto adictivo 😂
neenthefiend's review against another edition
2.0
Not as enthralling but I love Shirley Jackson so much
bumble_abi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
'Passing through the outskirts of the city, she thought, It's as though everything were traveling so fast that the solid stuff couldn't stand it and were going to pieces under the strain [...]. She knew she was afraid to say it truly, afraid to face the knowledge that it was a voluntary neck-breaking speed, a deliberate whirling faster and faster to end in destruction.'
I was struck by just how easy these stories were to fall into. The exposition in each feels nonexistent (although it must simply be hidden, because Jackson never leaves the reader confused) and there's a wonderful immediacy to the prose. Within a paragraph, you're right there in the room with the characters.
I liked how this collection was structured, in sections each with it's own epigraph, marking steps downward to a more intense weirdness, or more mundane evil, or more egregious disappointment. It marks the difference between an anthology made to gather stories, and a considered, complete work of art. It's a generous collection, containing twenty-six stories, almost all of which feel at home here (with a few duds hidden among the pack). The Lottery is last, the finale to this cacophony of everyday shudders. It's fabulous, totally deserves to be this collection's namesake, but I'll refrain from telling you more about it because you should read it yourself.
Whenever I read Jackson's work I notice how fine a balance she is able to strike between the splashy and the simply uncanny, how her writing carries this incredibly classy subtlety, to look at ordinary things sidelong and point out under her breath the terror hidden inside. Some themes that I was surprised to find in here: the hurtling destructiveness of city life; the facelessness of corporate employment; the mask of pity worn by casual racists. While many of her characters are anchored in space and time, the attitudes in here are remarkably contemporary - reading her work almost feels like reading historical fiction by the writers of today rather than reading works written more than seventy years ago. If you're a short story enjoyer, check this bad boy out.
I was struck by just how easy these stories were to fall into. The exposition in each feels nonexistent (although it must simply be hidden, because Jackson never leaves the reader confused) and there's a wonderful immediacy to the prose. Within a paragraph, you're right there in the room with the characters.
I liked how this collection was structured, in sections each with it's own epigraph, marking steps downward to a more intense weirdness, or more mundane evil, or more egregious disappointment. It marks the difference between an anthology made to gather stories, and a considered, complete work of art. It's a generous collection, containing twenty-six stories, almost all of which feel at home here (with a few duds hidden among the pack). The Lottery is last, the finale to this cacophony of everyday shudders. It's fabulous, totally deserves to be this collection's namesake, but I'll refrain from telling you more about it because you should read it yourself.
Whenever I read Jackson's work I notice how fine a balance she is able to strike between the splashy and the simply uncanny, how her writing carries this incredibly classy subtlety, to look at ordinary things sidelong and point out under her breath the terror hidden inside. Some themes that I was surprised to find in here: the hurtling destructiveness of city life; the facelessness of corporate employment; the mask of pity worn by casual racists. While many of her characters are anchored in space and time, the attitudes in here are remarkably contemporary - reading her work almost feels like reading historical fiction by the writers of today rather than reading works written more than seventy years ago. If you're a short story enjoyer, check this bad boy out.
adventurouspotato's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
gaby_azzarini's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75