Reviews

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

frankiebishop00's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

hollsfriday's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

chailajohnson's review

3.0

3.5

I was ready for some horror stories, sadly most of these were more on the unsettling side than outright horror. I like the way Jackson is able to tell a story and set the scene but I was just wishing for more horror. The Lottery was a good one to end on it gave me the thrill I was looking for.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

3/5

I found this book after getting a random video on the Tiktok trend of “if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t tell anyone but there would be signs” and man, this book was crazy! I enjoyed the symbolism in it and how the darker themes weren’t on the surface. The themes in the book on tradition and family is really interesting to me. I do hope to read more short stories like this this year!

taya_bel's review

5.0

While not every short story within this book was a five star read, the book overall is a five star read as the stories balance each other out very well. Not to mention the fact that I’m incredibly biased when it comes to reading Shirley Jackson’s books because she is one of my favourite authors, so I’m already predisposed to believe that everything she writes is magnificent (because it is!).

I was expecting this short story collection to be scarier and strong in the horror genre as are her other two popular books. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find they are overall fiction but not horror. (The only story I would classify as ‘horror’ would be “The Lottery”.)

The book marks the 3rd book I’ve read by Shirley Jackson. (I’m still currently reading my way through everything she has written.)

While the majority of the stories were 4, 4.5, and 5 star reads, these were my favourite:
- “After you, my dear Alphonse”
- “Charles”
- “Afternoon in Linen”
- “Flower garden”
- “Of course”
- “Pillar of salt”
- “The lottery”

Note to self: I read this book solely via my physical copy

therookerybookery's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

dani007k's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

short story collection. great stuff. most of them are good.

danacanterino's review against another edition

5.0

Me gustó mucho, pero es muy cortito. Esto como una novela hubiera sido genial.
Pero sí me da ganas de leer los demás trabajos de la autora tras leer esto.

knivesgf's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

while quite a lot of the stories in this were pretty alright, the ones that managed to hit, hit very hard. the lottery remains as  one of the most slow creeping horror stories to exist. also no one does the inherent horror of being a  suburban housewife like jackson‼️

briesespieces's review against another edition

2.0

what did i just read??? i have answers but i still need answers. immediately!