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A review by kimberlyf
The Letters of Shirley Jackson by Shirley Jackson
5.0
What a wonderful read through. The letters here range from 1938 to the time of Jackson’s untimely death in 1965. In the beginning, we see most of her letters addressed to Stanley Hyman (who would later become her husband) and then transition to being mostly addressed to her parents and her agent. In between, we get some really funny letters to other people though: friends, her children, and even this brilliant clap back to a “complaining reader”:
July 24 [1957]
Dear Mrs. White,
If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree.
Sincerely,
Shirley Jackson
The letters drip with Jackson’s usual candor and wit. I greatly enjoyed gaining a larger insight in to Jackson’s day to day life, her thought process while writing, and particularly her thoughts about her own pieces of work: which were her favorites, what she thought about the characters, etc. Though I have read some of her work, I certainly have not read it all but this has encouraged me—as if I wasn’t interested before—to seek out the rest.
All in all, a fun read and I think Shirley and I would have made good friends.
July 24 [1957]
Dear Mrs. White,
If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree.
Sincerely,
Shirley Jackson
The letters drip with Jackson’s usual candor and wit. I greatly enjoyed gaining a larger insight in to Jackson’s day to day life, her thought process while writing, and particularly her thoughts about her own pieces of work: which were her favorites, what she thought about the characters, etc. Though I have read some of her work, I certainly have not read it all but this has encouraged me—as if I wasn’t interested before—to seek out the rest.
All in all, a fun read and I think Shirley and I would have made good friends.