One of the most terrifying stories of the twentieth century, Shirley Jackson s The Lottery created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker in 1948. “Power and haunting,” and “nights of unrest” were typical reader responses. Today it is considered a classic work of short fiction, a story remarkable for its combination of subtle suspense and pitch-perfect descriptions of both the … descriptions of both the chilling and the mundane.
The Lottery and Other Stories, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson’s lifetime, unites “The Lottery” with twenty-four equally unusual short stories. Together they demonstrate Jackson’s remarkable range — from the hilarious to the horrible, the unsettling to the ominous — and her power as a storyteller.
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Everybody’s read ‘The Lottery’. Best not to know about it, then read it, scared me the first time I did. Haven’t read the rest of her stories.
The divine Shirley Jackson finds evil, strife, and discord in the mundane.
She truly exposes the underbelly of living in mid-twentieth century America.
To say her work in this volume is unsettling is quite the understatement.
The Lottery is a true classic story and the author has been in my top ten authors for decades.
It always amazes me how Shirley Jackson can take something so ordinary and mundane and turn it into a horror story. Also, The Lottery is one of those stories that just sticks with you and really makes you think about our society and the way you view others.
I recommend the short story “The Lottery “ by Shirley Jackson. In the current world situation…it is an interesting look into the ‘can’t happen to me’ attitudes.
I followed up my reading of *We Have Always Lived at the Castle* with a re-read of The Lottery, which is just as powerful the third time around as it was the first. Interestingly, there was a terrific outcry at the time Jackson published the story in the New Yorker.
In *Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life*, Ruth Franklin writes, “These were the start of a torrent of letters that The New Yorker would receive about ‘The Lottery.’ By now the story is so familiar as a cultural touchstone that it is hard to remember how uncanny it originally seemed: ‘outrageous,’ ‘gruesome,’ ‘shocking,’ or just ‘utterly pointless,’ in the words of some of the readers who were moved to write to the magazine or to Jackson personally. (…) she would receive letters about ‘The Lottery’ for the rest of her life. But though there were some canceled subscriptions and a fair share of name-calling, the vast majority of the letter writers were not hostile, simply confused. More than anything else, they wanted to understand what the story meant. The response of one Connecticut woman was typical. ‘Gentlemen,’ she wrote, ‘I have read “The Lottery” three times with increasing shock and horror. … Cannot decide whether [Shirley Jackson] is a genius or a female and more subtle version of Orson Welles.'”
If you haven’t read The Lottery, I don’t want to give anything away. It was groundbreaking and terrifying. Read it!
Shirley Jackson knows how to intrigue and tell thoughtful stories. I wanted to be her when I was growing up! Too bad the Hunger Games stole the plot of The Lottery; it remains my favorite short story to this day.
Really sad stories to keep you awake at night and depress you. Not a nice selection.
endings left strangelly unfinished
The problem with most short story collections is that they suffer from an inconsistency in quality, or more specifically, in how interesting the stories are. While this one has a pretty high standard, I was particularly disappointed on its most acclaimed piece, “The Lottery.” Perhaps I had impossibly high expectations and since it was the last story in the collection I built it up as I read through the others.
Regardless of how interesting the stories, what is undeniable is the quality of Shirley Jackson’s writing and her infinite capacity for drawing characters and worlds in just a few pages. This book should be used as a writing manual for any aspiring writer.
scary story sneaks up on you, classic horror set in “normal” small town, favorite author
Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery” is one of my all time favorite short stories. I’ve never read much else by her, so I am enjoying these stories. She is an incredible story teller.
As potent as it was over 50 years ago
She writes as if she’s a fly on the wall who is able to observe all the human foibles of humans. Those tiny seemingly insignificant moments that we soon forget, then later discover they were THE turning points of our lives.
Have read Ms Jackson’s writing since Jr High never disappoints if you like gothic this is the one.
I read this book over 40 yeas ago and it still haunts me.