Reviews with content warning for Classism - The Lottery

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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

4 reviews

snailslowreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

When I bought The Lottery and Other Stories, I was expecting a collection of horror short stories. After all, that’s how Google had classified it. But even though Shirley Jackson is known for her horror (see The Haunting of Hill House), that’s not quite the label I would have chosen. There’s no blood, no serial killers, and only the occasional supernatural element.

Contemporary critics of Jackson dismissed her, using the casual term “domestic fiction” to describe her work without giving it any higher “literary” status. Jackson was the unconventional breadwinner of her family, but also took great joy in being a mother, and often wrote stories about housewives or working women. These were the types of women who felt like their dreams had fallen flat, who constantly envied their neighbors, and who were determined to preserve an image of success to others around them. When Jackson wasn’t writing about women, she wrote about young people—for example, children: the ideas they absorb or don’t from adults and how they are perceived by adults. Within The Lottery and Other Stories, I tended to gravitate towards these stories, because in addition to being a little humorous, they revealed pettiness, jealousy, fear, and condescending natures so clearly. Jackson’s use of characterization was clever and refreshing, a nice break from other books I have read, where I thought the main characters’ positive qualities were unrealistic.

The writing itself is unembellished, which turned out to be beneficial for the book. Jackson zeros in on carefully worded dialogue and the small gestures of her characters. Here, we can observe the greatest strength of these stories: readers are left to figure out the characters for themselves in the span of a few pages. It’s when the characters choose to laugh or how they greet a stranger that reveals key parts of their personalities. While reading the book, it was easy to get caught up in Jackson’s precision, as I sometimes had to flip back and reanalyze each detail if I felt like I missed the “purpose” of the story.

The quality of the collection varies; there’s something to gain from each story, though I can’t say the themes are exactly revolutionary. But the collection is cohesive and—when well executed—satisfying and admirable. Sometimes, the ideas that Jackson had in mind were too subtle. Or I found myself thinking, “Have I read about this situation before in an earlier story?” However, there was another reason for this feeling of repetition, apart from Jackson’s actual concepts. All of the stories are set either in a village, a city, or on a mode of transportation between a village and a city. Each atmosphere felt drearily familiar by the time I was in the middle of the collection. That could’ve been Jackson’s intention, but nonetheless it didn’t make for the most enjoyable reading experience.

Apart from their subject matters, most of the stories had another similarity: the curious recurrence of a character named James Harris, a reference to the Scottish ballad “The Daemon Lover.” The ballad is about a disguised Devil luring a married woman out to sea, promising her treasure, but in the end sinking the ship she’s on. James Harris appeared similarly as an elusive man who seems to slip through the fabric of existence as he brings out the insecurities and dissatisfaction from the women he encounters. The original title of this book, The Adventures of James Harris, is in this sense more fitting than The Lottery and Other Stories, what the title was changed to for marketing purposes. Ultimately, Jackson shows us, it’s your own desires that are your greatest weaknesses.

Perhaps the lingering dissatisfaction readers may feel after finishing the book stem from their expectations of its title. “The Lottery”—Jackson’s brilliant and most famous work—explored the power of a mob mentality. The only other story that had a comparable theme is the excellent “Flower Garden,” which is about narrow-minded racism in a small town. “Flower Garden” didn’t have the same dark ending as “The Lottery,” yet the subtle elements of Jackson’s writing were fully present in “Flower Garden.” The story centered around a young single mother, Mrs. MacLane, who moves into a town and fascinates her neighbor, Mrs. Winning. I appreciated how though the readers were explicitly introduced to some of Mrs. Winning’s aspirations at the beginning, the rest of her motivations weren’t as clearly stated, while still permeating the story and becoming apparent towards the end. This type of longer story that focused on character relationships is rarer in the collection, but offered the advantage of matured themes and recurring motifs, unlike shorter, hit-or-miss stories that focus on a few moments. “Trial By Combat,” for example, a story about the parallel lives of multiple women, could’ve been even more powerful if it was just a little longer.

RECOMMENDED STORIES (in order of appearance): “The Daemon Lover,” “The Renegade,” “Flower Garden,” “Elizabeth,” “Men With Their Big Shoes,” “The Lottery”

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sheriffrockyraccoon's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Since I have read We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, I thought it was appropriate to return to how I knew Shirley Jackson- for scaring the shit out of me in 7th grade.

This collection was, as always, a fantastic read. I love Jackson’s dark humor and was genuinely surprised at how well some of her stories have aged. Many of the ideologies and circumstances the characters find themselves in felt very relatable to my own experience as a young woman. Some of the stories did feel a little confusing and abrupt, hence why I only rated it 4 stars, but to sit down and read The Lottery again made it so worth it.

I would recommend this collection to anyone interested in Shirley Jackson’s writing as it provides a much wider berth of her genius that her books may have not captured. It’s also just a great spooky, feminist read, ironically written before the second wave.

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46jjsg's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have ranked and bolded must reads of each section. Shirley Jackson your mind!!!

Section 1 Ranking

1. "The Daemon Lover"

2. "Like Mother Used to Make"
3. "The Intoxicated"
4. "Trail by Combat"
5. "The Villager"
6. "My Life with R.H.Macy"

Section 2 Ranking
1. "The Renegade"
2. "The Witch"
3. "Charles"
4. "After you, my dear alphonse"
5. "Flower Garden"
6. "Afternoon in Linen"
7. "Dorthy and My Grandmother and the Sailors"

Section 3 Ranking
1. "The Dummy"
2. "Come Dance with Me in Ireland"
3. "Colloquy"
4. "Seven Types of Ambiguity"
5. "Elizabeth"
6. "A Fine Old Firm"

Section 4 Ranking
1. "The Lottery"
2. "Got a Letter from Jimmy"
3. "The Tooth"
4. "Pillar of Salt"
5. "Men with Their Big Shoes"
6. "Of Course"

Content Warnings

jinmichae's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Horror in the mundane:

Reading this in digital was useful to check on whether names had been used in earlier stories, because there's a feeling of interconnectedness throughout the whole book. Still unsure what all the connections are though: maybe I need to think on it. Or Google it haha. (My searching points out that the song at the end is important on understanding who J Harris is, and helped me realize that his appearances throughout the books are part of the strange "horror behind your shoulder" feeling while reading. Very nicely done.)

This is what anxiety feels like. The actual horror in so many of these stories is being different, being judged by everyone around you as if you're always doing things wrong. The antagonists are traffic, crowds, aging, moving, etc: basically the existing in society we all have to do. And that's what makes it scary, because it's real.

Not every story worked for me, but reading several in a row always gave me that awkward anxious feeling of being judged and found wanting.

But I'm a bum and gave it four stars because it's hard to enjoy a book that's so bent on driving you a bit insane. It's better taken in bits, but don't wait too long in between or you might not pick it up again.

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