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A review by lukuisa
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
There is something very disturbing in Shirley Jackson’s stories. However, the threat is rather hidden below the surface than clearly visible: people are never quite what they seem, and cruelty is inherent in humanity at all ages.
”The Lottery” is Jackson’s most famous short story, published in the New Yorker in 1948. It stirred such strong reactions that people canceled their subscriptions and sent hundreds of angry letters to Jackson and the publisher. While the story is quite sinister, in my opinion, it isn’t the best one in the collection.
I appreciated more of the stories that touch on womanhood, domesticity, and how women were treated at the time. “Elizabeth” is a good example of that, but many of the stories have a female point of view.
I also loved the stories that deal with mental health. “Pillar of Salt”, for instance, is about a mental breakdown of a New Hampshire wife during a trip to the New York City. One of the most surreal ones is “The Tooth”, where a woman has her rotten tooth removed and the lines between real and unreal become blurred.
There are also interesting stories about racism and living in the Jim Crow era in America. In “Flower Garden”, a housewife becomes good friends with a new neighbour, but turns her down when she hires a black man as her gardener.
I always feel so cosy reading Jackson. I love how subtle her writing is – how it first appears she is describing normal, everyday life, but actually there’s always something unsettling in the characters’ lives.
“She looked into the mirror as though into a group of strangers, all staring at her; no one was familiar in the group, no one smiled at her or looked at her with recognition; you’d think my own face would know me, she thought, with a queer numbness in her throat. - - Perhaps it’s not a mirror, she thought, maybe it’s a window and I’m looking straight through at women washing on the other side. But there were women combing their hair and consulting the mirror; the group was on her side, and she thought, I hope I’m not the blonde, and lifted her hand and put it on her cheek.”
”The Lottery” is Jackson’s most famous short story, published in the New Yorker in 1948. It stirred such strong reactions that people canceled their subscriptions and sent hundreds of angry letters to Jackson and the publisher. While the story is quite sinister, in my opinion, it isn’t the best one in the collection.
I appreciated more of the stories that touch on womanhood, domesticity, and how women were treated at the time. “Elizabeth” is a good example of that, but many of the stories have a female point of view.
I also loved the stories that deal with mental health. “Pillar of Salt”, for instance, is about a mental breakdown of a New Hampshire wife during a trip to the New York City. One of the most surreal ones is “The Tooth”, where a woman has her rotten tooth removed and the lines between real and unreal become blurred.
There are also interesting stories about racism and living in the Jim Crow era in America. In “Flower Garden”, a housewife becomes good friends with a new neighbour, but turns her down when she hires a black man as her gardener.
I always feel so cosy reading Jackson. I love how subtle her writing is – how it first appears she is describing normal, everyday life, but actually there’s always something unsettling in the characters’ lives.
“She looked into the mirror as though into a group of strangers, all staring at her; no one was familiar in the group, no one smiled at her or looked at her with recognition; you’d think my own face would know me, she thought, with a queer numbness in her throat. - - Perhaps it’s not a mirror, she thought, maybe it’s a window and I’m looking straight through at women washing on the other side. But there were women combing their hair and consulting the mirror; the group was on her side, and she thought, I hope I’m not the blonde, and lifted her hand and put it on her cheek.”