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A review by versmonesprit
The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
I think I’d be less disappointed in this small selection of three short stories, had it not been for the back cover:
Malice, deception and creeping dread lie beneath the surface of ordinary American life in these miniature masterworks.
None of those three premises (malice, deception, dread) are present in the three stories (The Missing Girl, Journey with a Lady, Nightmare).
The Missing Girl was the strongest, and the closest to the premise. It’s almost a comedy of the ineptitude and lack of care exhibited by every single adult (including her own family) when a teenage girl goes missing from a camp. It is, of course, inherently sad, but it’s more so comical in its portrayal of the key figures, in how they shirk all responsibility, in how discardable the girl ultimately is to everyone so all the supposed actions are nothing but a two-faced performance. This story, for me, was a solid 5/5, so I was very excited for the following two.
Journey with a Lady was a pretty straightforward story of a little boy travelling alone, and how he has a nice time with a woman wanted for robbery. It was uneventful, and never felt tense. I’d even say the story was pointless, and though stories don’t need a point if the point is the experience of reading it, unfortunately there was no mastery of writing in it either. The story was cute, but ultimately it was too plot-driven to offer a more unique point of view. Still, I didn’t hate this story by its own — it just doesn’t belong in this collection because it lacks all the premise points.
The final story, Nightmare, is the reason behind the Black Mirror comparisons, and I agree. But while people admire the show, I find it intolerably stupid, which is exactly what this story is. An ordinary woman is seemingly randomly selected as “Miss X,” and all over NYC are posters and announcements describing her appearance. All people have to do is spot her as Miss X to win incredible prizes, but despite a whole parade, no one does. Nothing bad happens at all, the organisers are just disappointed that nobody cares, and even lodge our main character at a hotel. The point is that no one in big cities care about their surroundings, and have mastered the art of blocking out bullshit like this whole “Find Miss X” campaign. Both Shirley Jackson here and Black Mirror as a whole create stupid, pointless stories to make stupid, pointless points. I can go on for hours about how much I hate the smugness with which people who write utter bullshit like this believe they’re so smart and clever for saying obvious, but ultimately pointless and in that, stupid, things like “technology… can be bad?” (the ENTIRE shtick of Black Mirror) and “big city people, don’t care” (the entire shtick of this waste of a story).
TLDR: First story was great, second was cute but a bit of a waste of time, third was utter crap. None of them made sense in this small collection claiming to be about malice and dread.
The Missing Girl was the strongest, and the closest to the premise. It’s almost a comedy of the ineptitude and lack of care exhibited by every single adult (including her own family) when a teenage girl goes missing from a camp. It is, of course, inherently sad, but it’s more so comical in its portrayal of the key figures, in how they shirk all responsibility, in how discardable the girl ultimately is to everyone so all the supposed actions are nothing but a two-faced performance. This story, for me, was a solid 5/5, so I was very excited for the following two.
Journey with a Lady was a pretty straightforward story of a little boy travelling alone, and how he has a nice time with a woman wanted for robbery. It was uneventful, and never felt tense. I’d even say the story was pointless, and though stories don’t need a point if the point is the experience of reading it, unfortunately there was no mastery of writing in it either. The story was cute, but ultimately it was too plot-driven to offer a more unique point of view. Still, I didn’t hate this story by its own — it just doesn’t belong in this collection because it lacks all the premise points.
The final story, Nightmare, is the reason behind the Black Mirror comparisons, and I agree. But while people admire the show, I find it intolerably stupid, which is exactly what this story is. An ordinary woman is seemingly randomly selected as “Miss X,” and all over NYC are posters and announcements describing her appearance. All people have to do is spot her as Miss X to win incredible prizes, but despite a whole parade, no one does. Nothing bad happens at all, the organisers are just disappointed that nobody cares, and even lodge our main character at a hotel. The point is that no one in big cities care about their surroundings, and have mastered the art of blocking out bullshit like this whole “Find Miss X” campaign. Both Shirley Jackson here and Black Mirror as a whole create stupid, pointless stories to make stupid, pointless points. I can go on for hours about how much I hate the smugness with which people who write utter bullshit like this believe they’re so smart and clever for saying obvious, but ultimately pointless and in that, stupid, things like “technology… can be bad?” (the ENTIRE shtick of Black Mirror) and “big city people, don’t care” (the entire shtick of this waste of a story).
TLDR: First story was great, second was cute but a bit of a waste of time, third was utter crap. None of them made sense in this small collection claiming to be about malice and dread.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder