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The Lottery and Other Stories

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 26,497 ratings · 662 reviews

The Lottery, one of the most terrifying stories written in this century, created a sensation when it was first published in The New Yorker. "Power and haunting," and "nights of unrest" were typical reader responses. This collection, the only one to appear during Shirley Jackson's lifetime, unites "The Lottery:" with twenty-four equally unusual stories. Together they demons...more

Paperback, 302 pages

Published October 1st 2009 by Penguin Modern Classics (first published 1949)

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Aug 09, 2009 Shawn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-horror-and-supernatural, read-lit

Well, who couldn't love this collection? There may be some who, knowing "The Lottery" and Ms. Jackson's reputation for that classic tale and a handful of other "weird stories", and with no thanks to the packaging ("a literary sorceress" proclaims the back, "the most haunting writer of our time" proclaims the front), come to this expecting it to be all strange and weird, if not actual horror. And they would be disappointed, because the majority of the stories here are literary first and foremost,...more Well, who couldn't love this collection? There may be some who, knowing "The Lottery" and Ms. Jackson's reputation for that classic tale and a handful of other "weird stories", and with no thanks to the packaging ("a literary sorceress" proclaims the back, "the most haunting writer of our time" proclaims the front), come to this expecting it to be all strange and weird, if not actual horror. And they would be disappointed, because the majority of the stories here are literary first and foremost, although Ms. Jackson always has an eye for the odd detail or strange atmosphere. Only the titular tale, "Colloquy", "Pillar of Salt" and "The Tooth" range into the odd, but even then it's all about the psychology of the individual or situation, unsettling more than horrifying ("The Lottery" excepted, of course).

But what a writer! You marvel at the economy of verbiage, the attention to dialogue transcribed as people actually speak, the ability to elide information gracefully so as to further the ends of the tale, the art of construction in prose and character. Purely amazing. Aside from "The Lottery" (about which much has already been said, and what could I add except to say it deserves every bit of praise it gets), the real winners in this collection are surprising in their variety. "The Witch" is a simple story of a boy with an overactive imagination on a train ride and a man who tells a story. "The Renegade" is incredibly moving, as a housewife just transplanted to the rural wilds has to contend with the family dog's depredations on the local chickens (Women are, of course, Ms. Jackson's forte, and especially city women in the country and country women in the city; women with failed dreams and women who wonder how they got where they are, with husbands and children).

"Flower Garden", one of the two longish stories here (the other is "Elizabeth"), is a subtle tale of small-town myopia and racial bigotry in which Jackson sketches out invisible cultural scaffoldings with ease (a more subtle take on racial interaction is offered in the short "After You, My Dear Alphonse" which illustrates some ideas about what would now be called, and for ease I'd refer to as, "liberal guilt" if I didn't consider it a propaganda term used by idiotic cultural warriors out to destroy human compassion).

Many of the stories are wryly funny. "Dorothy, My Grandmother and the Sailors" is a hilarious piece about perceptions regarding the danger of lecherous sailors, and "Colloquy" is a wonderful short that lays bare the deepest problems haunting Jackson's middle-class culture in the mid-40s, all in 2 pages (and all while being funny - take that all you drabblers and flash fiction writers!). "The Dummy" rings some small changes on the classic "ventriloquist living through his dummy" trope (to quite humorous effect) and "Of Course" is an extremely funny tale about cultural snobbery.

"The Tooth" and "Pillar of Salt" are real gems which should be as well known as "The Lottery". "The Tooth", a surrealistic story of a women suffering a disabling toothache, numbed by codeine and lack of sleep as she is packed off onto a bus overnight and sent to the big city for an extraction, features Jackson's control of mood and dreamlike detail of focus in masterful form. "Pillar of Salt" concerns a husband and wife from rural New England who return to New York City for a much longed-for two week vacation, only for the wife to be overwhelmed by the pace, tone, identity and reality of the city. A fascinating story that I really identified with as it combined two topics near to me - an almost Futurist (as in the art movement) description of the city as a whirling dynamo grinding everything and everyone around it into powder, and a personal take on what we would now call an anxiety attack. Simply incredible!

There are many other strong pieces here. Many concern women or men living in the alienating big city, dealing with identity and class - "Like Mother Used To Make", "Trial By Combat", "The Villager", "Come Dance With Me In Ireland", "Elizabeth" - this last one especially being a sad, emotionally brutal tale of broken dreams and how they engender cheap cruelty. Some are simple humor pieces about work or children - "Charles", "My Life With R.H. Macy", "Afternoon In Linen" - and others are varied sketches of human interaction - "The Intoxicated" (in which a drunken party guest contends with the cynical worldview of a young schoolgirl), "Seven Types Of Ambiguity" (which seems to be about the worth of things) and "Men With Their Big Shoes" (which is another one of these stories that seems simple enough on the surface but digs deeply into women's pain, in this case running it up against culture and class assumptions).

Finally, in a writer as delicate and concise as Jackson, there are going to be stories so subtle (or possibly stories that make such subtle cultural assumptions of their times on the part of the reader that the point can't help but be missed by the modern peruser) that I find myself unable to articulate the point. In this case "A Fine Old Firm" (which might be another class story) and "Got A Letter From Jimmy" (which could be about husband and wife dynamics) both eluded me.

Well worth reading to rediscover a major American writing talent too often subsumed under her "classic texts".(less)

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Jan 29, 2009 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-2009, dystopia-and-utopia, i-own, short-fiction, du-maurier-freeman-jackson

January 2009

I picked this up last year to read "The Lottery," (more on that below) and I was so impressed I couldn't justify reading the rest of the collection for free. Scouted around for a few months, bought a nice copy, finally got around to reading it, and here we are.

The Lottery and Other Stories is an unusual and slightly unsettling collection of stories (Including the title story and twenty-four others), many dealing with strange victories and defeats, wise children and stupid adults, nor...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

In mentioning Shirley Jackson's name, I have found that there is a surprising number of people who have never heard of her, nor "The Lottery," her most famous short story. It's a shame that she remains in the margins of the American canon, while the more prettier and flashier writers such as Sylvia Plath get all the attention. Although Jackson's stories hold a deeply cynical view of the world, she also reveals compassion and empathy for other people's suffering that is missing from her more popu...more In mentioning Shirley Jackson's name, I have found that there is a surprising number of people who have never heard of her, nor "The Lottery," her most famous short story. It's a shame that she remains in the margins of the American canon, while the more prettier and flashier writers such as Sylvia Plath get all the attention. Although Jackson's stories hold a deeply cynical view of the world, she also reveals compassion and empathy for other people's suffering that is missing from her more popular counterparts, whose writings display a self-centered and narcissistic attitude.

In The Lottery and Other Stories, the main characters are not heroes, nor are they risk-takers of any sort; they wake up to go to work, they run errands, and they greet new neighbors. Yet, a feeling of dread looms over these ordinary, domestic activities. The stories often end abruptly and without resolution, heightening the sense of unease. Nowhere does the juxtaposition of the banal and the horrible make itself more apparent than in the title story. During the initial publication of "The Lottery", the story so offended readers that The New Yorker dealt with a flood of complaints and canceled subscriptions. Other curious readers speculated about the meaning of the story.

When asked to elaborate, Jackson responded:

"Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very difficult. I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives."

A thread of "general inhumanity" runs through "The Lottery" and also in her lesser-known stories, often manifested as apathy for other people's suffering or placing one's reputation above other people's worth. They are often perpetrated with little remorse, and even with a bit of glee. Neighbors describe in gory detail how they would torture and kill the protagonist's dog in "The Renegade," all while laughing and joking about it. In "Like Mother Used to Make," David, the only male protagonist in the story collection, lets his dubious friend Marcia take over his clean, beautiful apartment to entertain her guest. She uses many of his prized dishes, and leaves them for him to wash. Her guest lights up a cigar, and she fails to object on David's behalf. She even goes as far as taking credit for the delicious cherry pie he baked. Eventually, she kicks him out of his own apartment for an evening tryst. In "Trial by Combat," Emily works up the nerve to confront her neighbor Mrs. Allen, a genteel old woman, whom she suspects of breaking into her home and stealing her possessions. Mrs. Allen denies it, and remains unrepentant even when Emily finds the stolen items in the old woman's dresser drawer. In essence, Jackson leaves us with the strong impression that the world fails to rectify wrongs.

Jackson also explored inhumanity on a larger scale; that of institutional racism in small-town America, most notably in "Flower Garden." Mrs. MacLane, the new tenant of a quaint little cottage, scandalizes the neighborhood when she hires a black man, Mr. Jones, to tend her garden. As the garden becomes more beautiful under the charge of Mr. Jones, the townspeople actions become uglier. Uncomfortable with the conspicuous presence of a black man in their neighborhood, and puzzled by Mrs. MacLane's tolerant treatment of her gardener, they begin to talk behind her back. They start with comments about her clothes. Although they are seemingly trifling comments, they effectively mark her as an outsider. One neighbor laughs, "Just couldn't believe those shoes of hers, first time I seen them. Them shoes!" Then they move on to making insinuations about her and Mr. Jones' relationship. A long-time resident chimes in, "He's there every blessed day...working out there without his shirt on. He goes in the house." In the end, they ostracize her completely, expressed by a neighbor's final contemptuous gesture towards Mrs. MacLane greeting:

"Mrs. Winning swung around without speaking and started, with great dignity, back up the hill toward the old Winning house."

Jackson's critical attitude towards institutional racism shows her willingness to take an unpopular stance on a controversial issue. In addition, her observations on the way people casually mistreat one another shows an understanding to what it's like to not quite belong. She gives a resoute voice to those who reside squarely in the sidelines.

(less)

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Feb 18, 2007 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shortstories

The Lottery is one of my favorite short stories. It is so twisted, like The Crucible, I think it is a great commentary on how groups of people are infinitely more dangerous than individuals because mass hysteria, dogmatic thinking, and a lack of personal responsibility prevents anyone from speaking out against atrocities.

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Apr 02, 2010 Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Tyler by: Various Mentions

Shirley Jackson gives readers glimpses into the exceptional aspects of ordinary lives and events. Her unusual style runs consistently through 25 stories in this 300-page book, stories ranging from four to 22 pages each.

Though sometimes categorized under horror, this collection contains little of that genre. The exception is The Lottery, ten pages that anticipate Stephen King. But people focus too much on it. Far and away, the stories involve a moment -- an instant of realization during the ordi...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Thanh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: morbidity-mwhahaha

An ENG 284 review:

This might be just another stoning story for some people, but upon multiple readings the implications in the story becomes a bit frightening. The story is set in a same village. They have an annual tradition called “the lottery” in June. All the village people gathers together and would select a piece of paper in a box, whoever has the slip of people that has a black dot would be stoned to death by the other villagers (family members of that unfortunate person might also partic...more An ENG 284 review:

This might be just another stoning story for some people, but upon multiple readings the implications in the story becomes a bit frightening. The story is set in a same village. They have an annual tradition called “the lottery” in June. All the village people gathers together and would select a piece of paper in a box, whoever has the slip of people that has a black dot would be stoned to death by the other villagers (family members of that unfortunate person might also participate).

I really liked this story for a few reasons: it’s morbid, it’s untraditional, and it lets the readers come up with the rationale and conclusion of the story, simulating the readers’ imagination. Initially, when I read this story I didn’t like or understand it. I thought the tradition of the lottery was too senseless, making the story unrealistic in my mind. When I read it again a few years later in college, I appreciated the story much more. It raised up some themes for me such as overpopulation, generational values, tradition, and brainwashing. That’s just listing a few.

The writing of the story is very forward and easy to read. What makes it such an awesome piece of work is its attention to details, the little hints that are dropped throughout the story, helping the readers fill the gaps in their minds. For example, the readers aren’t told how long the lottery has been going on directly. Instead, we kind of figure it out when reading further in the story with details/information such as this- the oldest man in the village has gone through the lottery 77 times, some of the ritual has been lost or forgotten, paper slips are substituted for wooden chips used in the past. Details such as these are placed all over the story. Also, the tone used in the story is pretty wicked. In the beginning of the story, there is this bright cheery setting with the green grass and kids running around and then we get into a scene where the villagers are talking about the lottery, a killing really, as if it’s just a mundane thing they needed to do. The contrast of the setting in these scenes I think highlights the scenes vividly.

The story can easily be found if you google it.(less)

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Aug 12, 2008 Jamie Felton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Lottery is lauded as being an example of the perfect short story. Having not defined what "perfect" means in relations to the literary form of short stories, I can't really say whether or not I agree. However, The Lottery was extremely interesting. Jackson skillfully sets dread and curiosity up as two opposing forces that will inevitably intersect, meanwhile you're caught in the middle where the tension is tangibly building. The setting is an innocuous village where everyone is preparing for...more

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Aug 08, 2008 Todd rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: almost anybody

Shirley Jackson is my favorite author. I love her short stories in particular, where she creates scenarios where everything might seem cozy and normal and very laid-back for about 2 minutes. Then she moves over into mankind's sneakier nature, which for the suthor is either a very amusing thing or a very frigtening thing. And always a surprise. I liked the short story "The Lottery" a lot, but my favorites in this collection are "Like My Mother Used to Make" and "Trial by Combat". She honored real...more

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Nov 17, 2009 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: school

As it is with most kids, this was required reading for me in school (although I don't remember which grade). I enjoyed it at the time, as it was a shocking and interesting short story. Lately I've been really interested in Shirley Jackson's novels. I absolutely love her writing style and her material.

I reread this story last night, and just as before, It was shocking and interesting. It's done very well, because throughout the story all of the characters act normally (because the lottery is an a...more

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Jan 25, 2011 trishtrash rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-supernatural-paranormal, short-stories, favorites, gothic-atmosphere

This collection of Shirley Jackson’s short stories is a subtle store of tension and under-played drama, absolutely enjoyable in small doses, and rather overwhelming when read straight through.

I thought Jackson was a gifted storyteller in the 'gothic' tradition after reading both The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but to create such atmosphere in small, often seemingly trivial pieces of writing lifts her above ‘gifted’ and into the realm of genius. The Renegade an...more

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Apr 25, 2013 A Slice of the Moon rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you have never read Shirley Jackson, 'The Lottery' is a good place to start (here's a pdf link to the story). Her most famous story till date, 'The Lottery' is a twisted little tale of human cruelty and barbarism. Jackson is, in fact, well-known for these...'threat(s) that sparkle at the rainbow's edge' (Donna Tartt's review).

However, I have read plenty of her stories and novellas by now (my favourite novella being We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Read it here (pdf)), and my favourite sho...more

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Jan 26, 2013 David Stephens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shirley-jackson

Shirley Jackson's stories exhibit many recurring themes—the pressures of conformity, the loss of identity, the passive aggressive nature of many seemingly pleasant conversations—but even so, they never get stale. Each one depicts a small portion of its characters' lives from a different vantage point. While they are often told from the point of view of a thirty-something female who is losing her grip on reality, they are sometimes presented more objectively from outside all of the characters and...more Shirley Jackson's stories exhibit many recurring themes—the pressures of conformity, the loss of identity, the passive aggressive nature of many seemingly pleasant conversations—but even so, they never get stale. Each one depicts a small portion of its characters' lives from a different vantage point. While they are often told from the point of view of a thirty-something female who is losing her grip on reality, they are sometimes presented more objectively from outside all of the characters and instead deal with drunken party-goers or creepy old men.

Jackson is a master of subtlety, too. She can pick out the most mundane characters, locales, or objects and elicit the cruelty or terror that lies underneath, just barely out of sight. After mentioning that the elusive James Harris was wearing a blue suit in one story in which he never actually appears, the brief mention of the blue suit an old man is wearing in another story is enough to intimate who this now might be. And, there are even small touches outside of the stories themselves that sprinkle in tiny grains of the supernatural and otherworldly. The epigraphs from Joseph Glanvil quietly insert the notion that witches may be hiding in plain sight in the contemporary world, and the ballad of James Harris at the end of the book insinuates that the recurring character may be whisking women away from their sanity just as the devil whisked women away from their families in the old legend.

The collection culminates in Jackson's most infamous story, "The Lottery." Even after multiple readings, the story still manages to be chilling in its depiction of human cruelty and blind allegiance to traditions. But, even before this brilliant finale, Jackson provides plenty of terrifying situations. Of course, the terror here isn't cosmic like that of Lovecraft or raw and disturbing like that of King; it is more in line with the terror one might experience when suddenly realizing how unfulfilling life has been or how even the slightest bit of dissent can lead to full-fledged alienation from any community.

Some readers might scoff at this idea and deny that these stories are scary because they don't contain ghosts or monsters or at least more overt moments of witchcraft. While it may be true that Jackson doesn't write traditional horror, what she has done instead is bring antiquated terrors into the modern world. With these stories, she has shown that people's fears and behaviors haven't changed that much; society can still be every bit as petty and conservative as it was during the Puritans' time. That pettiness has just been covered with the thinnest veneer of civility, which Jackson cleverly and painfully removes.(less)

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Dec 26, 2012 Chris Thompson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The world Shirley Jackson creates in her collection of short stories is a strange and haunting one. While her stories seem mundane on one level, there's something unsettling, just out of sight. The concerns and issues Jackson tackles are contemporary to the time she wrote them, the 1940s, but they are also relevant to us today. Race, gender, identity, assumptions we make about people, right and wrong, the question of whether to keep or break with tradition. These issues are all explored in somet...more The world Shirley Jackson creates in her collection of short stories is a strange and haunting one. While her stories seem mundane on one level, there's something unsettling, just out of sight. The concerns and issues Jackson tackles are contemporary to the time she wrote them, the 1940s, but they are also relevant to us today. Race, gender, identity, assumptions we make about people, right and wrong, the question of whether to keep or break with tradition. These issues are all explored in sometimes comical, sometimes unusual, and sometimes frightening fashion.

It's about impossible to talk about all 26 stories in one blog post, and some are more worthwhile than others, but I'll try my best. "Like Mother Used to Make" is one of the few stories with a male protagonist. This is a story about identity switch. A man living on his own in an apartment likes to keep everything very neat and tidy. The woman who lives across from him, on the other hand, is a slob. He has a key to her place, and the reason becomes apparent by the end. She comes over and eats dinner with him and seems polite, but then a stranger knocks, a guest of hers, and this is where the identity swap happens. She pretends it's her place, and the man, though upset, does not object and goes to her apartment. Jackson's characters adapt to conditions rather than fight them, and this is true of human nature in a lot of ways. In "Trial by Combat," where an older woman steals trinkets from a younger woman's apartment, the younger woman backs off from confrontation when she finally has her chance. Jackson's goal is not to explain why people do this, but to merely show it and allow her readers to ask questions.

Another issue Jackson explores is assumptions people make about others. The bizarre story, "The Daemon Lover," tests the readers assumptions about its heroine. A woman waits for a man she plans to marry that day, only he doesn't show up. When she looks for him, her neighbors all seem to have seen him, but end up leading her on a wild goose chase. She never finds him, and the reader is left wondering whether or not she imagined this man. Character assumptions are tested in "Of Course," when a woman excited to meet her new neighbors, learns the awful truth once she begins talking with them. More comically, a boy takes advantage of his parents' assumptions in "Charles," one of Jackson's best.

Several of Jackson's stories take a look at 1940s racism, showing the powerful danger of not discussing race. In "After You, My Dear Alphonse," Mrs. Wilson's son brings home a friend, a black boy, and she makes many statements to and about him that reveal her assumptions about him because of the color of his skin. Condescendingly, Mrs. Wilson offers the boy food and extra clothing, and becomes offended when he boy declines. She also wonders whether his parents work, surprised that his mother is a stay-at-home mom like herself. The two boys are oblivious to Mrs. Wilson's racism, seeing her behavior merely as one of the strange peculiarities of a mother. In "Flower Garden," a woman new to the neighborhood asks a poor black boy on the outskirts of the neighborhood whether he would like to help with her flower garden for some money. This goes against the advice of her new friend, Mrs. Winning, and when the boy's father comes to help and she accepts, she finds herself alienated from the rest of the neighborhood. Mrs. Winning, who had become best friends with the new neighbor, goes out of her way to avoid her. A power silence from the community is what eventually forces the new neighbor to move, and it's also what ensures the blacks, those who aren't part of "normal" society, remain on the outskirts of society.

The brunt of these societal norms seem to fall on the women. In "The Renegade," Mrs. Walpole, a homemaker whose schedule revolves around those of her children and her husband, finds herself in a frightening situation regarding her dog. News spreads around the neighborhood that Mrs. Walpole's dog has killed some of her neighbor's chickens, and everyone is of the opinion that the dog must be put down. She asks if anything can be done, and everyone has their own story of how you might stop a chicken-killing dog, and each one is more horrendously brutal than the last. Besides, none are guaranteed to work. And when her kids begin telling her methods even more horrendous than the rest, Mrs. Walpole feels alone in her compassion for her dog. Once the neighborhood has made a decision, it get its way, at the expense of the woman.

Jackson's masterpiece, "The Lottery," portrays a cruel tradition that has gone on far too long. Though many members of the town seem unhappy with it, it still persists under irrational arguments. One man argues that if the Lottery is stopped, then what's to stop men from working, though this has absolutely nothing to do with the Lottery's purpose. Sadly, this kind of argumentation persists in all wakes of society, and this story is relevant to all times. I'm sure everyone has parents or knows people who continue on with a tradition only because their parents before them did it. When kids complain, they are merely shushed and their reasons aren't heard. Though these traditions aren't as harsh as the one in "The Lottery," Jackson effectively shows the dangers of doing something simply because it's been done for generations.

Not all of the stories in this collection are great, though most are. Some are puzzling, sometimes in good ways, but sometimes not. The nice thing about it is the variety. Jackson experiments with style now and then. "My Life with R.H. Macy" has a sci-fi feel to it, in its critique of corporations and their treatment of employees. "The Tooth" has a sort of gothic, psychedelic feel to it in its critique of the treatment of patients by doctors. Anyone interested in women's lit should give Shirley Jackson a read, if you haven't already. Those interested in a look at 1940s American life, from an interesting perspective, should also give her a read. At the very least, seek out these three stories and read them: "The Lottery," "After You, My Dear Alphonse," and "Charles." They represent some of her best work, and they are some of the best short fiction in American literature. (less)

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Nov 25, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

Shirley Jackson's daemon lover, the blue-suited James Harris, stalks this collection, appearing in over half the stories to usher the action along or cause a little mischief. His presence (ubiquitous enough that Jackson initially wanted the subtitle of this work to read The Adventures of James Harris) shouldn't fool a reader into expecting these tales to skew heavily toward a Haunting of Hill House supernaturality or "The Lottery"'s macabre. Most evils in these stories are petty ones, performed...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Alia Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If I could, I would give this book four and half stars. It is only shy of five because I need more time (maybe coming back to it in a few months) to really think about what I had just read. I am normally repulsed by any collection of short stories for their lack of cohesiveness and development. It's possible I've just had terrible luck with picking good compilations. But "The Lottery" is amazing. Each story is intriguing, and the stories as a whole combine beautifully.

Shirley Jackson is an excep...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Bethany added it · review of another edition

Lottery Reflection:

I got a clearer understanding of what actually happened. It was hard for me to comprehend to the story at first, due to the writing. For example, the part about when most of the locals were excited yet nervous about the Lottery, when there were some rumors of people thinking of dropping out of the tradition. In the end, Tessie who came late to the event, was the one who was getting stoned. And while she was getting stoned, she started bad mouthing the tradition and how it was...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, dystopia-utopia, 2012

Recently, I've read a number of short stories with the intention of cutting down my huge reading pile and I've been largely disappointed. Particularly by common favourites like Edgar Allan Poe and his many famous horror tales - I was surprised to find them rather lacking.

The Lottery, however, is one of the best short stories I've read. It's very rare that I would give five stars to a short story because I reserve the top rating for meaty, well-rounded, often complex and/or clever novels, so a fo...more

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Dec 20, 2011 Roberta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

Nei suoi racconti Shirley Jackson scrive dei pericoli nascosti nella vita di tutti i giorni; dello scontro di personalità all’interno di una famiglia, di una comunità, di una stessa persona; di pregiudizi, neurosi ed identità. Nonostante sia molto conosciuta come autrice di racconti e romanzi “soprannaturali”, la maggior parte della sua produzione si occupa in realtà semplicemente di psicologia e società, di persone insomma. Persone disturbate, persone che non capiscono, persone che si torturano...more Nei suoi racconti Shirley Jackson scrive dei pericoli nascosti nella vita di tutti i giorni; dello scontro di personalità all’interno di una famiglia, di una comunità, di una stessa persona; di pregiudizi, neurosi ed identità. Nonostante sia molto conosciuta come autrice di racconti e romanzi “soprannaturali”, la maggior parte della sua produzione si occupa in realtà semplicemente di psicologia e società, di persone insomma. Persone disturbate, persone che non capiscono, persone che si torturano vicendevolmente, persone che arrivano senza pensarci ad atti mostruosi. E’ abile nel trovare esattamente la sfumatura dove una personalità scivola nella pazzia o dove una relazione passa dalla dipendenza allo sfruttamento.

La sua scrittura è anche divertente: asciutte osservazioni, dialoghi freschi ed assurdi.

Le sue storie riflettono il suo rifiuto di accettare il concetto limitato del ruolo di una donna promosso dalla società in cui viveva. Le sue protagoniste spesso sono punite per aver cercato un’esistenza diversa da quella tradizionale di moglie o madre. La sua stessa esistenza, divisa fra il ruolo di madre e moglie e la sua carriera di scrittrice, le causò non pochi problemi. Sembra che lo stesso marito della Jackson tentasse di tenerla occupata con le incombenze casalinghe perché minacciato dall’enorme talento della moglie. In questo modo la scrittura divenne una forma di ribellione anche contro il marito che tentava di “inchiodarla” al ruolo che la società aveva pensato per lei.

Il tema dell’identità è affrontato in modo anche più ampio, ad esempio in storie in cui i valori di una persona si rivelano drammaticamente diversi da quelli della società in cui vive. Quando la persona in questione rifiuta di adeguarsi, scatta la sanzione sociale. I demoni amanti della Jackson sono, in fin dei conti, tutte le persone a cui ci leghiamo (mariti, figli, concittadini) e che ci legano, ci tarpano le ali, ci impediscono di perseguire i nostri obiettivi e di sviluppare la nostra personalità.

Credo che non sia difficile apprezzare i racconti della Jackson anche al di fuori di una riflessione di questo genere. E’ pur vero che la sua scrittura è perfetta: di lei si dice che non abbia mai scritto una frase fuori posto, e posso confermare che in questa raccolta è vero. E’ particolarmente abile a creare in poche righe una situazione, un ambiente, una persona. Mi piace tantissimo il modo in cui, in diversi racconti, si sofferma brevemente a descrivere degli atti quotidiani: andare a fare la spesa, rassettare una stanza, prepararsi per uscire, scrivere una lettera al lavoro. Sono atti a volta fatti con amore, altre volte fatti con un’incredibile nostalgia per una vita diversa. Alcuni dei racconti poi sono ferocemente satirici nei confronti di una società in cui già allora si tendeva a burocratizzare tutto, o nei confronti della crescente urbanizzazione di tutti i grossi centri abitati. Sono rimasta perplessa relativamente a un paio di racconti di cui non ho colto il senso, ma in generale credo di poter dire che questo è un gran libro. Peccato che sia fuori stampa, come tutti i libri della Jackson a parte L’incubo di Hill House e il racconto “La lotteria”, estrapolato proprio da questa raccolta (e disponibile gratuitamente online). E’ possibile comunque procurarsi i libri in inglese, per chi è interessato.
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Sep 23, 2011 Kristopher Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read this collection because I think The Haunting of Hill House is one of the greatest horror novels ever written. The twenty-five stories collected here are not exactly horror, but they're usually dark enough to suggest that even if creepy things aren't happening in these rooms, horror is never that far down the hall.

"The Lottery" is still probably the best in the collection, although I might prefer "Flower Garden," which is a nicely nuanced story about racism in a small town. Other standouts...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Rowena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: love-like-romance, nostalgia-is-sometimes-great, wow-i-own-some-books-really

this is my favorite story collection to date! (ok i haven't read that many.) i bought this sort of without thinking. what a great purchase!! the type is interesting, especially italicized (i wonder if it's an entirely different font, but probably not as that would have been a huge hassle). beside the point, but it is always a good sign!

i bought this because i thought i should read more of shirley jackson's writing as she seemed to be a potential favorite author and i was right! i really enjoyed...more

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May 12, 2010 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘The Lottery and Other Stories’ is the third book by Shirley Jackson, following on from ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle , two books I enjoyed reading.

All the stories in the book are different in their own ways but have the common theme of the main character trying to justify who they are, mainly what type of woman they are and given the time the book was written in and the fact that Shirley Jackson was a strong feminist, this book is somewhat progressive in...more

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Mar 02, 2010 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although of course I'd read the title story -- more than once, I'm sure -- this has been my first major exposure to Jackson's work: a bumper collection of 25 stories and a pome. Many of the stories focus on middle-aged, middle-class women, often hypocritically prim and poisoned by their own prejudices, operating within and reacting to their limited social circles. They tend to be told in a sort of deadpan, sustainedly simple, slightly trivializing style that adds to the telling; I found quite of...more

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Nov 11, 2009 rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-library, 2009, my-brain-wants-to-marry-your-brain, this-is-america

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 06, 2009 Terri Day rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not your neat little collection of short stories with a bow wrapped around each one. Many times as I'm reading these short stories (and they are short, some just a page and a half and up) I feel like Ms. Jackson manages to cut off the action right when the story was getting good. I then go back to reread some startling turn of phrase, or an outrageous character, and I come to peace with the idea that we have to come to our own decisions about the story.
They are mostly tales of the ironi...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Koen Crolla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good American writers are few and far in between, but I think Shirley Jackson probably qualifies.
I can see why these stories could be classified as horror, though they're nothing like those of a certain other New England writer who was nearly her contemporary. Instead, they're about the casual cruelties of modern life, where ``modern'' is roughly the mid-20th century. Most of them require a peculiar mindset to appreciate, and that mindset is probably getting rarer as society is getting rid of it...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While “The Lottery” is probably Shirley Jackson’s most famous (and possibly best) short story, this collection offers up less well-known but equally disturbing tales. The horrors in Jackson’s stories are not as graphic or explicit as other writers like Poe, Lovecraft or even King…you won’t have nightmares from her stories. Instead, she works very subtly, exposing a hidden layer of horror in everyday, mundane situations – blink once and you might miss it. What appeals most about Jackson is her ab...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Jasmin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jasmin by: No one

Generally I am not a fan of short stories, but I became a forever fan of Jackson's after reading "The Haunting of Hill House", and now I'll read anything of hers, no question. There is something so glaringly simplistic and mundane in Jackson's writing that appeals to me, and she never disappoints. Touted as "one of the most terrifying stories written in the twentieth century", I couldn't NOT read The Lottery and Other Stories.

The Lottery itself is short and unassuming, and it doesn't come until...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Jillian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, short-stories

I'm probably rounding up in order to get to a mere 3 stars, and it's killing me, because I LOVE "The Lottery" (that story on its own is definitely 5 Stars) and respect Jackson's talents immensely. The realism, the emotion, the masterfully drawn characters, the subtle social commentary, the intriguing situations with their twists and edges... all make me want to love each story here...if only she would STOP NEGLECTING EVERY OTHER ENDING. I understand that most are slice of life tales; I don't exp...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Fox rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror, mars-book, short-stories, 2011

Shirley Jackson is truly adept at writing short stories. She strings her plots along with a surprising grasp of the disturbing, and an unexpected amount of good humor. Her eye for detail both intrigues and lulls one into a false sense of security.

The Lottery and Other Stories was originally dubbed with the surtitle 'the adventures of James Harris', something it should probably still contain. The second story in the collection "The Daemon Lover" sets the bar which nearly all the other stories fol...more

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May 26, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can't believe I never wrote a review on The Lottery yet!

This was a story that I have ready probably close to 50 times. I read it the first time in high school (way too many years ago), and it has stuck with me. This book had me thinking late into the night about how the lottery winner could have been me. Then I would sit and think things like:

Why would people allow this to happen?
Can traditions really be that strong?
When it's wrong, why do people do it anyway?
How can people be so cruel?

That a...more

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About Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson.

She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown Ameri...more

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Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories

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Quotes from The Lottery

“Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd.

"All right, folks," Mr. Summers said. "Let's finish quickly."

Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box. Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up."

Mrs. Dunbar had small stones in both hands, and she said, gasping for breath, "I can't run at all. You'll have to go ahead and I'll catch up with you."

The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.

Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.

"It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” — 7 people liked it

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2th. but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.” — 2 people liked it

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