7.15.2015

The Lottery / Shirley Jackson


   I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and short spooky stories are just the ticket to help me kick it. Thank goodness that Jenny at Reading the End, is co-hosting a Shirley Jackson reading week to remind me of my love for Jackson's particular brand of the spooky scary. Somehow, I had not read The Lottery before, and set out to rectify that hole in my reading career.

   Have we all read The Lottery by now? I feel like I was the last person who hadn't read it and now I have so I reckon we're good for spoilers. If you haven't read The Lottery and don't know what happens, then I suggest you go read it. It'll take you barely any time at all.

   The Lottery, fortunately, is not my first rodeo. I've read We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, both of which I LOVED and highly recommend, so I had a layer of preparation when it comes to Shirley Jackson's mastery of tension and foreboding. However, that doesn't keep her brand of writing from being any less subtly terrifying. Cue: my reaction when the boys started gathering rocks:


   Basically, reading this story was an exercise in me saying "oh no, that's going to be bad," and, "oh no, that definitely not good," and, "oh no, oh no, oh no," and, "oh NO that is NOT promising," and, "I KNEW THE ROCKS WERE A BAD SIGN." Shirley Jackson is the queen of making everything and anything sinister. A black box? SINISTER. Someone arriving to a town meeting late? SINISTER. There are families standing together? DIAL THE TENSION TO 11. Children laughing? HEAVEN HELP US.

   And now I could write about how The Lottery is a comment on how mundane evil can be, or on the psychology of crowds, or on the questionable ethics of doing something just because that's how it's always been done but really? I read this story because it's Shirley Jackson and it's perfectly spooky and I've never met a Shirley Jackson story that I didn't like.

how Shirley Jackson makes me feel (once the terror wears off)

   Now I have got to get my hands on a copy of The Sundial.
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4 comments:

  1. Jenny @ Reading the End17 July 2015 at 09:43

    I know, man, it is SINISTER AS HELL. "The Lottery" was one of the first stories I studied in an English class where we properly deconstructed it and examined all the techniques she was using etc., and it impressed me to pieces on every round of reading. Such a great story.

    DO get your hands on The Sundial! Oh how I love it! It's back in print now so you shouldn't even have any problems finding it!

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    1. glynis20 July 2015 at 14:53

      UNMITIGATED DISASTER: it has proved to be more difficult than I anticipated getting a copy of The Sundial. It's not stocked in bookstores around me!!!!! Now I have to order it online and WAIT FOR IT?! Ugh.

      Delete
  2. Reading Rambo22 July 2015 at 08:44

    "Shirley Jackson is the queen of making everything and anything sinister. A black box? SINISTER. Someone arriving to a town meeting late? SINISTER. There are families standing together? DIAL THE TENSION TO 11. Children laughing? HEAVEN HELP US."

    Ahahahahaha

    I haven't read The Lottery. But I've read those other two. Her tone like, juuuust misses something. For me. Can't quite get into her. But I'll read The Lottery, 'cause, y'know. Cultural literacy and stuff.

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    Replies
    1. glynis23 July 2015 at 11:17

      As a bonus The Lottery will take you all of 20 minutes to read, so it's a high return on investment kind of a situation.

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