The Lottery and Other Stories, by Shirley Jackson

Have you seen The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix? Have you read The Lottery at school (I hear this is done a lot in the US)? Then you know Shirley Jackson. What I find remarkable about her, besides the fact that she is considered the queen of gothic novels, is that she managed to seriously upset a lot of people with a short story of not even twenty pages. So much so that it is still remembered, more than 70 years later.

It is of course The Lottery that is the highlight of this collection. The other stories are nice to read, but in my opinion they are not nearly as complete. If you want to know more about these other stories, I recommend the review of Wicked Quixotic, which I find very relevant and with which I agree to a large extent.

But let's talk about The Lottery.

Impressions

You have to read the story twice.

The first time you start reading, you don't suspect anything. It's peaceful, the weather is nice in the story, people seem to be in a pretty good mood. Then the end comes and your heart is pounding and you hear a little buzzing in your ear. You're in denial, you're not sure if you got it right. So you start it again. You pay attention to each of the characters, you look at all the details, and you think you're really naive not to have seen it coming the first time. When the end comes, you understand everything, and you look at the ceiling for 10 minutes. And then you listen to the movie (see below).

The short story is simple, perfectly executed, and really hard to forget. I thought it was brilliant.

I couldn't find a free online version for you unfortunately, but go borrow this digital book from the library (you don't need an e-reader to read this). Frankly, it's worth it.

And if you prefer the video format, this short film is a faithful adaptation of the story.

Good luck.