Rating: 
Summary: makes an impression
Review: "The Lottery" by Shirly Jackson certainly makes a strong impression. It is a distubing tale of the dark side of human nature. I guarantee that once read, this story is not forgotten. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, but definately for more mature readers. It is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: makes an impression
Review: "The Lottery" by Shirly Jackson certainly makes a strong impression. It is a distubing tale of the dark side of human nature. I guarantee that once read, this story is not forgotten. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, but definately for more mature readers. It is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best short story collections ever
Review: After being blown away by The Lottery years ago I purchased this book to try some of Ms Jackson's other stories and it was well worth the purchase. Well-written, excellent characterizations, and a style all her own I look forward to reading more of the works of this talented and unforgettable author.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable Short Story
Review: I first read this short story in highschool and to this day, I still remember it vividly, especially "It isn`t fair, it isn`t right,".
Villagers gather together in the central square for the annual lottery. There is much excitement and interest as the rituals of the event proceed. The familiar discussion of current and everyday happenings in village life is intermingled with commentary on the traditional and modern ways of holding the lottery, as well as observation of the particularities of this year's proceedings. Finally a winning family is chosen by ballot, and from that family a winning member--Mrs. Hutchinson. Mrs. Hutchinson is then stoned by the villagers, including her family members.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, funny, creepy
Review: I never read the short story "the Lottery" in school or anything, but had it recommended to me by my mum after she heard I loved Ira Levin's "the Stepford Wives". I didn't know it was a short story, so when I got the book and saw it was the last story included, I decided to leave it till the end and read the stories front-to-back.I really enjoy Margaret Atwood, and find similarities in the writing style of her and Shirley Jackson; perhaps it's the feminine perspective, the insight, the banal everyday detail laid out with great care. I found myself really enjoying the book, and always of course anticipating the final story. Highlights for me in this book include "Charles", about the 'troubled classmate' of a woman's young son; "the Renegade", in which a woman feels compassion for her dog's ignorant activities; "Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors", which reminded me of my paranoia of the unknown as a child and my then-absolute belief in my family's viewpoints; "Of Course" made me squirm with awkwardness at the "thin-ice" of introductions and laugh out loud; and of course, "the Lottery" was a great way for this book to end for me. I kind of anticipated what was going to happen, but it was no less effective when it did. The feeling of helplessness is present in many of these stories, of a woman watching her life through confused eyes and feeling a loss of control, not being able to relate to or understand the people around her. The stories and characters were very real, the conversation between characters very natural. Every awkward moment, every suspicious action, is captured beautifully. I really liked this book. I would recommend it highly; I am not usually a fan of short stories, but these were wonderful. I found myself looking forward to sitting down to read one here and there, and all of them left me thinking about them afterwards. **Interesting note: as I was reading the short story of "the Lottery", I found myself reminded of a music video by Marilyn Manson, for the song "Man That You Fear". Looking this connection up on the internet, I found that he used the story as his inspiration for the video. Even if you can't stomach Marilyn Manson, it's an interesting (and inoffensive!) visualization (though somewhat altered) of the story, and worth checking out for interest's sake. Just thought I'd mention it!
Rating: 
Summary: Lottery - 5 stars, Remainder - 3 stars
Review: I purchased this book on the fact that the Lottery is a great story and extremely eerie. Another reason for purchasing this was the overall high rating for this book by everyone. That was incredibly misleading. If you read thru the other reviews of this book closely, you will find that most people are telling you about the brilliance of the story "The Lottery" and not the other stories in this compilation. I expected stories on par with the Lottery in this collection. I didn't find it. The majority of other stories do not fall in to the classification of horror stories like the Lottery or "The Haunting of Hill House" which Shirley Jackson is also so famous for. The stories would fall in to the region of American Literature, not horror or mystery. As some other reviewers have noted there are multiple stories that don't come to a conclusion as one would expect with either a horror or mystery story but are a poignant tale of literature. I am a huge mystery buff and definitely part of the pull of this collection was that it was in the mystery section of my bookstore. That along with the other items I previously mentioned convinced me to buy it. If you find yourself buying this for mystery or horror stories, take a pass. If you are looking to reread "The Lottery" I would recommend taking this book out from the library. This purchase is only wise for literature enthusiasts.
Rating:
Summary: A little disappointing
Review: I read several reviews on The Lottery and Other Stories, and I decided to purchase the book. However, I must say that I was disappointed after reading several of the stories. While some of them are rather interesting, many of them left me lost and confused. There were dramatic buildups that would cause me to anticipate the ending, but the stories would end there--without any sort of resolution.
I had read The Lottery in high school and though it was quite fascinating, but many of the remaining stories in the collection do not live up to the expectations that were generated by reading the title piece.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling
Review: I saw the movie version of The Lottery (yes, there is a movie) in 7th Grade and it scared the bejesus out of me then. We read the short story in junior year in high school for American Lit. and it is a great short story. I do remember the movie was rather graphic for 1976, showing a woman helping Tessie's son throw a stone at her mother and her head all bloody. Wouldn't recommend showing a movie version to 7th Graders; however, it made great reading for high school and college.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it for "The Lottery," fall in love with the rest as well
Review: If you've never read "The Lottery," you're wasting valuable time reading this review. Go buy the book and read it instead. If you have read "The Lottery," then odds are you already appreciate this dark, brilliant, horrific little story. It's one of the greatest horror stories ever written, and it's one of my favorites of all time to teach, as well. My students were all shocked and horrified by the story (not least by the fact that I would give them something that so offended them), but by the end of the semester, they came to love the story. The set-up is brilliant, and the twist ending is perfect: brutal, shocking, and short. Other reviewers have commented on the story's excellence for teaching things like the evil of tradition; it's also an excellent way to teach how ordinary people could become involved in something like the Nazi death camps. The rest of the stories in the collection are uniformly excellent, as well, although I would recommend saving "The Lottery" for last. It's by far the most horrific in the collection, but Jackson's satire can be just as brutal as her horror, and there is more than a little of the horror of everyday life sprinkled throughout the rest of these tales. A must-buy!
Rating: 
Summary: Poison pills
Review: Like other students before me, the only thing by Shirley Jackson I had read was "The Lottery.", which has those virtues that high school teachers love: it has an obvious moral theme, and it is fairly short. I liked it then, and I like it now, but I liked the other stories in this collection more. Jackson had a tremendous eye for realism, and the way in which prejudice sneaks into virtually every human interaction. "After you, My Dear Alphonse," is excellent, about the frustration and anger which arises when we are unable to exercise our virtues easily upon others. Some of these stories touch on social realities that still go largely unmentioned. Nor will you ever meet anyone named James Harris again without a slight twinge of excitement and caution.
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