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Summary: Perspectives
Review: Shirley Jackson's short stories challenge the mind and the heart. She writes from perspectives and about characters that rarely find their way into print. Like most good stories, Jackson's little masterpieces present the main characters and the reader with a moral dilemma, but, while part of our brain screams "no!" the characters do not necessarily resolve the issue in the "correct" way. We are left troubled but with perhaps a little understanding about how good people can be cruel and smart people can act stupid.
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Summary: Excellent writing skills but a poor story
Review: The writing skills are excellent but the story in itself was quite boring.Why do they carry on a tradition that's so cruel?I don't understand the point of writing such a dull book.It wasn't eerie or scary in any way.it doesn't fall under horror or comedy or factual.There isn't enough background on the characters or the hitory of the tradition and leaves me with too many questions.Why was the tradition started?Why is it kept going?Shirley jackson's writing is excellent but should be used in a different way. I preffered The Haunting.
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Summary: If your looking for gore, look elsewhere.
Review: I found this book in a used bookstore. Sure, The title story is great, but so are the other short stories. After reading them , I thought 'what was that all about?' But on further introspection, most of the stories have a tiny kernel of evil in them. Prejudice, jealousy, ambivalence and other undesirable facets of human psychology peek out behind proverbial curtained windows. Nothing overt, obviously subtle, but present none the less. If you are expecting gushing blood , blatant terror, easy escapism, look for King, Rice, or Koontz. (Sorry Anne). This book could be easily dismissed by some as boring or "what's the point ?". It requires a mature reader who thinks about the stories after the book is put down. This book is not for everybody.
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Summary: German High-school seniors' reviews of The Lottery
Review: J.E. Gotowos (teacher of EFL, German, and drama): I recently let the students of a senior high-school class I am teaching in Hamburg, Germany, read, discuss, and evaluate Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery. Here are the comments they came up with:---------------- Charlotte Oszkinat & Katja Schnur: >> obscure and paralyzing << A strange story. Dark, sick, disturbing. Although it's quite obvious how everything will end, we enjoyed reading it. - And it definitely makes you think. --------------- Fabian Schmid: I think the story is very awkward and strange. I had to read it for more than three times to get the message across. But I still can't understand why the punishment was the aim to reach. The old people wanted to keep the traditions up in their village. So they played the game. In my opinion it would be better to leave such traditions behind. But on the other side I can also imagine the fun it could be. To say it in one word: „strange!!!!!" ------------- Kristin Bernstein & Katja Lesche: A story overwhelming in its twisting at the end. Both of us won't forget the surprise and shock we got reading the short story "the lottery". The story shows how deep we are settled within our society and its culture. The story made us think about the normal values and norms of our society and how an unexpected twist could let them erupt in such a strong way. ------------- Christian Hamm & Cosima May: This book is absolutely boring.The story is quite strange. It creates in a way a dark atmosphere, but in a negative way. The story is to fictional and the whole action is described in a to detailed way. After you have finished the first page you already know the end of the story. The story is absolutely boring and if you are looking for a story with some tension in it „The Lottery" is the wrong book for you. -------------- Lisa Schwelien & Janeke Masanke: After all we liked it. We both have the opinion that the story is shocking. While talking about this shock-effect we agreed that it makes the reader think. We thought about how they stone people in the movie „Life of Brian". That was funny. But in regard to the fact that stoning people was a wide spread penalty in former times (it still exists in some countries), the story seemed critical to us. We reflected: Many people like sensation, to see how somebody is dying. We are not curios. The law says that a murderer can be executed so we are not curios watching him die. And when a simple lottery decides who has to die we are not curios either... --------------- Daniel Andresen: I read the story just once. It was very hard to read, because it was so annoying to me reading this piece, that I had a problem to focus my mind on it. I can't remember any book I've ever read that was so annoying and headache causing. It is really an unforgettable book. --------------- Fredj Ben Halima: The Lottery is as shocking and amusing as a good horror movie. I think this story is unique and no other story comes close. Although The Lottery is not my favorite book, I like it very much nevertheless. ---------------- Stephanie Hopfe & Anne Möller: The whole first part of the short story, "The Lottery", is pretty boring and keeps the reader in a lack of clarity about the ending of the story. Because of this extremely long beginning does the end achieves a dramatically and shocking size. ---------------- Julia Stripling & Anna Blechschmidt: NOT REALLY? The story „The Lottery" is too long and therefore too boring for the short content. It is difficult to draw conclusions between the story and reality. That is why it only should shock the reader by letting him feel the power of traditions and the society. The horror should never have an end but the identification with the characters of the story does not work. ----------------- Nina Moniac & Britta Requard: The Lottery is an eerily fascinating story full of growing, captivating suspense. The startling outcome will take your breath away. Still, the story sticks with you,, because of its undeniable underlying truth. Metaphorically, it demonstrates to us the high price society pays for a shiny facade: chaos keeps bubbling underneath, ready to break free and lash out. Society needs a vent to control atavistic human urges. This story will get you to think about the concept of civilization, and you as a part of it. ------------------
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Summary: ONE THRILLING BOOK!! I LOVED IT!!
Review: This story was one of the best stories I've ever read! I would recommend this book to anyone!! I LOVED IT!! Everyone in our English Class read it and had their own comments about this book which we discussed. The ending was the most STUNNING!! I liked the little humor it obtained also.
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Summary: I loved it!
Review: I read this book for my english class and I thought it was horribly delightful. It was interesting and it had what I thought was a very surprising ending. I would recommend this book to anyone!
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Summary: The Lottery in the EFL classroom
Review: My senior English class is going to write some reviews of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, which will soon be posted here. I'm very much looking forward to sharing the students' opinions. Go
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Summary: Tantalising
Review: I first read "The Lottery" in high school and it has stuck with me ever since. The title story is by far the best in this volume, but leave it till last, as the anticipation of its ultimate arrival whilst reading the other stories was fabulous. As for the famous title story, you will never forget it - it is the ultimate short story, compact, deceivingly friendly and ultimately shocking. Enjoy!
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Summary: Cruel but teaches a lesson
Review: This story is great. I recommend it to anyone
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Summary: Wow.
Review: In a 6th grade hour near the end of a school year in 1974, my classmates were following and in turn reading aloud something in which I was thoroughly uninterested. Bored and unattentive, I began flipping through my copy of the district's standard Reading text and came upon a story in the middle of the book that was not on the list. The title sounded innocuous, and its author had a plain-Jane sounding name. That was my introduction to The Lottery, and at the end of the hour I'm certain I had a more satisfying and rewarding reading experience than did the others.
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