Author: Anne

Review: The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

Review: The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

by Anne ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Wow I need to post more! It’s been a while.

This short story collection is phenomenal and delightfully eerie. I get a feeling of impending doom whenever I read Shirley Jackson, and I eat 👏 it 👏 up 👏

You probably read “The Lottery” in school. Read it again, if you haven’t lately. The dystopian (and horror) genre would not be the same today without this wildly ahead-of-its-time story.

Not to mention the other 25 stories in this collection that juxtapose the wholesome with horror and unease 😬

Reading Shirley Jackson is an exercise in inference. She’s an absolute queen of “show don’t tell”.

What isn’t said is what’s *really* going on, and that’s up to the reader to fill in. Her writing is very Hemingway iceberg theory — she doesn’t hold your hand.

So much lurks under the surface in a Shirley Jackson story: couples hate each other but act pleasantly; neighbors suspect each other but bring over pie, smiling; and characters say one thing while meaning its sinister opposite.

10/10, even though I’m only rating out of 5 😄

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Review: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Review: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

by Anne ♥ 1 Comment

THIS BOOK DESTROYED ME 😭

This story explores the depths of the bonds humans can have with their pets, and how deep that love, loyalty, and understanding can go despite being different species.

Wilson Rawls has created a rich, emotional tale – and a very well formed story, at that – set in the Missouri Ozarks about a resourceful boy named Billy and his two hunting hounds, Old Dan and Little Ann 🐕🐕

Billy relies on his dogs, and they rely on him. They have each other’s backs out in the danger of the wild. They communicate without speaking, practically read each other’s minds. Theirs is a symbiotic relationship, equally beneficial to and sacrificial of both.

While lots of people had this as required reading in middle school, it somehow slipped under my radar, so when I saw an old copy at my parents’ house last year, I grabbed it for a rainy day.

Well, the only thing raining was my eyes. Wow, a book has not made me sob like that since the last Harry Potter. But the sadness isn’t without purpose. It’s a beautiful story.

I can see why this is required reading at schools, because this is a book everyone should read.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

It’s strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man’s mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you’ve seen, or something you’ve heard, or the sight of an old familiar face.

—Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows