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