Rate this book

Novels And Stories (2010)

by Shirley Jackson(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1598530720 (ISBN13: 9781598530728)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Library of America

review 1: This is a great collection of Jackson's more accessible work. I would have liked to see a book that collected Jackson's more hard to find novels- The Bird's Nest, Hangsaman, The Sundial, because I haven't been able to find those in the library or bookstores. However, I would recommend this collection to anyone who wants to delve further into Jackson's work if they liked the story "The Lottery". I had never even known that "The Lottery" was part of a collection of short stories, and what a good collection too. I enjoyed every single story in "The Lottery" but I do have a few favorites...*Like Mother Used to Make- I love this story because it keeps going along, and the characters don't even seem to be aware of what they're doing. There is something a bit sinister about it in... more that respect. *After You, My Dear Alphonse- I was very surprised by this one. I wasn't expecting Jackson to deal with racism. Very short, but Jackson manages to convey so much in a very short amount of time.*Flower Garden- This has to be my favorite in the collection. Another one that deals with racism as well as small town life. *Elizabeth- The notes in the back of the book say that Jackson intended this to be a chapter for a new novel, which never panned out. A very good story I wish had been taken a little further.*Pillar of Salt*The ToothI reread The Haunting of Hill House, and although I hadn't liked it much on my first reading, I loved it this time around.We Have Always Lived in the Castle is just amazing.Many of the "uncollected" and "unpublished" stories in this book were collected by Jackson's husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, after her death in a book called Come Along With Me, which also included the first part of a new novel Jackson was working on at the time of her death. Many of these stories have a dark undercurrent to them, and many of them feature houses or people with ill intentions. My favorites of these were*The Summer People- Man, does Jackson really take some digs at small town people in this one! Two old people decide to stay on at their summer cottage after all the other summer people have left. But the neighbors may have something else in store for them...*A Visit; or, The Lovely House*Louisa, Please Come Home*The Little House*The Bus*The Possibility of Evil*The RockOk, I really loved almost everything in here. I've been reading so much Jackson lately I'm going to be in severe withdrawal when I finish reading everything I can find that she wrote. She has definitely become one of my favorite authors.
review 2: I picked up this anthology in order to refresh my memory of "The Lottery" and read "The Haunting of Hill House" for the first time. It never ceases to amaze me how Jackson can build a roaring fire out of two thin sticks. She gives us nothing but the meanest sketches in her short fiction but they draw the reader in and lodge in the memory afterward.Hill House isn't as incisive as her other work. The dialogue is a little too carefully crafted, which messes with the suspension of disbelief. But those hauntings...she was good at creepy. This story has been picked to pieces by 50 years of criticism and movie-making, which makes it essential to return to the source. less

Download links for: Novels and Stories

Advertising