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The Lottery and Other Stories; The Haunting of Hill House; We Have Always Lived in the Castle
"The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable," writes A. M. Homes. "It is a place where things are not what they seem; even on a morning that is sunny and clear there is always the threat of darkness looming, of things taking a turn for the worse." Jackson's characters-mostly unloved daughters in search of a home, a career, a family of their own-chase what appears to be a harmless dream until, without warning, it turns on its heel to seize them by the throat. We are moved by these characters' dreams, for they are the dreams of love and acceptance shared by us all. We are shocked when their dreams become nightmares, and terrified by Jackson's suggestion that there are unseen powers-"demons" both subconscious and supernatural-malevolently conspiring against human happiness.
In this volume Joyce Carol Oates, our leading practitioner of the contemporary Gothic, presents the essential works of Shirley Jackson, the novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America. She opens with "The Lottery" (1949), Jackson's only collection of short fiction, whose disquieting title story-one of the most widely anthologized tales of the 20th century-has entered American folklore. Also among these early works are "The Daemon Lover," a story Oates praises as "deeper, more mysterious, and more disturbing than 'The Lottery, ' " and "Charles," the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson's secondary career as a domestic humorist. Here too are Jackson's masterly short novels: "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959), the tale of an achingly empathetic young woman chosen by a haunted house to be its new tenant, and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" (1962), the unrepentant confessions of Miss Merricat Blackwood, a cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness. Rounding out the volume are 21 other stories and sketches that showcase Jackson in all her many modes, and the essay "Biography of a Story," Jackson's acidly funny account of the public reception of "The Lottery," which provoked more mail from readers of "The New Yorker" than any contribution before or since.
In this volume Joyce Carol Oates, our leading practitioner of the contemporary Gothic, presents the essential works of Shirley Jackson, the novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America. She opens with "The Lottery" (1949), Jackson's only collection of short fiction, whose disquieting title story-one of the most widely anthologized tales of the 20th century-has entered American folklore. Also among these early works are "The Daemon Lover," a story Oates praises as "deeper, more mysterious, and more disturbing than 'The Lottery, ' " and "Charles," the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson's secondary career as a domestic humorist. Here too are Jackson's masterly short novels: "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959), the tale of an achingly empathetic young woman chosen by a haunted house to be its new tenant, and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" (1962), the unrepentant confessions of Miss Merricat Blackwood, a cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness. Rounding out the volume are 21 other stories and sketches that showcase Jackson in all her many modes, and the essay "Biography of a Story," Jackson's acidly funny account of the public reception of "The Lottery," which provoked more mail from readers of "The New Yorker" than any contribution before or since.
766 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
33 people are currently reading
2130 people want to read
About the author
Shirley Jackson
340 books11.3k followersShirley Jackson was an influential American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years. She has influenced such writers as Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
She is best known for her dystopian short story, "The Lottery" (1948), which suggests there is a deeply unsettling underside to bucolic, smalltown America. In her critical biography of Shirley Jackson, Lenemaja Friedman notes that when Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" was published in the June 28, 1948, issue of The New Yorker, it received a response that "no New Yorker story had ever received." Hundreds of letters poured in that were characterized by, as Jackson put it, "bewilderment, speculation and old-fashioned abuse."
Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote in his preface to a posthumous anthology of her work that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion, or to take public stands and be the pundit of the Sunday supplements. She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years." Hyman insisted the darker aspects of Jackson's works were not, as some critics claimed, the product of "personal, even neurotic, fantasies", but that Jackson intended, as "a sensitive and faithful anatomy of our times, fitting symbols for our distressing world of the concentration camp and the Bomb", to mirror humanity's Cold War-era fears. Jackson may even have taken pleasure in the subversive impact of her work, as revealed by Hyman's statement that she "was always proud that the Union of South Africa banned The Lottery', and she felt that they at least understood the story".
In 1965, Jackson died of heart failure in her sleep, at her home in North Bennington Vermont, at the age of 48.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
March 15, 2017
I admit that I nearly gave up on this book. But that was because I never knew Jackson's writing style nor have read any of her works other than The Haunting of Hill House. I really enjoyed reading that one over again after nearly twenty years. I feel The Lottery was quite underwhelming, thought it was going to be a much longer story. The other stories in this book were enjoyable or slightly puzzling for me. I also found the content very dated as well. There are still many unanswered questions about We Have Always Lived in the Castle and the author never explains why the murders happened in the first place. I realize that one of the sisters (Merricat)is a complete sociopath. She is a very distrusting and paranoid girl. I suppose given to what happened to her family she has every right to feel that way but how many times does she need to check that the front door is locked and how she wishes everyone dead throughout the story? Again, I was just left to ponder the "how and whys" thus happened. The reader is left to solve this mystery on their own.
February 14, 2014
Read "The Haunting if Hill House" and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" if you read nothing else in your time on this earth. It doesn't get any better than this. These stories get under your skin and become a part of you... They pull you into their world and hold you there.
October 3, 2025
"Now widely regarded as the greatest haunted-house story ever written’…The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Eight out of 10
The Haunting of Hill House is on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... in the Science Fiction and Fantasy department, the New York Times has said ‘Shirley Jackson proves again that she is the finest master currently practicing in the genre of the cryptic, haunted tale" and according to The Wall Street Journal, the book is "now widely regarded as the greatest haunted-house story ever written’ which prompts this silly bugger to say that if this is the best that the haunted genre has to give, then Forget About It…the latter is an expression you find in Donnie Brasco, where the hero explains to other FBI agents that the mobsters use it for…anything, it can be wonderful car, Forget About It, or clothes, food, but it can also simply be Forget About It, which I mean to use for the horror opera that is not my cup of tea…
Notwithstanding the revulsion that the under signed generally has of horror, haunted, perhaps even gothic stories – maybe because he gets scared, there is something in the unconscious, he has things to hide, he has been monstrous himself…who knows and more importantly, who cares – he must admit that there are aspects of the Haunting of Hill House that are impressive, starting with the…beginning “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.”
Even when rejecting the mumbo jumbo of the myriad of Scary Movies, fictions meant to scare readers and watchers, mainly to make them pay for the most often sorry spectacle, we must admit that there is something that the genre can offer to benefit audiences…Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or surmount hardship or trauma http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/t... is one key component for The How of Happiness as explained by Sonja Lyubomirsky in her splendorous book and what better way than rad through horror stories…
We can better prepare to face adversity, experience PTG aka Post Traumatic Growth – as opposed to what happens for most of time, after being through dramatic circumstances, PTSD Post Traumatic Stress disorder – by reading stories that scare us, without having the downside of adding other scars to the psyche, and maybe engaging with this genre can be seen as similar to what physical exercise means for the body – which needs it and without this ritual it gets various illnesses – and what other metal practices bring to the mind…one example comes to mind, from Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar – his lectures are available for free on YouTube, and his courses have been the most popular in the history of Harvard – who mentions that positive psychology exercises are just as useful for our brain as brushing our teeth, washing our body…we would never think to skip those, because we have no time or for other reasons, and it must be the same for the other rituals, which are just as essential, though we skip them because we have no time…
In other words, the reading of The Haunting of Hill House especially - given that it is acclaimed as one of the best – if not absolutely Number One - will offer the supreme exercise, training for those who want to be able to confront Anxiety, Specters, Ghosts…which is everyone, considering that we all have dramas, evil, negativity to confront, outside, but more inside our minds – it is also the Stoic mantra that we need to remember, for it is not what happens, but what we make of what happens and also ‘the mind is its own place, it can make heaven out of hell, or hell out of heaven – and whether we see a ghost or experience other effects of a poltergeist is relative…as for the latter, I have learned from this novel what it is ‘The manifestations in The Haunting of Hill House are more palpable; as Dr. Montague points out, Eleanor is not the only one who hears and sees them…But they could just possibly be caused by her poltergeist, a primitive, spiteful, violent, unthinking force, rather than by the house itself.’
‘Eleanor Vance was thirty-two years old when she came to Hill House…The only person in the world she genuinely hated, now that her mother was dead, was her sister’…however, it is Mrs. Montague that really terrified me…well, it is in fact a weird combination of horror and jocularity, with her exaggerations, emphatic attitude, arrogance, patronage, sadistic domination of her husband and anyone else willing to give in – Arthur, her servant in spirit, though an independent man in theory – and she is in some ways the justification for the horror stories, for we do need to believe in ghosts or the supernatural to see that we are surrounded by monsters, terrible people…just take a look at the leaders of the world Kim of NK, Xi, Duterte, Trump, Putin, Modi, the king of Thailand, MBS of Saudi Arabia, Bolsanaro, Maduro…the list is so long, it is more terrifying than The Haunting of Hill House to read it
It is also incredible to hear...well, read about – Doctor John Montague praise his wife and say she is a wonderful woman, her only shortcoming being her way with the supernatural…husband and wife share the interest, but they have opposite approaches to the mysterious other world – now we can reject it as nonexistent, or accept the idea that we are haunted by creations of our own minds, images from the past, inventions, misinterpretations…we are all paranoid, schizophrenic to some degree, thinking that one, few, or all the others want to get us…in the case of 75 million Americans, they believe in the Supreme Fake Ghost, the Orange Chosen One, the Very Stable Genius that they still celebrate as their president…they refuse to see that this is just an apparition, a poltergeist, the product of a sick imagination that refuses to accept reality and prefers to be driven by the Big Lie of an inflated Pompous Specter
“Hill House has a reputation for insistent hospitality; it seemingly dislikes lettings its guests get away…The last person who tried to leave Hill House in darkness—it was eighteen years ago, I grant you—was killed at the turn in the driveway, where his horse bolted and crushed him against the big tree”…perhaps we can find some jocularity here, though in order to be effective, I guess there is little, if any room for jesting, since that may compromise the overall effect…who might be anxious, and scared to death for that matter, if there is laughter, and not the kind of laugh that we know, cynical, loud, sinister and terrifying…this reader is still in the same mood as at the start of this note…if this is the best you have got, then spare me more haunting houses, crypts, graves stories…not that they do not have an impact, but what is the point when we have a pandemic in the world, Israel and Palestine are at war, china is ready to invade Taiwan, after swallowing Tibet, putting new artificial islands on the map in the sea that they see as theirs, putting millions in labor camps and again, the list of real horrors is endless..
Eight out of 10
The Haunting of Hill House is on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... in the Science Fiction and Fantasy department, the New York Times has said ‘Shirley Jackson proves again that she is the finest master currently practicing in the genre of the cryptic, haunted tale" and according to The Wall Street Journal, the book is "now widely regarded as the greatest haunted-house story ever written’ which prompts this silly bugger to say that if this is the best that the haunted genre has to give, then Forget About It…the latter is an expression you find in Donnie Brasco, where the hero explains to other FBI agents that the mobsters use it for…anything, it can be wonderful car, Forget About It, or clothes, food, but it can also simply be Forget About It, which I mean to use for the horror opera that is not my cup of tea…
Notwithstanding the revulsion that the under signed generally has of horror, haunted, perhaps even gothic stories – maybe because he gets scared, there is something in the unconscious, he has things to hide, he has been monstrous himself…who knows and more importantly, who cares – he must admit that there are aspects of the Haunting of Hill House that are impressive, starting with the…beginning “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.”
Even when rejecting the mumbo jumbo of the myriad of Scary Movies, fictions meant to scare readers and watchers, mainly to make them pay for the most often sorry spectacle, we must admit that there is something that the genre can offer to benefit audiences…Developing Strategies for Coping-practicing ways to endure or surmount hardship or trauma http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/t... is one key component for The How of Happiness as explained by Sonja Lyubomirsky in her splendorous book and what better way than rad through horror stories…
We can better prepare to face adversity, experience PTG aka Post Traumatic Growth – as opposed to what happens for most of time, after being through dramatic circumstances, PTSD Post Traumatic Stress disorder – by reading stories that scare us, without having the downside of adding other scars to the psyche, and maybe engaging with this genre can be seen as similar to what physical exercise means for the body – which needs it and without this ritual it gets various illnesses – and what other metal practices bring to the mind…one example comes to mind, from Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar – his lectures are available for free on YouTube, and his courses have been the most popular in the history of Harvard – who mentions that positive psychology exercises are just as useful for our brain as brushing our teeth, washing our body…we would never think to skip those, because we have no time or for other reasons, and it must be the same for the other rituals, which are just as essential, though we skip them because we have no time…
In other words, the reading of The Haunting of Hill House especially - given that it is acclaimed as one of the best – if not absolutely Number One - will offer the supreme exercise, training for those who want to be able to confront Anxiety, Specters, Ghosts…which is everyone, considering that we all have dramas, evil, negativity to confront, outside, but more inside our minds – it is also the Stoic mantra that we need to remember, for it is not what happens, but what we make of what happens and also ‘the mind is its own place, it can make heaven out of hell, or hell out of heaven – and whether we see a ghost or experience other effects of a poltergeist is relative…as for the latter, I have learned from this novel what it is ‘The manifestations in The Haunting of Hill House are more palpable; as Dr. Montague points out, Eleanor is not the only one who hears and sees them…But they could just possibly be caused by her poltergeist, a primitive, spiteful, violent, unthinking force, rather than by the house itself.’
‘Eleanor Vance was thirty-two years old when she came to Hill House…The only person in the world she genuinely hated, now that her mother was dead, was her sister’…however, it is Mrs. Montague that really terrified me…well, it is in fact a weird combination of horror and jocularity, with her exaggerations, emphatic attitude, arrogance, patronage, sadistic domination of her husband and anyone else willing to give in – Arthur, her servant in spirit, though an independent man in theory – and she is in some ways the justification for the horror stories, for we do need to believe in ghosts or the supernatural to see that we are surrounded by monsters, terrible people…just take a look at the leaders of the world Kim of NK, Xi, Duterte, Trump, Putin, Modi, the king of Thailand, MBS of Saudi Arabia, Bolsanaro, Maduro…the list is so long, it is more terrifying than The Haunting of Hill House to read it
It is also incredible to hear...well, read about – Doctor John Montague praise his wife and say she is a wonderful woman, her only shortcoming being her way with the supernatural…husband and wife share the interest, but they have opposite approaches to the mysterious other world – now we can reject it as nonexistent, or accept the idea that we are haunted by creations of our own minds, images from the past, inventions, misinterpretations…we are all paranoid, schizophrenic to some degree, thinking that one, few, or all the others want to get us…in the case of 75 million Americans, they believe in the Supreme Fake Ghost, the Orange Chosen One, the Very Stable Genius that they still celebrate as their president…they refuse to see that this is just an apparition, a poltergeist, the product of a sick imagination that refuses to accept reality and prefers to be driven by the Big Lie of an inflated Pompous Specter
“Hill House has a reputation for insistent hospitality; it seemingly dislikes lettings its guests get away…The last person who tried to leave Hill House in darkness—it was eighteen years ago, I grant you—was killed at the turn in the driveway, where his horse bolted and crushed him against the big tree”…perhaps we can find some jocularity here, though in order to be effective, I guess there is little, if any room for jesting, since that may compromise the overall effect…who might be anxious, and scared to death for that matter, if there is laughter, and not the kind of laugh that we know, cynical, loud, sinister and terrifying…this reader is still in the same mood as at the start of this note…if this is the best you have got, then spare me more haunting houses, crypts, graves stories…not that they do not have an impact, but what is the point when we have a pandemic in the world, Israel and Palestine are at war, china is ready to invade Taiwan, after swallowing Tibet, putting new artificial islands on the map in the sea that they see as theirs, putting millions in labor camps and again, the list of real horrors is endless..
February 2, 2012
Shirley Jackson is one of the greatest writers of weird fiction ever, among the very best. The entire collection is a wonderful slow burn. Only a very few stories have any real obvious violence (notably The Lottery). But if it was ever in question she has long since proven that the best horror, the most disturbing scenarios, have nothing whatsoever to do with simple violence.
This is a beautiful, disturbing collection that will stick with you for a long time.
This is a beautiful, disturbing collection that will stick with you for a long time.
September 22, 2017
Only read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Lottery, and The Duel. Really enjoyed Lived in the Castle, although Jackson tipped her hand before the end, and I disagree that it's the greatest ghost story of all time. The rest of her work follows the same pattern, as far as I saw. Introduce mundane characters into crisply detailed settings, inject eerie hints into everyday conversation, and slowly up the ante.
I have two major problems with her style. Certainly they're subjective. First, the characters aren't particularly likeable. I don't care what's going to happen to them. Second, Jackson nearly always fades out the story before anything truly horrific happens. She implies something horrific could happen, and leaves on a "clever" point. You can almost hear the ladies at book group clinking their china as they say "oooooh" and raise their eyebrows at one another. But there isn't much else for those ladies.
Jackson's ghosts are mental illusions. That's not my cup of tea. Having grown up with codependents, alcoholics, and a variety of other lovely conditions, I find madness to be predictable, not frightening. It's when you're dealing with a force that plays by unknown rules that is genuinely scary. Mary Katherine in "Lived in the Castle" came close, but her primary agenda was not to harm, but to hide.
Glad I tried it but I enjoyed Richard Matheson's Hell House a lot more.
I have two major problems with her style. Certainly they're subjective. First, the characters aren't particularly likeable. I don't care what's going to happen to them. Second, Jackson nearly always fades out the story before anything truly horrific happens. She implies something horrific could happen, and leaves on a "clever" point. You can almost hear the ladies at book group clinking their china as they say "oooooh" and raise their eyebrows at one another. But there isn't much else for those ladies.
Jackson's ghosts are mental illusions. That's not my cup of tea. Having grown up with codependents, alcoholics, and a variety of other lovely conditions, I find madness to be predictable, not frightening. It's when you're dealing with a force that plays by unknown rules that is genuinely scary. Mary Katherine in "Lived in the Castle" came close, but her primary agenda was not to harm, but to hide.
Glad I tried it but I enjoyed Richard Matheson's Hell House a lot more.
January 3, 2016
It took a while for me to get into this book. It started slowly, in my opinion. However, I found that the last half was much better. I gave it 3 stars. It sits exactly between my 5 star opinion of We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and my GENEROUS 3 star opinion of The Sundial.. Lol
I think that this book speaks to us of fear as it relates to our own self image... The desire to be liked and accepted. The fear that we are unlikeable. I think it also speaks to the fear of seeing ourselves for what we really are. We fear knowing ourselves will prove that we are completely flawed..
I think that this book speaks to us of fear as it relates to our own self image... The desire to be liked and accepted. The fear that we are unlikeable. I think it also speaks to the fear of seeing ourselves for what we really are. We fear knowing ourselves will prove that we are completely flawed..
February 6, 2017
I've always loved "The Lottery," but had never taken the time to read anything else by Jackson, so I picked this up. It's a hefty collection, but a good one. The short stories were a little hit or miss for me, but short stories tend to be that way with me anyway. Many of them had that delicious unsettling feeling that I was expecting. We Have Always Lived in the Castle was fascinating with both expected and unexpected moments. But my favorite of the collection definitely was The Haunting of Hill House. I absolutely loved it. Delightfully creepy.
March 9, 2020
Shirley Jackson is the master of strange and spooky suspense. Being that I gravitate to those types of stories, I can’t believe it took me so long to discover her. We Have Always Lived in the Castle was far and beyond my favorite story in this collection. So darn weird and unputdownable. Escape to this freaky family’s 1950s existence. You won’t regret it.
April 26, 2024
short stories: 3/5 stars, i got pretty bored :/
the haunting of hill house: 5/5 stars oh so good so good chilling story
we have always lived in the castle: 4/5 stars. it was okay it wasn’t great but it was was way slower and less intense than the haunting of hill house (also not horror)
the haunting of hill house: 5/5 stars oh so good so good chilling story
we have always lived in the castle: 4/5 stars. it was okay it wasn’t great but it was was way slower and less intense than the haunting of hill house (also not horror)
October 22, 2017
Perfect October reading.
November 11, 2018
Shirley Jackson is an amazing writer. The lottery is one of best short stories ever written. The Haunting Of Hill House is one of the best horror books. I can't praise her enough. I highly recommend her, and I envy first time reader's.
Read
November 16, 2025"The world of Shirley Jackson is eerie and unforgettable," writes A. M. Homes. "It is a place where things are not what they seem; even on a morning that is sunny and clear there is always the threat of darkness looming, of things taking a turn for the worse." Jackson's characters-mostly unloved daughters in search of a home, a career, a family of their own-chase what appears to be a harmless dream until, without warning, it turns on its heel to seize them by the throat. We are moved by these characters' dreams, for they are the dreams of love and acceptance shared by us all. We are shocked when their dreams become nightmares, and terrified by Jackson's suggestion that there are unseen powers-"demons" both subconscious and supernatural-malevolently conspiring against human happiness.
In this volume Joyce Carol Oates, our leading practitioner of the contemporary Gothic, presents the essential works of Shirley Jackson, the novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America. She opens with "The Lottery" (1949), Jackson's only collection of short fiction, whose disquieting title story-one of the most widely anthologized tales of the 20th century-has entered American folklore. Also among these early works are "The Daemon Lover," a story Oates praises as "deeper, more mysterious, and more disturbing than 'The Lottery, ' " and "Charles," the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson's secondary career as a domestic humorist. Here too are Jackson's masterly short novels: "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959), the tale of an achingly empathetic young woman chosen by a haunted house to be its new tenant, and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" (1962), the unrepentant confessions of Miss Merricat Blackwood, a cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness. Rounding out the volume are 21 other stories and sketches that showcase Jackson in all her many modes, and the essay "Biography of a Story," Jackson's acidly funny account of the public reception of "The Lottery," which provoked more mail from readers of "The New Yorker" than any contribution before or since.
In this volume Joyce Carol Oates, our leading practitioner of the contemporary Gothic, presents the essential works of Shirley Jackson, the novels and stories that, from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, wittily remade the genre of psychological horror for an alienated, postwar America. She opens with "The Lottery" (1949), Jackson's only collection of short fiction, whose disquieting title story-one of the most widely anthologized tales of the 20th century-has entered American folklore. Also among these early works are "The Daemon Lover," a story Oates praises as "deeper, more mysterious, and more disturbing than 'The Lottery, ' " and "Charles," the hilarious sketch that launched Jackson's secondary career as a domestic humorist. Here too are Jackson's masterly short novels: "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959), the tale of an achingly empathetic young woman chosen by a haunted house to be its new tenant, and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" (1962), the unrepentant confessions of Miss Merricat Blackwood, a cunning adolescent who has gone to quite unusual lengths to preserve her ideal of family happiness. Rounding out the volume are 21 other stories and sketches that showcase Jackson in all her many modes, and the essay "Biography of a Story," Jackson's acidly funny account of the public reception of "The Lottery," which provoked more mail from readers of "The New Yorker" than any contribution before or since.
Read
August 12, 2024i’m finally free. chat this book took me 11 MONTHS to read but i persevered and finished it and now i am ready to be unleashed into the world 🫡
so i don’t have anything to say about any of the short stories those alone took me like 9 months to read i have absolutely nothing to say about them. except for the lottery cause that one did spook me a lil. however THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE??? i could go on and on about that book, it was so good it was insane. i will say that i’m 100% convinced that it was a romance disguised as a thriller because something was up between eleanor and theodora. i know i am not crazy because i looked it up and read other reviews and other people have noticed it too… like they really weren’t being subtle at all. anyway i loved all the characters for the most part but especially eleanor?? nobody gets eleanor like i do it’s true it’s true
we have always lived in the castle was also good and lowk felt a lot like a contemporary. i’m SO mad that i didn’t predict
i love shirley jackson sm. oh shirley jackson the woman that you are
so i don’t have anything to say about any of the short stories those alone took me like 9 months to read i have absolutely nothing to say about them. except for the lottery cause that one did spook me a lil. however THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE??? i could go on and on about that book, it was so good it was insane. i will say that i’m 100% convinced that it was a romance disguised as a thriller because something was up between eleanor and theodora. i know i am not crazy because i looked it up and read other reviews and other people have noticed it too… like they really weren’t being subtle at all. anyway i loved all the characters for the most part but especially eleanor?? nobody gets eleanor like i do it’s true it’s true
we have always lived in the castle was also good and lowk felt a lot like a contemporary. i’m SO mad that i didn’t predict
i love shirley jackson sm. oh shirley jackson the woman that you are
November 6, 2017
The Haunting of Hill House: The reason I checked this book out of the library - I like to read something creepy around Halloween. It left me wondering if it was a haunting or mental illness. Then I kept going with the rest of the omnibus.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Wow. I want to read an academic essay about this era's approach to mental illness and how that influenced Jackson's characters and stories.
The short stories I didn't intend to read, but I sucked up every last one of them: It's been a long time since I bothered with short stories. Calling these "short stories" is really doing them a disservice. They are each intricate, perfect capsules of mental illness, social captivity, and beleaguered humanity.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Wow. I want to read an academic essay about this era's approach to mental illness and how that influenced Jackson's characters and stories.
The short stories I didn't intend to read, but I sucked up every last one of them: It's been a long time since I bothered with short stories. Calling these "short stories" is really doing them a disservice. They are each intricate, perfect capsules of mental illness, social captivity, and beleaguered humanity.
November 26, 2019
I had of course read The Lottery in school and both my high schoolers have had it assigned multiple times already. But I had no idea it was the last piece of a larger collection strung between quotations about witch prosecution. The stories all together are very intimate - lots of details about clothing, houseware objects, social standing and small town routine encounters. It's a thoughtful woman's voice from an era when that was rare enough. A lot of the stories are about what isn't said and most of them are about evil but not all. I had read the Castle a long time ago but couldn't remember it. I'm glad to have gone through it again. It offers interesting things to argue about.
As a whole these works describe interior experiences, and sometimes mental imbalances.
As a whole these works describe interior experiences, and sometimes mental imbalances.
March 28, 2024
I liked some of the short stories but I don't think short stories are for me. I like being able to get to know a character.
I have already read The Haunting of Hill House and loved it, and I think We Have Always Lived in the Castle is pretty alright. It's not average by any means, but I don't think I'd read it again. It's very sad.
I have already read The Haunting of Hill House and loved it, and I think We Have Always Lived in the Castle is pretty alright. It's not average by any means, but I don't think I'd read it again. It's very sad.
January 31, 2019
One of the few times I actually preferred the Netflix series over the book; the Haunting of Hill House novel was dreadful, I only liked two of the short stories (The Tooth and the Lottery) and the only novel part I liked was We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
December 22, 2021
I first read The Lottery when I was in college many years ago, and it has stuck with me ever since. I love pretty much everything Shirley Jackson has written. She brings the horror and suspense without the gore.
September 21, 2022
I wanted to read "The Haunting of Hill House" after seeing the adaptation on Netflix. The story was creepy & unnerving.
I wish there was an explanation as to HOW the house got that way. (And I think the creators of the show were brilliant.)
I wish there was an explanation as to HOW the house got that way. (And I think the creators of the show were brilliant.)
December 8, 2017
some vintage weird stories
January 12, 2018
I only read We Have Always Lived in the Castle. It was twisty and unexpected and interesting.
May 24, 2019
great stories by good ol' Shirley
September 2, 2021
Shirley Jackson does disturbing short stories really well! If you like a quick read or just like horror, this is a great choice.
November 21, 2021
Very creepy!
March 4, 2023
This has always been my favorite book.
April 30, 2023
Very nostalgic. The last story, Castle, is wild!
August 10, 2023
Only intended to read Haunting of Hill House but ended up reading short stories, too!
October 26, 2023
These stories are all worth a read. But The Lottery is a classic tale that inspired many youth horror books and film. Don't pass it over.
November 25, 2024
4.5 for the haunting of hill house
March 9, 2025
Strange book. Took me awhile to get into it...and it was short!
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