Play Book Tag discussion

I love Shirley Jackson's unsettling, suffocating, eerie atmosphere in both this book and The Haunting of Hill House, but I strongly dislike the main protagonists. They are, in both books, mousey, naïve, delicate and sensitive. It's a product of their upbringing, I think in both cases, but it's hard to look past. I think what I hate the most is their passive aggressive nature. Neither women can ask for what they want, stand up for themselves, or address conflict and this is a pet peeve I have in life which makes it hard to ignore in her books. I am a direct person, and I prefer people are direct with me, so I find passive aggressive people to be a little frightening. You never know where they stand. Are they angry about xyz? Who knows because they surely will never tell you! Instead they act out behind the scenes, doing little spiteful pranks, trying to exact some kind of revenge.

Maybe this is the perfect horror for me. Faced with people who will never speak up, who instead harbor deep resentments you can never address because you will never know...

Shirley Jackson is a master of horror literature.
If you are a horror fan, or want to read a scary story that isn't gory and violent (more subtle horror), Jackson's book are must read foundational entries into the horror genre.
So, I have no reason to discourage anyone from reading her books, but I trend toward a lower star rating because her main protagonists just drive me nuts!

I havent gotten around to this one yet, despite having it on my TBR for eons! I still remember reading The Lottery in HS, and that was defintiely subtley horrific!

It is very short, not a word wasted I think. I would still recommend it even though her protags get on my nerves :-P