Jackson, Shirley "The Lottery"

Jackson, Shirley "The Lottery" - 1948

Once a month, Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best invites us to participate in her challenge Six Degrees of Separation (see here my latest post).

Often, we have not read the book but still can start our chain with the information given. This time, since it is the first time she started with short story, she said there were no excuses for not reading the starting book, right? While I don't care much for short stories, I thought this was as good a reason as any to read it. And it is available online (here). I don't read books online but for a short story that I have to get quickly, I thought I could do it.

It is hard to review this story without telling the whole story. In any case, a lot of towns in the USA seem to hold this lottery once a year. (Don't forget, this is fiction!) Nobody wants to win in this case but someone has to. This story reminded me of "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Mind you, since that novel was written in 2008 and this short story in 1948, we can only imagine who copied the idea from whom, if that was the case.

A very dark, sinister and shocking story that could have been made into a series and probably would have as "The Hunger Games" and "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood and several other stories demonstrate.

While looking for a picture for this post, I saw this "joke":
"I hope you win the Lottery soon. Not the state-run lotto, but the Shirley Jackson one."
I'm glad to say I don't know anyone to whom I would say that. I know that these kinds of things happen in other parts of the world and I don't wish it on anyone.

From the back cover:

"In a small American town, the local residents are abuzz with excitement and nervousness when they wake on the morning of the twenty-seventh of June. Everything has been prepared for the town’s annual tradition - a lottery in which every family must participate, and no one wants to win.

'The Lottery' stands out as one of the most famous short stories in American literary history. Originally published in The New Yorker, the author immediately began receiving letters from readers who demanded an explanation of the story’s meaning. 'The Lottery' has been adapted for stage, television, radio and film."

Another book that this reminded of is "The Wave" by Morton Rhue, it's a good addition to this short story.