The Lottery

A harrowing story which highlights follow the herd mentality. The end had me spiralling. To ‘respect' the old traditions, the younger generations are expected to observe many rituals. So what if they suffer from the consequences of some outdated tradition in the name of honour, custom, formality, habit and so on? Everyone in the past did it too.

2 stars.
The story was sadly not my cup of tea. I found it very predictable early on and it didn't really catch me but I'm glad other people like this short story more than me. Shirley Jackson's “the Lottery” was obviously influential on a lot of writers and without it we wouldn't have some iconic stories that we know now, so I am grateful for that.
I will definitely give Haunting of Hill House a try though.

Read and reviewed: Jul 05, 2021

This short story was selected by the Organized Book Club Server. P read it in high school. I just read it. I don't know what to make of it. Tradition. Superstition. The lesser of two evils in order to have a plentiful harvest that year and feed the whole village. A fear of what would happen if the ritual stops. Even if other villages around have already stopped it. But the story: Each year, at a lottery, a member of the community is selected at random to be stoned (probably) to death. And everyone has prepared their stones in advance.

4.50 ★

there is a lot to be said about this story, and i feel like whatever i wrote here would never be enough to expose what i thoroughly thought of it. a simple review written by me on goodreads would never convey what i most desired to write about this, so i'll leave it at that, and hope someday i'm able to put it into words.

Raccolta di racconti, di cui da il più importante e il più bello prende il nome. Gli altri, a parte il secondo, sono più che altro riempitivi e sembra un decrescendo verso l'ultimo, il peggiore della raccolta.

La lotteria ★★★★
Il racconto parte da un tranquillo paese che sembra prepararsi per quella che la scrittrice fa credere sia una festa di campagna... una lotteria. Tutte le famiglie del paese sono chiamate a partecipare e il tutto è regolato da rigide regole. La conclusione che il lettore si aspetta però non arriverà mai, anzi... Il racconto è godibile e alla fine butta un ombra inquietante su tutto.

Lo sposo ★★★
Questo è racconto che coinvolge il lettore in una spasmodica e misteriosa ricerca. Il tutto è abbastanza surreale, ma quello che viene reso benissimo sono l'ansia e gli atteggiamenti della protagonista. Intrigante.

Colloquio ★
Un colloquio con un dottore da parte di una donna che non riesce più a comprendere la realtà che la circonda. Nulla di che.

Il fantoccio ★
Pessimo: due signore in un locale con spettacolo di ventriloquo. Noioso e inconcludente, pathos zero.

4.5 stars • a dark tale that makes you think and possibly one of the best short stories of all time!

I went into this story expecting a plot twist. That happens. But I was originally left underwhelmed. I was expecting something more dramatic and out of the box. I was expecting some horror to creep me out, something unrealistic, but this isn't a tale of monsters, it's almost a tale of realism.

Here's the thing. It's a predictable story. But the meaning of the story is powerful and is one that sticks with you. After reading this story, I looked up the analysis. It's a dark story about mob mentality and tradition. The dangers of continuing tradition, blindly following it for ‘the sake of tradition'. This is quite a powerful short story and one I will remember. 4.5/5