m.'s Reviews > The Lottery and Other Stories

never in a million years would i have expected to find out in the year of our lord 2023 that shirley jackson is one of my favorite authors ever, but here we are. the subtlety in her horror, from a teen girl fantasizing about society's impending collapse to a man pushed out of his own home by his dinner guests, showcases her talent in finding the macabre in the mundane, how the everyday fears one encounters as they move through life—the fear of rejection and isolation, of repressive mannerisms and traditions, of not understanding other people and feeling alone in the world—leaves us and manifests themselves as physical, supernatural, eerie occurrences. she just gets it.

"what is going to help?" mrs. arnold said. "is everyone really crazy but me?"