Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

Title: Dark Tales

Author: Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Penguin 2016

Genre: Horror Short Stories

Pages: 195

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Cover Lover -“Dark” in Title

Where I Got It: Library

After the publication of her short story “The Lottery” in the New Yorker in 1948 received an unprecedented amount of attention, Shirley Jackson was quickly established as a master horror storyteller. This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Summer People.” In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There’s something sinister in suburbia.

I have very much enjoyed many of Jackson’s stories in the past, but this collection fell pretty flat for me. Many of the stories seem to abruptly end without any satisfying conclusion. Or the stories have a twist that feels trite and boring in many cases. And then there are a few stories that are so confusing that I’m not sure what exactly happened. There are a few bright spots in the collection including the first story “The Possibility of Evil” and a later story called “A Visit.” In general I enjoy Jackson’s unsettling brand of psychological horror. I just prefer some of her other stories.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Title: The Haunting of Hill house

Author: Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Viking 1959

Genre: Classics - Horror

Pages: 182

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Classics -- 20th Century

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

How have I never actually read this one? I read and loved Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This one is such a masterpiece of terror and suspense. By the end of the book the reader starts to doubt even their own experience in reading this volume. Did the supernatural elements actually occur or was it all in our imaginations? Did Eleanor actually feel called to the house or was she just wishing for a place to belong? I put the book down at the end and promptly started doubting my own thoughts of what happened. Such is the brilliance of Shirley Jackson. Fascinating book. A great choice for spooky October. Now to watch the two movie adaptations... 

Next up on the TBR pile:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Author: Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Penguin Classics 2006

Genre: ? fiction?

Pages: 146

Rating:   5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: May Read and Review; 2011 - Slim Pickings; A to Z: J

Hands down one of the creepiest books I've ever read.  There's no gore or jump up scary moments.  No demons or ghosts, at least not in the traditional sense.  But there's definitely something completely off about this book... and I loved it!

Jackson creates this world where we're never really sure what's real and what's imagined.  There's a mystery, but one that isn't central to the relationships.  It's more of a plot device.  The part that got me was the daily schedule of the Blackwell sisters.  Their created world apart from the village and the city.  The atmosphere in the house.  The descriptions of the rooms.  The repeating conversations, especially from Uncle Julian.  There were times that I wanted to put the book down, it was just too disturbing, and yet I desperately wanted to finish and find out what happened to the sisters.  The ending shouldn't have really surprised me, it made sense for the story.  Yet I was left hoping for something else.  But in a good way.  I wished the sisters' lives could have been different, but given their personalities and history, it could never have been different.

I absolutely loved "The Lottery" and "The Haunting" by Jackson, but somehow I never picked this one up.  I decided to read it for my 2011: Slim Pickings challenge, but I would've gotten around to it just because anyway.  This was a nice departure from zombies and contemporary romance.  Next up: Steampunk!

And I might I say, the cover.... extra creepy!