Dark Tales includes 17 stories by Shirley Jackson. Most of them are fairly short, between 5 to 12 pages. One is 24 pages long, another is 18 pages.
For years I have avoided Jackson's stories and novels because she is known for writing scary or unsettling stories. I should not have worried; these stories did not scare me and most of them were not that unsettling .
I had read the first story in the book before I purchased it. Patti blogged about "The Possibility of Evil" at her blog, Pattinase. It is available to read online. Reading that story gave me the confidence to try more stories by Jackson.
On the back cover of my Penguin paperback edition, there is this description:
For the first time in one volume, a collection of Shirley Jackson’s scariest stories, with a foreword by PEN/Hemingway Award winner Ottessa Moshfegh.
I have now read the first eight stories in the book. I did not find any of them to be scary; some were spooky, some were unsettling in a good way, and some were puzzling. All were strange.
Maybe I will find some scary ones in the next nine stories, but I will be just as happy if I don't.
The other seven stories I read were:
"Louisa, Please Come Home"
This was my favorite of this batch of stories. Louisa wants to get away from her family and successfully escapes to a town not too far away. Every year on the anniversary of the day she left, her mother puts out a message on a radio news broadcast to ask Louisa to come home.
"Paranoia"
I liked this story. The title is apt. A man is having problems getting home in time to take his wife out for dinner. The ending was surprising.
"The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith"
This story was a good read but in the end I would have liked some more clarity. Sometimes I am okay with an ending that leaves you hanging; sometimes not.
"The Story We Used to Tell"
For me, this was the spookiest story. It did not scare me or impress me initially but I kept thinking about it afterwards.
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
This was another good read. It was about a mean little girl, almost devilish, who torments a woman who lives in the same apartment building. But in the end it did not go anywhere and I was frustrated. More than one reviewer said that they did not get it.
"Jack the Ripper"
As you can tell from the title, this is a Jack the Ripper story. It was very short and I did not understand it.
"The Beautiful Stranger"
This one is about a young wife with two children who meets her husband at the train station. He looks like her husband but she is convinced that he is not her husband. Another one I did not understand, and it was unsettling.
I look forward to reading the remainder of the stories in this book.
16 comments:
Shirley Jackson stories tend to stay with me long after I've finished reading them. Very haunting!
Interesting they chose to leave "The Lottery" out of this collection. And "Root of Evil" and a variety of others..."The Summer People" was the first Jackson story I read...
The Possibility of Evil • non-genre • (1965) • short story by Shirley Jackson
Louisa, Please Come Home • non-genre • (1960) • short story by Shirley Jackson
Paranoia • non-genre • (2013) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith • non-genre • (1997) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Story We Used to Tell • (1997) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Sorcerer's Apprentice • non-genre • (2014) • short story by Shirley Jackson
Jack the Ripper • non-genre • (1997) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Beautiful Stranger • (1968) • short story by Shirley Jackson
All She Said Was Yes • (1962) • short story by Shirley Jackson
What a Thought • non-genre • (1997) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Bus • (1965) • short story by Shirley Jackson
Family Treasures • non-genre • (2015) • short story by Shirley Jackson
A Visit • (1968) • novelette by Shirley Jackson (variant of The Lovely House 1952)
The Good Wife • non-genre • (1997) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Man in the Woods • (2014) • short story by Shirley Jackson
Home • (1965) • short story by Shirley Jackson
The Summer People • (1950) • short story by Shirley Jackson
I know exactly what you mean, Tracy, but stories that unsettle you. Jackson's stories have that effect on me, too. As you say in your post, it's not always easy to understand a story, especially at first. But the stories I've read always sort of stay with me, if that makes sense.
I'm a Shirley Jackson fan, too, and I don't find many of her stories or novels scary in the traditional sense. "Disturbing" is much more often the case, as you say. For me, it's her characters that stay with me for a long time after I've put something of hers down...even longer than the actual plots.
I've always liked her style, so even the not-so-disturbing stories are a good read. The "Jack the Ripper" story, for instance, which you write that you don't understand, is straightforward with no real twist (except perhaps the identity of "the man" which is obvious from the start). It's a somewhat sympathetic look at a serial killer and an unusual motive, a kind of charity he metes out for those with little hope. The style and minimalist, emotionally neutral writing she can produce, which ultimately evokes an emotional response, is just amazing. Interestingly, the original French translation titled this story "The Good Samaritan," which adds, or enhances, an element of irony.
Yeah I like Shirley Jackson's writing and have liked a few of her novels .... and of course the story The Lottery. Thx for letting me know about these stories. Some interesting ones it seems like.
George, Reading these stories has motivated me to read more stories by Jackson, beyond this book. Luckily, I have now checked and I have an ebook of The Lottery and Other Stories, with about 25 stories in it, and it seems that they are all different from the ones in this book.
Todd, it is possible that the introduction tells about the selection of the stories, but I never read introductions before I read the book. As I was noting to George, I have a book of her stories on the Kindle which includes The Lottery. I have read it more than once and I did find it very disturbing, and that is part of why I haven't been in a hurry to try more.
Thanks for the list of stories in the book.
Margot, I enjoy how the stories are set up and how well she depicts various characters.
Sam, I agree about the characters being memorable. I should probably try the stories at one a day and think about them for a while.
Frank, Thanks for your thoughts about the "Jack the Ripper" story, that is helpful. I know the name and the general associations, but I have little knowledge of the history of Jack the Ripper, and have read no fiction related to that subject. Without the title I would not have associated the story with those events. I like the alternate title for the French translation, "The Good Samaritan," that you mentioned.
Susan, Other than The Lottery this is my first experience with Shirley Jackson although I have read other people's reviews or thoughts about her work. I want to read more by her, but I will stick with the one novella I own, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the other short stories I have, for now. I would like to someday read one of her memoirs, such as Life Among the Savages.
Hi Tracy, When I was in high school we read The Lottery and I wasn't as scared or impacted by it as people told me Id be. Bot sure why. But many years later I read We Have Always Lived In the Castle and it's brilliantly written but that book I did find disturbing and it has stayed with me.
I've read a few of her short stories--like Kathy I had to read The Lottery in school, which I kind of liked. But I haven't read any of these. I do really like her novel The Haunting of Hill House.
Kathy, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is on my Classics List, so I will read it, and it is short, too. But I have always shied away from it because I think it will be too uncomfortable for me. I will never know until I try it.
Lark, I really think The Haunting of Hill House would bother me less than We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I have seen that movie and I don't think is the type of thing that scares me. So I do plan to try it someday.
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