This is a collection of short stories, all rather grim. The
Daemon Lover is James Harris in the story of that name, but he reappears in most
of the later stories as different people of the same name. While Jackson is
sometimes thought of as a horror writer because of ‘The Lottery’ and the novel ‘The
Haunting of Hill House’, these stories do not have any supernatural elements to
them – ‘The Lottery’, while rather horrific, is about human weirdness. Some of
them *do* venture into the odd, however. These stories are about the quiet
nastiness that humans inflict on each other every day- racism, snobbery,
classism, alienation, sexism (especially sexism) and everyday cruelty fill this
book. The characters are the kind of people we meet every day; there are no
heroes or outright villains- but even the stories where nothing is overtly
happening are filled with tension.
These stories were written in the 1940s, so it may be hard
for readers to feel the stories are realistic depictions of everyday life.
Thankfully, some of the assumptions made back then have fallen by the wayside,
at least in most of the US. But despite the 40s settings, many of the stories
remain pertinent. This is literary fiction, but literary fiction that may make
the reader feel uncomfortable.
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