This collection of twenty-five stories describes the unsettling realities hidden beneath the surface of mid-century American domesticity. In the title story, a small village gathers for a traditional annual rite where neighbors draw slips of paper to determine who will be stoned to death. Other narratives follow city dwellers struggling with identity, such as a woman who vanishes into a crowd or a protagonist who discovers her apartment has been occupied by a double. Jackson focuses on psychological fragmentation, the cruelty of children, and the rigid social hierarchies of New England towns and New York offices.
Readers of classic horror and psychological fiction turn to this volume to observe how ordinary environments foster exclusion and violence. It appeals to those interested in the mechanics of groupthink and the fragility of the human ego. Instead of supernatural monsters, the reader encounters the coldness of Bureaucracy and the terrifying persistence of outdated customs. One walks away with a heightened suspicion of civil neighbors and a better understanding of how easily a community can turn against one of its own members.
Open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1949
- Language
- EN
