Each tale begins with someone who is ordinary, living or staying in an ordinary suburban place where the “ordinary” carry on with his or her lives; but sooner or later, the ordinary will transform into the strange and unusual. To put it simply, each story is about normalcy gone wrong. After finishing each tale, readers will be left with some sort of uneasiness, or possibly some discomfort. The fact that Jackson can provoke these unsettling feelings or reactions to her readers is quite remarkable and impressive. Her stories weren’t openly horrific—they were subtly disturbing but also intense.
I think Jackson’s goal when writing these stories, was to make the everyday feel unnerving and sinister. I think that’s what creeps people and readers out the most about it—she makes it almost feel real and the foreboding possible. There were some stories that made me feel confused, even frustrated because I felt there wasn’t any closure at the end for some of them. I felt that Jackson used a lot of cliffhangers to keep readers on edge or make the story feel more suspenseful—and then there were some tales that made me confused about plot or premise of a particular short menacing tale.
All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates books that exhibit the dark, unusual, and the uncanny. Jackson is by far a talented female writer, who I believe is underrated in today’s modern book culture. Each of her stories was skillfully written and captivating. This is a great short read that will satisfy any readers desire for something deliciously dark.
x, Kayla
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