The Lottery

School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play, and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands.

From the very first page, I could tell it was going to be a smooth read. The story isn't bad, but it's not exactly thrilling or amusing either.

It reminded me of watching The Twilight Zone (1959 series) earlier this year, where I felt totally disconnected from some episodes.

What was fascinating, though, was the overwhelmingly negative reception to this story. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Jackson and The New Yorker were both surprised by the initial negative response from readers; subscriptions were canceled and large amounts of hate mail were sent throughout the summer of its first publication, with Jackson receiving at least 10 letters per day. The Union of South Africa banned the story because some parts of Africa still used stoning as a punishment.