THE LOTTERY

[dulcinea]

I discovered this story in Oct; its ending is certainly startling.
How did you react to this story when you discovered it?

[jbuck919]

I discovered this story in Oct; its ending is certainly startling.
How did you react to this story when you discovered it?

I hope you've read 1984. Wouldn't want you to be missing too many classics with kicker last lines.

Well, my eighth grade teacher for some reason wanted to read it out loud to us, probably because he liked the dramatic effect of that ending (and he did a good job). Then he made us write a paper about why they would have such a tradition. I even remember my juvenile explanation (don't ask).

BTW Shirley Jackson was also the author of The Haunting of Hill House, which was made into an excellent and truly scary movie (called just "The Haunting," if I remember correctly) starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom.

[BWV 1080]

Try the Borges story The Lottery of Babylon

[dulcinea]

Her mother and father were among the people who took badly to the story.
,,Dad and I did not care at all for your story in THE NEW YORKER. It does seem, dear, that this gloomy kind of story is what all you young people think about these days. Why don't you write something to cheer people up?''
Considering how gloomy the world was in 1948, that suggestion did have some merit.

[Guitarist]

I hope you've read 1984. Wouldn't want you to be missing too many classics with kicker last lines.

Another one with a killer last line is William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily." Whew...