Just an Ordinary Day

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a mixed bag from a master storyteller.
Review: As much as my friends and myself admire Jackson's classic works, I must agree that this is a pretty mediocre collection of short stories. Because many have not been seen for over 50 years however, they certainly belong in the library of every Shirley Jackson fan. "The Possibility of Evil" is stunning. Sometimes Shirley either tried too hard, had writer's block or simply experimented with the bizarre; whatever the reason, most of her works were ahead of her time and when she was good she was the BEST-there are, unfortunately too many rather dull and uninspired stories in this collection. Shirley was the female Stephen King of her day!

Rating:
Summary: just an extraordinary day
Review: that's how i felt when i saw this book on my library shelf. it helped to quell a hunger that i have had for many years. thank you laurence and sarah for compiling these works. i would love to see the out of print works of shirley jackson back on bookstore's shelves.

Rating:
Summary: The Real Shirley Jackson
Review: There has been tons of controversy over this book about whether or not is should have been published. My personal opinion is that is should not have been published because these stories were private stories and were not published for a reason. However, now it has been published and there is nothing anyone can do about it but enjoy it as a learning experience. The reason I gave the book five stars was because it is a very accurate representation of Shirley Jackson. Writing was always theraputic for her -- she used it to express the other dimensions of her life and her self which no one could understand. Writing was a way of putting everything that went on in her mind down on paper. Therefore, reading these stories is like reading her diary -- she expressed her emotions through fiction, and the variety of characters and plots that can be seen in this collection are a representation of a certain period of her life through her eyes. If you are looking for the edited fiction that made Shirley Jackson famous, this is not the book for you. However, if you are interested in the inner workings of the author's mind, this collection of stories and essays is the closest one can get.

Rating:
Summary: Not the way to remember a fine fiction writer
Review: Well, on the one hand it's great to see so many unpublished and previously uncollected Jackson stories finally seeing the light of day; on the other hand, most of these stories weren't worth the wait. This is especially disappointing after the wonderful previous posthumous collection, _Come Along With Me_. In this volume it can be interesting to see, in at least one case, how a story evolves, but, if the main pleasure we're going to get out of this book is seeing Jackson's writing in process, why did the editors change characters' names (as they claim to have done)? Repeated names worked fine in the _Lottery_ collection, and the editing spoils the roughhewn "notebook" feel of the stories (which in many cases is their only charm). And why are the unpublished stories left undated? Couldn't educated guesses at least sometimes have been made? And who came up with the book's awful title? Still, the title story is fun, and some of the other pieces are good second-rate Jackson. I shouldn't be complaining; we're not going to get much more new material from her. I just hope any more "finds" are better edited.