Year: 1953
Hook:
Mary Maloney, a pregnant young woman, waits for her husband Patrick to return home from his job as a detective for the local police. When he returns, Mary notices that he is strangely aloof and assumes that he has had trouble at work. After blatantly ignoring her, Patrick finally confesses his intent to leave her...
Review:
This is an intriguingly dark tale, unexpected from the man who wrote such silly stories as The Twits, Matilda, The BFG, etc. Dahl includes his trademark wit, adding a contrast to the dark nature of the story. With tension, surprising contrasts, and twists at every turn, there is enough intrigue packed into this short story to leave the reader begging for more!
Year: 1948
Hook:
The villagers of a small town gather together in the square on June 27, a beautiful day, for the town lottery. In other towns, the lottery takes longer, but there are only 300 people in this village, so the lottery takes only two hours. Village children, who have just finished school for the summer, run around collecting stones. They put the stones in their pockets and make a pile in the square. Men gather next, followed by the women. Parents call their children over, and families stand together...
Review:
This is one of my favorite short stories. The story blew my mind, and still haunts me to this day. While the reader is aware from the very beginning that there is something slightly unsettling about the town's lottery, the answer isn't revealed until the very end. I found it to be the kind of ending for which the author left hints all along the way, and yet the result still feels like a smack in the face. For this reason, it's a story I love going back to and re-reading to pick up on the evidence I hadn't noticed on a previous read.
Year: 1973
Hook:
Omelas is a utopian city of happiness and delight, who's inhabitants are intelligent and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the city's one atrocity, which all citizens should be told about upon coming of age...
Review:
Ever since I read this a few years ago, I've recommended it to nearly everyone in my life. It's a beautiful story with a dark undertone that poses a moral dilemma, one that does not seem to have a solid answer and is left rolling through your head after reading it. While this kind of doubt and questioning can make some people deeply uncomfortable, I think it's a very eye-opening element to add into the world of literature. A haunting, goosebump-inducing tale that will leave you wondering, "Would I be one walk away from Omelas?"
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