Customer Reviews

The Lottery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very disappointed with this book, it didn't really live up to its hype. Not very realistic either I mean anti bullying policies in schools for one would stop any of the Shadow Council victimisation from occurring. They'd all be suspended or expelled for doing even a fraction of what they do in this book and to enjoy a good book it really needs to be believable. Also what kind of calibre are the students in this school who would abandon their friends so easily simply because they have been the chosen lottery winner. Real friends wouldn't care what the other kids in the school thought of them they'd stick together with the victim so Shadow Council would have no effect. The whole time you are reading this book your thinking, yeah right! Not enjoyable because of this factor and the fact also that the book is pretty boring.

Anyway the story of The Lottery revolves around a powerful entity in the student body which has existed for generations called The Shadow Council. Each year a student is chosen at random to become the victim. The victim must be shunned by everyone else in the school with only students who are members of The Shadow Council able to communicate with them at the secret meetings. Meetings which the victim is summoned to and given tasks of retribution against those who are the enemies of the members or have mocked Shadow Council.

Basically pick any other book at random and you will be more likely to come across a winner. Give The Lottery a miss!

A real heart-touching story, Beth Goobie takes on the challenge of writing about teen social issues, comflicts, drama, and things the teachers dont know about. This story is very real, i'm sure that virtually anyone who reads this will understand and can relate to the issues being delt with. The only thing I can critique on was the age reccomendation. It says for grades 9 and up but I am going into 7th and it was on our sumnmer reading list. I think this book would be better suited for more mature readers. Overall fantastic book and I can not wait to read another Beth Goobie book.

A Review by Erin

This book is about a 15 year old girl, Sal getting chosen to be a secret societies (Shadow Council) victim. For nearly 4 months she is harassed and made fun of by the students at her school, do to the fact that she is Shadow's "victim". Her job is to deliver mischeivious duties to the students at Saskatoon Colligant High School.

The thing I really liked about The Lottery is that I never wanted to stop reading. The characters all play interesting rolls in the whole scheme of the book. I also liked how Sal, the main character goes on a spiritual journey throughout the book; and ultimately ends up changing her whole view life by the end. For example, Sal ends up forgiving herself for her dad's death. This proves a major change, since for the last 8 years of her life she had blamed herself. In addition, the vocabulary presented a challenge to my level of linguists. It forced me to learn new words and metaphors, expanding my understanding of the English language. The reason I only gave this book 4 stars, is because some of the words were a little bit too difficult for this type of book.

I believe that most people between the ages of 13-25 would like this book. I think this book is geared toward high school to college level readers. The story has and extremely deep message about high school peer pressure, and I think it would teach people is this reading level an insightful lesson about being your own person.

"The Lottery" at first seemed like a pathetic imitation of "The Cocolate War." If I could have, I would have given it three and a half stars, but three seemed too low. I thought the name the "Shadow Council" sounded unimaginative and at first the book didn't seem all that scary. Reading on, however, I saw that Sally's position in her school and the assinments given to her by S.C. were terrifying--not so much the assinments themselves but the way people treated her because she was the "lottery winner." I still don't quite understand how an entire school let S.C. scare them and take over their lives. However, I would say it is worth reading, but you may not want to buy it.

While most people voluntarily enter lotteries and hope they will win, the 1,500 grade 9-12 students in Saskatoon Collegiate annually become involuntary entrants in a lottery, one that they desperately hope to lose. Each year an elite member of students that call themselves the "Shadow Council" draw a name from what is rumoured to be a coffin. Whoever's name is drawn is the lottery "winner" and is to be shunned by the student body and also becomes the Shadow Council's lackey, performing various tasks and assignments. This years "winner" is Sally Hanson a fairly average 15 year old girl. She is immediately shunned by all excluding Shadow Council members, and uses music and family to help her cope with the pain of past experiences with involving her family, and the present of all social activity being taken away. The main theme in this book is friendship; I think Goobie shows how important a friend can be with this book, and how without some form of friends a person cannot be happy.
I would definitely recommend this to any teenager and even parents; it is a great outlook on what teenage life can be, even if it's not this callous.

"The lottery" is about an average girl that goes to Saskatoon Collegiate also known as S.C, a school that is secretly run by an organization called the Shadow Council. The Shadow Council is made up entirely of the coolest and most elite students of the school. There is a yearly draw held by the Shadow Council called "the lottery". When the lottery is held, each student's name is put into a basket and a random name is drawn. The winner of the lottery is shunned for the entire year and is forced into doing humiliating tasks. Sally Hanson is the main character of the book, and she is this year's "lucky" lottery winner! Dusty, her older brother is always there for her doing what he can to cheer her up. She is in a family that chooses to neglect feelings and use humor to get around any true feelings. After being chosen the lottery winner, everything starts to go into a downward spiral for Sally. Her friends along with everyone else in the school ignore her. She obeys everything the Shadow Council tells her to do. Sally finally decides to stand up to the Shadow Council, using creative means. The outstanding theme in this book is family; Dusty's support is the only thing that allows her to keep her sanity. They finally learn to break through their emotional walls and confess how much they mean to each other. Dusty gives Sally advice to the best of his abilities and offers to do anything in his power to help her. Sally truly relies on him throughout the entirety of the book. I really enjoyed "The lottery" because the author portrays the harsh reality of modern teens and their cruelty very well. She shows how important family truly is.

I thought the book "The Lottery" was a pretty good read. It was entertaining and explored a lot of themes kids these days worry about. The author wrote very well from a kids perspective. I have read other stories where the point of view was from a teenager. The authors don't always get the teenage view of life but I feel Mrs. Goobie captured it well. Some of my favourite scenes were with Dusty, Sal's brother. I thought their relationship was very interesting and he seemed like a pretty cool guy. He was my favourite character in the book. Overall I felt this book was pretty good. If your into teen drama's this is the book for you.

Beth Goobie's work "The Lottery" is an amazing book, showing today's teenager conflict on school bullying and person conflicts. In this novel, the school of Saskatoon Collegiate isn't as it seems; the school hold a tradition passed on throughout the history of school. Every year the elite group of the student council called the Shadow counci picks one lucky winner out of whole student body, this person would be the lottery winner for the year. But in this lottery you are no winner but the victim of the whole student body, and a lacky of the Shadow Council. That person happens to be a girl from grade 10, no more than an average student attending highschool: Sally Hanson. Sal lead a tragic life from the death of her father, and block out memories of her past which haunt her time to time. She had only the support of her brother, mother and friends to keep her from falling to the edge. Now one by one her friends and students alike shunned her like a disease,no one are willing to help her, disobey the shadow council and your world would be more of a living nightmare then it already is. While reading this book, a good number of teenagers could relate on the topic of school bullying maybe to the extreme, school activities, drugs, smoking, bystanders, victims for being unpopular to the most recent problems since the book is dated very close to current year. It's an incredible book with colourful vocabularies and yet a powerful language is spoken straight into the minds of the reader; with bits of humor but also a lot of "tear jerking" "heart touching" moments.It's definitely a worth while novel to read.

Beth Goobie is an amazing writer. The storyline of this book is unbelieveable, yet so true in today's society. It is difficult being a teen because there is always considerable pressure to conform and be part of the "group" Furthermore, what a person will do to remain part of the "group" is mind boggling. People's needs for kinship and acceptance are very strong, which makes people conform to peer pressure to such a degree. Images from this story haunted me long after I finished reading it.

Never buy this book. It sucks. NO plot. NO charcters. Nothin'. And its SO BORING!!! Anyhoo, does anyone want to buy some cheese?