So far in the English lesson the class have read two short stories. Lang Walk to Forever and Lamb to the Slaughter. In my opinion Lamb to the Slaughter was the best of them. That is because it came quicker to the turning point, and had a more exciting story. In short Lamb to the Slaughter wasn’t a cliché. I couldn’t predict what would happen in the short story. I got excited, and wanted to read more.

In Lang Walk to Forever the action was boring, because the whole short story was about two old friends that was walking and talking.

This is a short summary of the Lamb to the Slaughter:

It was a normal afternoon in Mary Maloney’s life. She was a pregnant wife waiting for her husband, Patrick, to come home from work. It turned out that the normal day wouldn’t be normal at all. Patrick told her he wanted a divorce. Mary, shocked as she was, killed her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. She had to act as normal as possible and went to the groceries and made a supper of the murder weapon. When she called the police she had to hide the terrible thing she had done by good acting, but realized after the initial shock, that she could just be herself as the sorrow hit her.

I have to say that I liked the story, because it was a catchy title. The turning point surprised me. Divorce was not as common in those days, especially when the wife was pregnant, and the sudden change of the character from a comforting wife to a cold blooded murderer able to fool the detectives is a bit terrifying. This is the horror part of the story. It came quickly to the point and you didn’t get bored, but you kept wondering about the strange story and what the author wanted to tell us.