The Tooth Shirley Jackson

234 - A typical mid-century housewife in a very atypical situation . . . Hold on tight as Ms. Jackson pulls us through her doped up quest to remedy a toothache.

[@saltyk2795]

The sound of pages turning... I hadn't realized the subtle charm that sound would add to a reading, and how absent it is from so many audiobooks and readings online. Beautiful.

[@GenaMarie-jw7bb]

I think I agree. 😊 Thanks.

[@susanm7925]

No one comes close 2 Ms.Jackson when it comes 2 making the mundane interesting & horror oh so subtle & sophisticated. Your channel is awesome! Wish i would have found this sooner.

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

Ah, Susan, you're very kind. Thank you.

[@GenaMarie-jw7bb]

Susan, funny you should say that. I wanted to take the page turning out and immediately got turned down immediately. I think the very wise “production people” had wonderful moms who read to them nightly! 😊 Thank you for your lovely comments.

[@Sharles2.0]

Excellent reading.

[@leighwilson5387]

Fantastic! I am hooked. Your soothing voice is a Godsend. I love getting reacquainted with these lit classics. Thank you Gena!!! 🤗

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

Thank you. I'm so glad you're enjoying this.

[@nadiaminerva]

Great story and lovely reading but SO MANY ads!

[@GenaMarie-jw7bb]

Thank you for the kind comments. So sorry about the ads. Wish we benefited from them at least, but no. This is a very popular episode, so . . .

[@martin.ballard]

Bravo x 20. Story is new to me and a wonderful selection. Your read is exquisite.

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

Thank you, Martin. 🙂

[@Robleh100]

I have heard you read two obscure stories by Shirley Jackson and the renditions were superb. The channel name implies that these stories should make you slumber, but I don’t think anything S. Jackson has written would put me to sleep, not even these two stories. Perhaps you should rename the channel ‘Unusual stories’, etc. Anyway, in both stories you portray timid, diffident women with distant, overbearing spouses, that allow their wives to be released into a world that confronts them with a mixture of fear, wonderment, and abandon. Stylistically, the two stories; The Pillar of Salt and The Tooth are unmistakably of the same genre. Each presents almost surreal settings with neurotic, fawn-like women facing cold exterior worlds. In the second there is an imagined male character (Jim) who guides the woman through her sojourn in that foreboding outside world. There is an implication of an adulterous affair in this unreal character, btw. In the former, no such character exists, and it ends with the husband coming to rescue that lamb-like wife from her own neurosis at a street corner. There is so much more I could say about how this tale reminds me of a time long gone but I’ve said enough. One added comment I will give…. Reading the voices of other characters in these tales gives the story an augmented element of the listener being inside the mind of the main protagonist. You even pull off the male voicing well, and that’s not easy for a woman to do. Or should I say for a man to believe? The only aspect missing from the experience is visual content, and this is just what is not needed since these stories are meant to be audio-only.

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

Thank you for a very thoughtful comment.

[@janedoefamily6458]

46:42

[@calliesoutherland9435]

Love Shirley Jackson tales.

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

You have great taste!

[@marniekilbourne608]

Since you are reading these for sleep it would be better if you read the story without doing different voices and in a more relaxed manner. With the changes in pitch and volume it makes it impossible to fall asleep to. It sounds like a dramatic radio performance rather than a story for sleep.

[@fastasleepwithgenamarie4848]

Thanks, Marnie, for the suggestions. Very appreciated. We thought this very idea through at the start. Monotony is not necessarily a path to sleep. Most of us have a great deal on our minds and this is what keeps us awake. These beautifully written stories "engage and remove" the listener. As we release ourselves to the tale, we can find the peace required. Anything less than what we offer would be a disservice to our extraordinary authors and our cherished listeners.