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glenvisceration's review
4.0
Very silly, and a really fun parody of lovecraft's writing and West's career. I do feel like it would be lacking for anyone that doesn't already have the context of familiarity with the original story and and least a passing knowledge of Ye's career and public perception. I cant imagine the centre of the Venn diagram of those two niche interests is particularly widespread, but then the commitment to a niche joke is part of what makes this enjoyable...
aoibhinnannwn's review
3.0
It is clever and funny, but who proofread this thing? One of the reanimated?
tentative_knots's review
5.0
A good fun read (especially for what I'm assuming is the somewhat rare-ish fan of both Lovecraft and Kanye).
rahthesungod's review
3.0
While I liked the ReAnimator movie I never read the original source material. As a reluctant Kanye stan who knows ReAnimator? This is one of the most fun experiences I've had with a book. I laughed out loud, I felt clever for getting references, I felt like some jokes were just for me.
This book was so fun and also painfully similar formally to Lovecraft's ReAnimator. What a treasure!
This book was so fun and also painfully similar formally to Lovecraft's ReAnimator. What a treasure!
thomaswjoyce's review
5.0
This had been on my TBR list for a while, thanks mainly to the intrigue of the synopsis and the amazing cover (illustrated by Dyer Wilk and designed by Matthew Revert, two of the very best in the business). But, having recently read Chaplinsky's debut short story collection, I knew I had to read it ASAP.
I'm as familiar with the writing of Lovecraft as I am with the music of Kanye West which, is to say, vague at best. I know many of the contemporary authors in the horror genre count Lovecraft as an influence but, given his style of writing and the language of the time, I could never get past the first few pages. However, with the aid of Chaplinsky's wonderful tone and tremendous ability, this was a much easier read than if I had simply read the original text.
Also, the use of Kanye West as the protagonist, while initially mind-boggling, makes perfect sense the longer I read. Thanks to rumour and his desire for privacy, he seems to have built a mystique around his life that only adds to his suitability as a character in such a bizarre story. Naturally (hopefully), the more extreme elements of the story are pure fiction (his smuggling of the dead and matricide), but much of the way he behaves throughout seems in keeping with his outrageous antics. But this melding of fact and fiction is not achieved by simply replacing Lovecraft's original protagonist's name with Kanye. Chaplinsky incorporates details of the contemporary hip hop scene with the original narrative to create something wholly new and wholly entertaining.
The bonus content is also a great addition to an already wonderful story. The foreword offers great insight into its creation, and the review of the musical adds more depth to the history of the Re-Animator story. But the original short story "Beyond The Wall of Sleep in Redhook, Brooklyn" is a real stand-out. I already knew Chaplinsky was a gifted short-story writer. This simply added further proof to the argument. If you enjoyed this book, go grab "Whispers in the Ear of a Dreaming Ape". It is full of marvellous stories in this vein.
I'm as familiar with the writing of Lovecraft as I am with the music of Kanye West which, is to say, vague at best. I know many of the contemporary authors in the horror genre count Lovecraft as an influence but, given his style of writing and the language of the time, I could never get past the first few pages. However, with the aid of Chaplinsky's wonderful tone and tremendous ability, this was a much easier read than if I had simply read the original text.
Also, the use of Kanye West as the protagonist, while initially mind-boggling, makes perfect sense the longer I read. Thanks to rumour and his desire for privacy, he seems to have built a mystique around his life that only adds to his suitability as a character in such a bizarre story. Naturally (hopefully), the more extreme elements of the story are pure fiction (his smuggling of the dead and matricide), but much of the way he behaves throughout seems in keeping with his outrageous antics. But this melding of fact and fiction is not achieved by simply replacing Lovecraft's original protagonist's name with Kanye. Chaplinsky incorporates details of the contemporary hip hop scene with the original narrative to create something wholly new and wholly entertaining.
The bonus content is also a great addition to an already wonderful story. The foreword offers great insight into its creation, and the review of the musical adds more depth to the history of the Re-Animator story. But the original short story "Beyond The Wall of Sleep in Redhook, Brooklyn" is a real stand-out. I already knew Chaplinsky was a gifted short-story writer. This simply added further proof to the argument. If you enjoyed this book, go grab "Whispers in the Ear of a Dreaming Ape". It is full of marvellous stories in this vein.
kaysal's review
2.0
As I've seen in other reviews, this was a great premise but not executed very well. It's perfect to be a short story, or novella, like Lovecraft often wrote, but the author spent more time recapping what had just happened rather than writing the actual story. It did at times become somewhat mean-spirited. I did love Paul McCartney's appearance, that was very funny.
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