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lezreadalot's review against another edition
2.0
Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.
My first adult experience with Lovecraft, and because I was prepared for all of his nonsense (read: racism) I didn't have as bad of a time with this as I could have. But I mean, I didn't have a great time either. I'm pretty sure I read some abridged versions of his stories when I was a teen, but none of these were familiar to me. There were only about six stories in this version of the collection, and they were all a version of the weird eldritch horror that I expected. I have to say, there were several times when a terrible thing happened or was seen, and all the narrator would say about it was that it was too horrible or gruesome to be spoken of or described? That kinda felt like a cop-out. Some interesting lines here and there, but otherwise the writing kinda bored me. The titular story did make me think a lot (mostly because I anticipate reading some queer horror based on it, not because of any merit of its own). The last line of "The Festival" was metal.
Listened to the audiobook as read by William Roberts, and it was actually pretty good. He went hard on those bits where he had to perform any sort of emotion. This isn't something that I would recommend, but I'm content to read it myself and get a taste of Lovecraft's oeuvre. I might have given this a 2.5, but the fucking cat is in one of these stories. You know the one.
ETA 19/11/2023: I also read "The Dunwich Horror", and since it's a short story that's included in most editions of this anthology (but wasn't included in this edition) I decided to just tack on my review here. And my review is... it basically reads like the rest of the stories. This one was more explicitly paranormal and otherworldly, and the concept of a fast-growing monster child eager to unleash his father onto the world is a cool one? I probably liked this one better than the others. But not enough to change my rating.
taxideadaisy's review against another edition
3.0
By what benign grace I clawed my slow, grimacing way through seemingly endless wastes of adjectives and repetition I may never know -- possibly the protective spectre of my younger self, a blithely voracious reader apparently immune to such trappings of the patriarchy...
At any rate the title story, placed last, was pretty good, but the Gothic horror flavour of the rest was tainted with incessant racism and a singular lack of good female characters (a few evil and/or stupid ones exist). Skinny single white professional males abound, with little or no interest in romance, etc.
I recommend this volume nonetheless because of the notes and commentary.
HPL does not stand up well to rereading... Remember your youthful Cthulhu forays with fondness, but return at your peril.
At any rate the title story, placed last, was pretty good, but the Gothic horror flavour of the rest was tainted with incessant racism and a singular lack of good female characters (a few evil and/or stupid ones exist). Skinny single white professional males abound, with little or no interest in romance, etc.
I recommend this volume nonetheless because of the notes and commentary.
HPL does not stand up well to rereading... Remember your youthful Cthulhu forays with fondness, but return at your peril.
fluffernutter's review against another edition
Gave up 2/3 of the way through Mountains of Madness--just get to the point, HP! Otherwise enjoyed the stories.
qalminator's review against another edition
2.0
Mostly wanted to read this because Emrys used it as a backdrop to part of Winter Tide. While it was interesting to see the body-swapping, this story could have been cut down by at least half and been the better for it. I wonder if it being one of Lovecraft's later works made it better or worse that way. On the one hand, you'd think he'd improve over time. On the other, if his name were becoming better known, he might have been able to shrug off editorial advisers.
I started reading expecting much more blatant sexism than I found. Yes, it's there, but not as bad as I was expecting. Also not much opportunity for racism (though he manages a few random asides of it).
I started reading expecting much more blatant sexism than I found. Yes, it's there, but not as bad as I was expecting. Also not much opportunity for racism (though he manages a few random asides of it).
allsmile's review against another edition
4.0
I looked this up after hearing it referenced on a great episode of Lore and I'm so glad I did. I vaguely know there's some controversy around HP Lovecraft, but this was really good.
kuyrez's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
docxy0's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nfleow's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0