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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
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:
No
Racist and misogynistic but also dead so I felt alright reading his stuff since he can't personally profit from it. I ate it up. The writing: 4/5 for me (I rarely give ones and fives. It's a four for me due to repeating gimmicks and themes throughout his writing). The man: 0/5 for me.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this collection of stories. It's fascinating to see the development of Lovecraft as a writer and how he helped establish the modern version of horror genre.
There are some really great stories dealing with fear of the unknown and of insignificance in a grand scheme of things.
However there are also stories that just don't do it for me as it to be expected with any short story collection.
And there are parts that certainly show the age of the text and the place it came from, which is interesting in helping to decipher the other often written as cosmically dangerous.
Personal favourite story here was Herbert West: Reanimator
Least Favourite was Rats in the walls
However there are also stories that just don't do it for me as it to be expected with any short story collection.
And there are parts that certainly show the age of the text and the place it came from, which is interesting in helping to decipher the other often written as cosmically dangerous.
Personal favourite story here was Herbert West: Reanimator
Least Favourite was Rats in the walls
I love the creeps, gore and the all-around horror in books. I watch American Horror Story religiously, I live by the code of The Slayers that Joss Whedon laid out for us in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I research serial killers and studies of their psychological states and look forward to the month of October all year round. So as someone who would rather watch a scary movie or go through a museum filled to the tip of mass murder and corruption than go on some overly-dramatic, romantic date filled with dozens of roses and walks in the park, why doesn’t Lovecraft and King’s story telling agree with me?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the theatrical adaptions of King so I am assuming that I would love them of H.P. Lovecraft as well, no matter how ironic his last name is. But I can’t seem to stop getting distracted while reading books written by the two dominate horror-writers. Whether it be a pretty butterfly fluttering a foot away or my mind wondering to the never-ending list of books I want and need to read.
I just don’t feel like a story actually happened. I feel like an old man sat down and told me this horrible thing that he saw once or read about in a documentation his uncle left him, but not the how, the when, the where or the why. Just the what.
I feel like a tentacle face is only scary with the story surrounding him. Without that, I am just imagining Davy Jones and Captain Jack Sparrow and then I crave a marathon of Pirates of the Caribbean.
---
October reads of horror!
Don’t get me wrong, I love the theatrical adaptions of King so I am assuming that I would love them of H.P. Lovecraft as well, no matter how ironic his last name is. But I can’t seem to stop getting distracted while reading books written by the two dominate horror-writers. Whether it be a pretty butterfly fluttering a foot away or my mind wondering to the never-ending list of books I want and need to read.
I just don’t feel like a story actually happened. I feel like an old man sat down and told me this horrible thing that he saw once or read about in a documentation his uncle left him, but not the how, the when, the where or the why. Just the what.
I feel like a tentacle face is only scary with the story surrounding him. Without that, I am just imagining Davy Jones and Captain Jack Sparrow and then I crave a marathon of Pirates of the Caribbean.
---
October reads of horror!
October spooky read #10!
Yup, the good old classic. And like most classics, it has quite a few flaws, mercifully balanced with enough imagination and silliness that one can still enjoy these short stories despite some truly off-putting elements.
I would lie if I pretended this book was easy to review, or to recommend. People usually either love or hate Lovecraft – I can see why, and his work is definitely not for everyone. If you can’t laugh at affected, excessively florid prose, don’t even bother. If you like the idea of sentient oozing green goo, step right up! But seriously: his thing was the ineffable, so you need to use your own imagination to make his stories creepy. All he will do is hint at what could possibly be lurking in shadows, or what those cultists might be summoning, and the rest is up to you. Most of his mysterious stories remain unsolved, and that can both frustrating and very creepy, but people who need their horror spelled out for them will not get into it. This is for those of us who love ideas like books with a mind of their own, geographies that will dive a man mad, strange not-quite-humanoid creatures, secret forgotten cults worshiping strange and ancient gods.
Also, given his incredible influence over horror, weird, fantasy, science-fiction and pop culture (see “In The Mountains of Madness” https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1912341592?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1), this little collection is a must-read if only because it is so seminal. You don’t have to like the guy, but knowing what inspired the greatest minds of genre literature and cinema is very interesting (at least, to nerds like me). It can definitely be a challenging read, both because of the style, repetition of a few tropes, and of course, the occasional unsavory descriptions. But when they are good, Lovecraft’s stories are truly wonderful, atmospheric and spooky. He created a world of dark menace, filled with truly alien entities whose motivations the human mind simply cannot grasp, and that world has spread like a virus into the mind of so many other writers and artists…
This collection, edited by S.T. Joshi, is the perfect place to start for Lovecraft newbies. Joshi carefully selected stories that are loosely connected to each other, provided a great introduction that will inform the reader about Lovecraft’s theories on writing and on horror, and includes notes about each story. But on the first read, my advice is to ignore the academic analysis and just dive in. Have a cocktail and read it aloud to yourself (or to a willing friend), as theatrically as you can.
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" remains a weird stand out for me, as does the title story (obviously), but I also really love "The Whisperer in Darkness" (adapted into a fantastic movie by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society in 2011) and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". While this tome includes a few weaker stories, they all introduce important items over the Lovecratian Universe, like the town of Arkham, Massachusetts and it's infamous Miskatonic University, the Necronomicon is mentioned in several tales - and obviously, the Old Ones and their eon old cult, which can be found in isolated areas all over the globe. First-time readers and novices should definitely start here.
A flawed must-read, if only to satisfy your intellectual curiosity about what this whole Cthulhu business is about. I agree that other writers built on his groundwork and wrote better-written and more interesting stories, but the twisted root of one of my favorite genres is well worth the detour. 4 and a half stars.
Yup, the good old classic. And like most classics, it has quite a few flaws, mercifully balanced with enough imagination and silliness that one can still enjoy these short stories despite some truly off-putting elements.
I would lie if I pretended this book was easy to review, or to recommend. People usually either love or hate Lovecraft – I can see why, and his work is definitely not for everyone. If you can’t laugh at affected, excessively florid prose, don’t even bother. If you like the idea of sentient oozing green goo, step right up! But seriously: his thing was the ineffable, so you need to use your own imagination to make his stories creepy. All he will do is hint at what could possibly be lurking in shadows, or what those cultists might be summoning, and the rest is up to you. Most of his mysterious stories remain unsolved, and that can both frustrating and very creepy, but people who need their horror spelled out for them will not get into it. This is for those of us who love ideas like books with a mind of their own, geographies that will dive a man mad, strange not-quite-humanoid creatures, secret forgotten cults worshiping strange and ancient gods.
Also, given his incredible influence over horror, weird, fantasy, science-fiction and pop culture (see “In The Mountains of Madness” https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1912341592?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1), this little collection is a must-read if only because it is so seminal. You don’t have to like the guy, but knowing what inspired the greatest minds of genre literature and cinema is very interesting (at least, to nerds like me). It can definitely be a challenging read, both because of the style, repetition of a few tropes, and of course, the occasional unsavory descriptions. But when they are good, Lovecraft’s stories are truly wonderful, atmospheric and spooky. He created a world of dark menace, filled with truly alien entities whose motivations the human mind simply cannot grasp, and that world has spread like a virus into the mind of so many other writers and artists…
This collection, edited by S.T. Joshi, is the perfect place to start for Lovecraft newbies. Joshi carefully selected stories that are loosely connected to each other, provided a great introduction that will inform the reader about Lovecraft’s theories on writing and on horror, and includes notes about each story. But on the first read, my advice is to ignore the academic analysis and just dive in. Have a cocktail and read it aloud to yourself (or to a willing friend), as theatrically as you can.
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" remains a weird stand out for me, as does the title story (obviously), but I also really love "The Whisperer in Darkness" (adapted into a fantastic movie by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society in 2011) and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". While this tome includes a few weaker stories, they all introduce important items over the Lovecratian Universe, like the town of Arkham, Massachusetts and it's infamous Miskatonic University, the Necronomicon is mentioned in several tales - and obviously, the Old Ones and their eon old cult, which can be found in isolated areas all over the globe. First-time readers and novices should definitely start here.
A flawed must-read, if only to satisfy your intellectual curiosity about what this whole Cthulhu business is about. I agree that other writers built on his groundwork and wrote better-written and more interesting stories, but the twisted root of one of my favorite genres is well worth the detour. 4 and a half stars.
If I had reviewed this book when I had first read it, I wouldn't have hesitated giving it 5 stars. HP Lovecraft is a master. But in 2016, I find the worldview of his times more than a bit jarring. It's a white man's world in his speculative fiction. There is much to be admired and emulated in his work. I hope future writers can leave the misogyny and racism behind when they do.
“I have looked upon all the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me.”