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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
3.75 out of 5
Though marred by Lovecraft's racist worldview, these stories are nonetheless highly entertaining and descriptively gothic pieces of cosmic horror.
Favourite stories: The Shadow Over Innsmouth / The Whisperer in Darkness / The Colour Out of Space / The Call of Cthulhu / Celephaïs / The Rats in the Walls
Least favourite story: The Late Arthur Jermyn & His Family
Though marred by Lovecraft's racist worldview, these stories are nonetheless highly entertaining and descriptively gothic pieces of cosmic horror.
Favourite stories: The Shadow Over Innsmouth / The Whisperer in Darkness / The Colour Out of Space / The Call of Cthulhu / Celephaïs / The Rats in the Walls
Least favourite story: The Late Arthur Jermyn & His Family
Although I enjoyed this collection, I wasn't blown away by it. I think reading so much Lovecraft in quick succession reveals how repetitive and formulaic many of his stories are.
The standard Lovecraft tale goes like this: "Have you heard about that crazy shit that happened in [New England town]? Well I was there. And I'll tell you, it's even crazier than you think. When I went there, at first I didn't think there was any crazy shit going on. And then I heard from this guy everyone thinks is crazy that crazy shit was going on. I was skeptical at first. But then I sort of kind of saw the eldritch/noisome/Cyclopean horror for myself, and although it was super-crazy, I can't describe it in too much detail because the very sight of it drove me insane. So here I am, pretty insane."
Although it was enjoyable to read the many variations on a theme, and I did particularly like a few of the tales ("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was my favorite), overall I was unimpressed with Lovecraft's storytelling abilities and particularly his writing style. I understand the outsized influence he's had on horror, and he had a lot of great ideas, but I don't find his stories nearly as entertaining as others apparently do.
The standard Lovecraft tale goes like this: "Have you heard about that crazy shit that happened in [New England town]? Well I was there. And I'll tell you, it's even crazier than you think. When I went there, at first I didn't think there was any crazy shit going on. And then I heard from this guy everyone thinks is crazy that crazy shit was going on. I was skeptical at first. But then I sort of kind of saw the eldritch/noisome/Cyclopean horror for myself, and although it was super-crazy, I can't describe it in too much detail because the very sight of it drove me insane. So here I am, pretty insane."
Although it was enjoyable to read the many variations on a theme, and I did particularly like a few of the tales ("The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" was my favorite), overall I was unimpressed with Lovecraft's storytelling abilities and particularly his writing style. I understand the outsized influence he's had on horror, and he had a lot of great ideas, but I don't find his stories nearly as entertaining as others apparently do.
found it difficult to read maybe I'll try again later
Okay technically I didn't finish this so I shouldn't rate and review, but it's been sitting on my "currently reading" for so long now. I decided to give one more story a chance before giving a 2 star review and I may yet try to get through the most famous few, out of remaining ones.
It's well known that lovecraft was a racist prick, but wow I didn't expect it to be so blatant and visible in the writing. It's bad even if you try to force on the flimsy "it was a different time" excuse.
Even looking past the racist shit at the rest of the writing, it's just not well written in my opinion. If you took a drink every time something was described as indescribable or a sentence lasted more than 35 words, you wouldn't make it through a single story.
I wanted to give 2 stars, because there's some good ideas and dark tones that inspired so many other things in popular culture. There are brief moments where you get a sense of what these stories could have been. Some specific stories within this might deserve 3 or even 4 stars, but they're the exception not the norm. Once you've read one story, you've got the gist of most of them. The average quality of the compilation as a whole just doesn't deserve shit.
This is a version with some explanatory notes. The notes are sometimes useful, clarifying names and places and details of lovecraft's life, but they offer no particular analysis beyond that and in a several page introduction about the life and impact of his work, you'd think they'd have had the space to mention the bad side of him too.
It's well known that lovecraft was a racist prick, but wow I didn't expect it to be so blatant and visible in the writing. It's bad even if you try to force on the flimsy "it was a different time" excuse.
Even looking past the racist shit at the rest of the writing, it's just not well written in my opinion. If you took a drink every time something was described as indescribable or a sentence lasted more than 35 words, you wouldn't make it through a single story.
I wanted to give 2 stars, because there's some good ideas and dark tones that inspired so many other things in popular culture. There are brief moments where you get a sense of what these stories could have been. Some specific stories within this might deserve 3 or even 4 stars, but they're the exception not the norm. Once you've read one story, you've got the gist of most of them. The average quality of the compilation as a whole just doesn't deserve shit.
This is a version with some explanatory notes. The notes are sometimes useful, clarifying names and places and details of lovecraft's life, but they offer no particular analysis beyond that and in a several page introduction about the life and impact of his work, you'd think they'd have had the space to mention the bad side of him too.
A fun horror read, yes, please!
I remember reading the call of Cthulhu and being like: what the hell is this, and is there more?
This is classic horror tales that still keep you on the edge of your seat, watch out guys I am about to go through all Lovecraft's books
I remember reading the call of Cthulhu and being like: what the hell is this, and is there more?
This is classic horror tales that still keep you on the edge of your seat, watch out guys I am about to go through all Lovecraft's books
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia
3.5. Horror clearly based in xenophobia and racism- and repetitive because of that. I just can't deny that it was a page-turner with wonderfully haunting settings.
Officially DNF but read enough of the short stories to count it - it started pretty promisingly but it is DRY. Feels like the guy had one or maybe two ideas and just used them over and over.