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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed The New Annotated Lovecraft collection by Klinger a few years ago but rereading many of those stories here has left me feeling that maybe I'm done with HPL for now. I'll read the other Penguin collections eventually but for now there's too many other voices in horror I want to read. HPL's ideas of weird, cosmic horror still resonate but the writing itself doesn't do it for me, at least this time.
dark
tense
4-5 fantastic short stories overcrowded by 12 that basically suck ass.
This review is solely on 'The Call of Cthulu', the only story I've read in the collection so far.
When I saw the South Park Coon and Friends trilogy last year, which heavily featured Cthulu, I knew it was time for me to read the source material behind this cultural phenomenon. I was first shocked that H.P. Lovecraft's masterwork, which has made him such a legend, was so short. And considering it was from 1928, it didn't seem very dated, which was also a surprise.
The story is presented as a manuscript of a man who discovered his granduncle George Gammell Angell's notes. The first part of the story is the notes Angell has collected on an artist, Henry Anthony Wilcox, and the second part the notes on a police inspector, John Raymond Legrasse -- both of which had strange, though unrelated, experiences relating to Cthulu. The third part is the narrator's travels to try to better understand Angell's research, taking him around the world to a Norwegian sailor, Gustaf Johansen, for closure.
Due to this fragmented storytelling technique, it was a little harder to follow than a straightforward, linear story, but this did not detract from my interest or the tale's suspense.
When I saw the South Park Coon and Friends trilogy last year, which heavily featured Cthulu, I knew it was time for me to read the source material behind this cultural phenomenon. I was first shocked that H.P. Lovecraft's masterwork, which has made him such a legend, was so short. And considering it was from 1928, it didn't seem very dated, which was also a surprise.
The story is presented as a manuscript of a man who discovered his granduncle George Gammell Angell's notes. The first part of the story is the notes Angell has collected on an artist, Henry Anthony Wilcox, and the second part the notes on a police inspector, John Raymond Legrasse -- both of which had strange, though unrelated, experiences relating to Cthulu. The third part is the narrator's travels to try to better understand Angell's research, taking him around the world to a Norwegian sailor, Gustaf Johansen, for closure.
Due to this fragmented storytelling technique, it was a little harder to follow than a straightforward, linear story, but this did not detract from my interest or the tale's suspense.
Świetny klimat, ale nie spodziewałam się, że będzie takie krótkie
Most of the stories in this book read to me like slightly altered drafts of one another. After a while, I became bored and it was difficult to finish the rest of them.
That said, The Rats in the Walls and The Colour Out of Space legitimately frightened me when I was reading at home late at night. I'd recommend the book since Lovecraft has had such a significant influence on modern horror writing, but you definitely do not need to read all of the stories to get the gist.
That said, The Rats in the Walls and The Colour Out of Space legitimately frightened me when I was reading at home late at night. I'd recommend the book since Lovecraft has had such a significant influence on modern horror writing, but you definitely do not need to read all of the stories to get the gist.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
adventurous
dark
mysterious
as a big old timey horror fan, I can appreciate the new things Lovecraft brought to the table. and they're great. the prose-poetry writing is beautiful, the stories are scary and the backstories of the monsters are amazing.
but it's 2016 and I can't ignore the racism... and it's too much and literally towards everyone that isn't white... I couldn't tune that out.
so, as much as I loved some of the spooky stuff, I can't really appreciate them as much as I want to
full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/book-review-120-the-call-of-cthulhu-and-other-weird-stories-by-h-p-lovecraf/
but it's 2016 and I can't ignore the racism... and it's too much and literally towards everyone that isn't white... I couldn't tune that out.
so, as much as I loved some of the spooky stuff, I can't really appreciate them as much as I want to
full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/book-review-120-the-call-of-cthulhu-and-other-weird-stories-by-h-p-lovecraf/