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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I happen to really like the interesting style that Lovecraft uses for his writing its eloquent but not too much to the point where its just flowery and not understandable.
I totally recommend this cult classic!
I don't know about you, but have you ever found yourself a reading a book simply because the other person was hot? That's the situation that I found myself in with H.P. Lovecraft. She gave me her pristine copy of this collection and I gave her my dog eared, cat-eaten copy of Leaves of Grass.
I came to Lovecraft in total ignorance and left still not knowing exactly what all the fuss was about. Sure the guy had a fertile imagination and a tendency for somewhat intricate plot lines ("The Call of Cthulhu" weaves through second hand reports, transcripts, and news paper clippings like the best of Borges) but I left feeling vaguely underwhelmed. At least when it comes to horror. Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" is scarier, I think, than most of the material presented here. At the risk of spoiling some of the developments, I will say that Lovecraft is at his best when setting a scene or ratcheting the tension. Still though I was never chilled or scared by any of his stories. (The attractive girl apparently got nightmares from "The Dunwich Horror" which I think is not in this collection)
However, Lovecraft's style is extremely heady. There is just so much description going and the effect is somewhat intoxicating. Here's an example: “West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight. On the gentle slopes there are farms, ancient and rocky, with squat, moss-coated cottages brooding eternally over old New England secrets in the lee of great ledges; but these are all vacant now, the wide chimneys crumbling and the shingled sides bulging perilously beneath low gambrel roofs.” (The Color Out of Space)
The hot stoner girl that convinced me to read Lovecraft never really read my copy of Leaves of Grass. Which is okay. I read almost all of Lovecraft simply because I was absorbed and I needed something to do in class besides pay attention.
For this reason I believe his work might have been the best of his time but now it seems lost on my desensitized mind. A shame really as the rest of the book is well written. it lacks character development but makes up with it in mythology. My other gripe was his overuse of astonishment. His characters across all stories didn't sell to me the horror of what they were experiencing. I feel like this took some steam out of it.
Overall a enjoyable book and I understand why it remains a classic.
