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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
From BBC Radio 4 Extra
HP Lovecraft's tale of terror read by Richard Coyle, set high in the Antarctic.
HP Lovecraft's tale of terror read by Richard Coyle, set high in the Antarctic.
This is one of, if not the best of Lovecraft's stories. At the Mountains of Madness explores deep time, alien life, extra dimensional entities, and the potential implications of a multiverse. All of what makes cosmic horror great has its roots here. Lovecraft deserves genuine praise for being one of the first to view these subjects through the lens of horror.
Unfortunately, that is where my praise ends. Though Lovecraft does a better job of organically building suspense and payoff, the story still suffers from needless repetition, a framing device that is constantly at odds with the story, and pages long descriptions of how basic non-decisions like choosing to "run from a scary monster" work.
I've seen reviews here that praise Lovecraft's prose. Lovecraft's prose is so clumsy and grandiloquent that I'm honestly surprised that any fluent English speaker enjoys it.
Unfortunately, that is where my praise ends. Though Lovecraft does a better job of organically building suspense and payoff, the story still suffers from needless repetition, a framing device that is constantly at odds with the story, and pages long descriptions of how basic non-decisions like choosing to "run from a scary monster" work.
I've seen reviews here that praise Lovecraft's prose. Lovecraft's prose is so clumsy and grandiloquent that I'm honestly surprised that any fluent English speaker enjoys it.
Boring. Masterful writing as always, but Jesus how many times do you need to describe the damn landscape and the horrific cyclopean city?!! Just when I thought it would get good and give me more details about the really intense scary stuff it would move on to more mountainous descriptions and never come back to the point. Least favorite story so far.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
I had a difficult relationship with this book. It took me ages to read it. It's only 320 pages longs. If I had set my mind to it I could have read it in a matter of days. Instead it took me months. When I put it down, I didn't really have a desire to pick it back up again. My issue wasn't with the writing. Lovecraft's writing is phenomenal. Perhaps the prose is a bit florid, but that wasn't my problem. It took me a while to figure it out, but I was finally able to put my finger on it. This book is overflowing with pretentious white boy nonsense. I understand Lovecraft was writing in the 20s and 30s. Which is why the rare fleshed out female character is desperate for the superior powers of a male brain. And all the vague racism in the form of "dark strangers" and "simpleminded black fellows." Just because it's a product of its time doesn't make it any less off-putting. Also, Lovecraft is so evidently full of himself. There is an entire story in here where his self-insert decides every aspect of life on earth is cheap and unfulfilling and the people who buy into, well, real life, are clearly shallow and idiotic. OK. That being said, when Lovecraft finally gets past all the exposition, and weird bigotry, and grating self-inserts, everything gets good and it gets good fast. The horror elements awesome. He was a pioneer of the genre after all. I can see myself having loved this book if I was reading it at a different period in my life. Perhaps before I got over my elitism and at the height of my depression, I would have thought Lovecraft was the bee's knees. The core ideas are enticing and enthralling. However, all the trimmings and trappings those ideas are wrapped up in are just as unsavory as some of the monstrous creatures Lovecraft describes. At least in my opinion. If you can plow past all the extravagant elements, then you'll probably really enjoy yourself.
What saves this book is a good writing style. The plot is simply unbelievable.
After coming to Antarctica, some scientists start drilling for mineral samples. At the fist place they try it, they find a cave, filled with lots of pre-historic stuff, which they date on sight (nice skill!). Than they find some strange life forms. They excavate 7(!) of them and decide to transport them to the ship. But on the way, the leader decides to perform an emergency dissection on one of them. He's really frustrated that the scalpels won't cut through the skin, but soon he gets it fixed. Than a storm comes, 4 of the creatures wake up and take revenge on the scientist and his favorite dog.
The book start by a scientist (main character) trying to persuade other scientists which want to verify his work, not to go, by spinning some really incredible story about 10km high mountain like structures in Antarctica, which he and his friend had visited on a plane (eh?). During few hours they were there, from alien wall paintings they read in detail the complete history (few millions of years at least) of alien race on the earth, including its habitats (under water and the favorite one in Antarctica). The place is higher than the top of mt Everest. And indeed he mentions that the altitude bothers them a bit. But not as much, as to prevent them from running all over the place. Ah, and because of the weather they flew on the plane with windows open (did I get this right?).
In general, what can be said about this book is this: good idea, bad implementation. I'm probably not going to finish this one
After coming to Antarctica, some scientists start drilling for mineral samples. At the fist place they try it, they find a cave, filled with lots of pre-historic stuff, which they date on sight (nice skill!). Than they find some strange life forms. They excavate 7(!) of them and decide to transport them to the ship. But on the way, the leader decides to perform an emergency dissection on one of them. He's really frustrated that the scalpels won't cut through the skin, but soon he gets it fixed. Than a storm comes, 4 of the creatures wake up and take revenge on the scientist and his favorite dog.
The book start by a scientist (main character) trying to persuade other scientists which want to verify his work, not to go, by spinning some really incredible story about 10km high mountain like structures in Antarctica, which he and his friend had visited on a plane (eh?). During few hours they were there, from alien wall paintings they read in detail the complete history (few millions of years at least) of alien race on the earth, including its habitats (under water and the favorite one in Antarctica). The place is higher than the top of mt Everest. And indeed he mentions that the altitude bothers them a bit. But not as much, as to prevent them from running all over the place. Ah, and because of the weather they flew on the plane with windows open (did I get this right?).
In general, what can be said about this book is this: good idea, bad implementation. I'm probably not going to finish this one
At the Mountains of Madness is an unusual Lovecraft work, it's a scientific adventure rather than a nameless horror opus, though there's still no dialogue in this work. I think Lovecraft deliberately keeps the central character's thoughts unvoiced to make one associate closer with that character. It also fits the nature of the story, a manuscript written by the nameless POV character at a later date.
And while there's still reams of purple prose horror, it's tempered with action on a periodic basis and it's not just the typical HPL character fainting type. After they accidentally wake up the ancient aliens and see the horrible mess that remains, they take action against them. Hell, even the penguins attack the damn monsters!
While the ending is ambiguous, everything's OK, FOR NOW, it's more upbeat than the typical HPL ending. Don't worry though, at least one of the expedition member's is left a gibbering mental case, in case you're missing your Lovecraft insanity fix.
Two years after this story was published, John Campbell wrote [b:Who Goes There?|6468870|Who Goes There?|John W. Campbell Jr.|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347690698l/6468870._SY75_.jpg|19210812], I wonder how much he was inspired by this story.
And while there's still reams of purple prose horror, it's tempered with action on a periodic basis and it's not just the typical HPL character fainting type. After they accidentally wake up the ancient aliens and see the horrible mess that remains, they take action against them. Hell, even the penguins attack the damn monsters!
While the ending is ambiguous, everything's OK, FOR NOW, it's more upbeat than the typical HPL ending. Don't worry though, at least one of the expedition member's is left a gibbering mental case, in case you're missing your Lovecraft insanity fix.
Two years after this story was published, John Campbell wrote [b:Who Goes There?|6468870|Who Goes There?|John W. Campbell Jr.|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347690698l/6468870._SY75_.jpg|19210812], I wonder how much he was inspired by this story.
Actually only read At the Mountains of Madness, not the Other Tales of Terror. Read on my Google phone.
As usual, Lovecraft is simultaneously fascinating and dead boring. How does he do that?!
As usual, Lovecraft is simultaneously fascinating and dead boring. How does he do that?!
If you wanted a list of sentences I thought I would never say, "I have just read something by H.P. Lovecraft" would be way up there. Like, way up there. I don't read horror, and I've had bad experiences, not with Lovecraft himself, but with Lovecraft-inspired roleplaying games. I had to swear off playing Call of Cthulhu years ago, to my husband's lasting chagrin, as I found that they were too upsetting and depressing for me to play any longer. Bill and I hashed it out for a long time, trying to isolate what exactly it was that put me so on edge to play Call of Cthulhu, and while I was satisfied with our explanation of the utter lack of agency I feel when I'm playing that game, I'm not sure that gets at all of it.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook