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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
An excellent Lovecraft story that colors in the universe in some important ways.
dark
medium-paced
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:
No
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The shadow over Innsmouth - didn't like it at all. Lots of telling with very little showing, I expected the chase scene to have some kind of tension after what happened in the hotel but the dozen of street names and detailed directions took me out of it and bore me out of my mind. The last stretch of the story was a nice twist but the rest really made me wonder if I'd ever finish the entire book
The Dreams in the Witch-House - my favorite and BY FAR. After the chore that was TSOI, this felt refreshing and actually horrific & tense! Everything was building up as the story progressed, at no point did I feel like I was being let down by the pace of it all and I liked having a little closure of what happened to the house after everything that happened there (as well as what was in that damn attic, even if its content was to be expected)
The Haunter of the Dark, Cool Air, & The Unnamable - I could not, for the life of me, get into it. Boring is the only word that comes to mind.
The Thing on the Doorstep - I am SO GLAD this was the last story of the book, yes because it was the end of it but also because it was actually good. Might have a thing for stories about people not in control of their bodies, since that's the only two stories I liked in this book
Conclusion, Lovecraft is definitely not for me, whether it's his style that I find pretty stale & boring as well as his terrible pacing, or the overwhelming notion that when someone isn't white, then their existence & culture is inherently disgusting/horrific. A lot of his stories and what he presents as horrible comes from those other cultures he describes as uncivilized and it seems Lovecraft expects the reader to agree with him to see how truly horrific his world is. Which I personally don't.
(product of his time and blablabla, the guy was considered too racist by the racists of his own time, so that's saying something)
The Dreams in the Witch-House - my favorite and BY FAR. After the chore that was TSOI, this felt refreshing and actually horrific & tense! Everything was building up as the story progressed, at no point did I feel like I was being let down by the pace of it all and I liked having a little closure of what happened to the house after everything that happened there (as well as what was in that damn attic, even if its content was to be expected)
The Haunter of the Dark, Cool Air, & The Unnamable - I could not, for the life of me, get into it. Boring is the only word that comes to mind.
The Thing on the Doorstep - I am SO GLAD this was the last story of the book, yes because it was the end of it but also because it was actually good. Might have a thing for stories about people not in control of their bodies, since that's the only two stories I liked in this book
Conclusion, Lovecraft is definitely not for me, whether it's his style that I find pretty stale & boring as well as his terrible pacing, or the overwhelming notion that when someone isn't white, then their existence & culture is inherently disgusting/horrific. A lot of his stories and what he presents as horrible comes from those other cultures he describes as uncivilized and it seems Lovecraft expects the reader to agree with him to see how truly horrific his world is. Which I personally don't.
(product of his time and blablabla, the guy was considered too racist by the racists of his own time, so that's saying something)
Great reading of the HP Lovecraft story. I like Mike Bennett's podcast stuff.
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
WARNING: Lovecraft’s pretty racist and elitist and any other ist you can think of, but we’ll forgive him that and call him a product of his time. If you can’t do that, then you may want to give his works a pass.
For whatever reason, some of the most famous authors of the Victorian/Edwardian era had a thing for telling instead of showing. Their stories have lots of action, but large chunks of it take place off-screen and we’re stuck hearing about it as someone tells the narrator what happened.
Such is the case here.
A good fourth of the story is dedicated to background information and it’s given to us in one of the longest monologues that I’ve ever read. To make it even more fun, this 5000+ word piece of exposition is written in accent. What accent, I’m really not sure, but it was not easy going.
I rarely enjoy reading strong accents. They’re fine when spoken aloud, but when authors write them down phonetically, they can quickly become a chore to understand. This probably has something to do with my mild dyslexia, but who knows. What I do know is that having to read stuff like this: “Wal, even ef I hain’t told nobody nothin’ yet, I’m a-goin’ to naow!” for pages on end will never fail to lower my enjoyment of a tale.
In the end, I turned to a narrated version of the story since it’s public domain and readily available on sites like youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOwsGc2IoTY). Cue instant increase in enjoyment.
Lovecraft is considered a classic author for a reason. His eerie prose defined the genre and he deserves no small praise for that. It’s also clear that he had a vivid imagination because the plot’s not bad. It just could have used some editing to make the telling a bit more engaging.
So, while this isn’t going on my favorite’s list any time soon, I would still tell you to give it a chance if you’re curious about the origins of the Cthulhu mythos. It’s creepy enough to keep you intrigued, but not horrific enough to give you nightmares.
For whatever reason, some of the most famous authors of the Victorian/Edwardian era had a thing for telling instead of showing. Their stories have lots of action, but large chunks of it take place off-screen and we’re stuck hearing about it as someone tells the narrator what happened.
Such is the case here.
A good fourth of the story is dedicated to background information and it’s given to us in one of the longest monologues that I’ve ever read. To make it even more fun, this 5000+ word piece of exposition is written in accent. What accent, I’m really not sure, but it was not easy going.
I rarely enjoy reading strong accents. They’re fine when spoken aloud, but when authors write them down phonetically, they can quickly become a chore to understand. This probably has something to do with my mild dyslexia, but who knows. What I do know is that having to read stuff like this: “Wal, even ef I hain’t told nobody nothin’ yet, I’m a-goin’ to naow!” for pages on end will never fail to lower my enjoyment of a tale.
In the end, I turned to a narrated version of the story since it’s public domain and readily available on sites like youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOwsGc2IoTY). Cue instant increase in enjoyment.
Lovecraft is considered a classic author for a reason. His eerie prose defined the genre and he deserves no small praise for that. It’s also clear that he had a vivid imagination because the plot’s not bad. It just could have used some editing to make the telling a bit more engaging.
So, while this isn’t going on my favorite’s list any time soon, I would still tell you to give it a chance if you’re curious about the origins of the Cthulhu mythos. It’s creepy enough to keep you intrigued, but not horrific enough to give you nightmares.