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A review by n8hanson
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
3.0
Pros:
- The protagonists in this Lovecraftian horror are finally somebody besides upper-class, xenophobic, white male academics. The author even attempts to write working-class black women with agency.
- The horrors of racism in 1950s America ground the story in the full reality of the era.
Cons:
- The dialogue is occasionally stilted and often full of monologue-esque info dumps. On multiple occasions, one character will spend several pages unloading a lengthy backstory with zero back-and-forth with their counterpart.
- The attempts at cosmic horror largely fall flat in flavorless prose. The true horror comes from the racists abusing their power.
- The characters, with one exception, are largely as unfazed by their trauma as the reader. They soldier on with pluck and vigor, apparently unshaken by their encounters with things-man-was-not-meant-to-know.
- The protagonists in this Lovecraftian horror are finally somebody besides upper-class, xenophobic, white male academics. The author even attempts to write working-class black women with agency.
- The horrors of racism in 1950s America ground the story in the full reality of the era.
Cons:
- The dialogue is occasionally stilted and often full of monologue-esque info dumps. On multiple occasions, one character will spend several pages unloading a lengthy backstory with zero back-and-forth with their counterpart.
- The attempts at cosmic horror largely fall flat in flavorless prose. The true horror comes from the racists abusing their power.
- The characters, with one exception, are largely as unfazed by their trauma as the reader. They soldier on with pluck and vigor, apparently unshaken by their encounters with things-man-was-not-meant-to-know.