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A review by jonathanelfving
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
3.0
Lovecraft Country was sort of a disappointment and a pleasant surprise at the same time.
The disappointment comes from the expectation that I thought I was going to get at Lovecraftian tale filled with cosmic horror and madness but told from a perspective Lovecraft himself could never even consider writing from. While there are some bits and pieces of the story scattered throughout that feel somewhat Lovecraftian what author Matt Ruff draws inspiration from seems to be more pulpy horror and Science-fiction written in the early 20th century in general, and not specifically Lovecraft. It is reminiscent of Stephen King's It in that way, both essentially being homages to the monsters and conventions the authors were inspired by. This isn't exactly a bad thing but I was hoping for something a bit scarier.
(spoiler alert) What surprised me was the anthology-like structure of the story, with each chapter being a short story told from the perspective of every member of the family the story is centered on. By doing this Ruff gets to jump through different sub-genres and explore every single character while still managing to have a throughline that never gets lost. This is the real triumph of the book, it manages to both be an anthology and a single story without feeling messy.
I might give the book a higher rating during a future reading, I liked the setting and the characters enough to want to stay around with them, and the story does have a powerful message that could have been either overtly preachy or down-right distasteful if handled badly, but Ruff keeps the tone of the supernatural elements fun and exiting while being respectful and serious about the historical aspects of segregation and racism in 1950's America and makes it all blend together in a unique story that feels both familiar and fresh.
The disappointment comes from the expectation that I thought I was going to get at Lovecraftian tale filled with cosmic horror and madness but told from a perspective Lovecraft himself could never even consider writing from. While there are some bits and pieces of the story scattered throughout that feel somewhat Lovecraftian what author Matt Ruff draws inspiration from seems to be more pulpy horror and Science-fiction written in the early 20th century in general, and not specifically Lovecraft. It is reminiscent of Stephen King's It in that way, both essentially being homages to the monsters and conventions the authors were inspired by. This isn't exactly a bad thing but I was hoping for something a bit scarier.
(spoiler alert) What surprised me was the anthology-like structure of the story, with each chapter being a short story told from the perspective of every member of the family the story is centered on. By doing this Ruff gets to jump through different sub-genres and explore every single character while still managing to have a throughline that never gets lost. This is the real triumph of the book, it manages to both be an anthology and a single story without feeling messy.
I might give the book a higher rating during a future reading, I liked the setting and the characters enough to want to stay around with them, and the story does have a powerful message that could have been either overtly preachy or down-right distasteful if handled badly, but Ruff keeps the tone of the supernatural elements fun and exiting while being respectful and serious about the historical aspects of segregation and racism in 1950's America and makes it all blend together in a unique story that feels both familiar and fresh.