Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rocketmaam 's review for:
At the Mountains of Madness & Other Weird Tales
by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, H.P. Lovecraft
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.