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baybay11098 's review for:
H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction
by S.T. Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft
Okay, so I didn't actually read all of this. I skipped the last 70 pages because I do not care about the stories Lovecraft wrote in his early childhood, his unfinished drafts, or the essay that he wrote for a magazine. I care about his professional stories.
I do not think I've ever read something like this before. A complete works of a specific author. I am going through Shakespeare right now but I started Lovecraft first. On one hand, I read a lot of good stories that were not anything very memorable and most of them blend together right after reading them anyways. But on the other hand, I also read some truly fantastic stuff that showed one of the most popular and influential authors at the top of their craft.
I appreciate Lovecraft's ability to tell you exactly what something looks like or feels like without actually telling you anything explicit. However, reading all of his stories does make clear his limited vocabulary at times (although certainly wider than mine!) and his descriptions can also be quite long-winded. His prose is not very economical so rather than saying "one plus one equals two" he'll usually say, "one, the first number after zero, also the first positive number, the number that is not prime and the only man-made digit in the base-10 system divisible by itself to equal itself, added unto itself once over, equals the number after itself, also known as two, the first even number." I GET IT H.P. YOU LIKE WORDS. CHILL.
Lovecraft was also very very VERY racist. Like, at times the racism in some of these stories was so bad I was actually physically cringing. The story "The Street" is pretty much worthless because it offers no artistic value in addition to its extreme xenophobia.
However, I also think Lovecraft's prose was very readable, as in I was able to read it very fast, which is weird because I've seen people complain otherwise so I guess everyone's mileage may vary. And even when he goes on and on for forever, it usually doesn't ruin the pacing of the story. Whenever a story felt too long, it was a problem embedded into the story itself and not because of his diction.
So this was an interesting read for sure and I am happy it is over but I will miss reading about very messed up creatures, people, and even other worlds/dimensions. I like Lovecraft's own Cthulhu mythos and how some of the stories connect in interesting ways.
Most overrated story? "At the Mountains of Madness" - This one was way too long for almost nothing happening and nothing special about it.
Most underrated story? "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" - This one is very polarizing, but I loved it. The imagination displayed here is remarkable as the story itself is very little but the events and settings are a perfect blend of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. The imagery of some of the stuff in this story is still ingrained into my mind.
The best story? "The Dunwich Horror" - This one has it all. The imagery is vivid, the story is interesting and exciting, the pacing is spot-on, and it all leads up to the best climax Lovecraft ever wrote. This also may be the most truly scary story.
Other honorable mentions:
The Colour Out of Space
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Rats in the Walls
The Call of Cthulhu (mostly for its influence)
I do not think I've ever read something like this before. A complete works of a specific author. I am going through Shakespeare right now but I started Lovecraft first. On one hand, I read a lot of good stories that were not anything very memorable and most of them blend together right after reading them anyways. But on the other hand, I also read some truly fantastic stuff that showed one of the most popular and influential authors at the top of their craft.
I appreciate Lovecraft's ability to tell you exactly what something looks like or feels like without actually telling you anything explicit. However, reading all of his stories does make clear his limited vocabulary at times (although certainly wider than mine!) and his descriptions can also be quite long-winded. His prose is not very economical so rather than saying "one plus one equals two" he'll usually say, "one, the first number after zero, also the first positive number, the number that is not prime and the only man-made digit in the base-10 system divisible by itself to equal itself, added unto itself once over, equals the number after itself, also known as two, the first even number." I GET IT H.P. YOU LIKE WORDS. CHILL.
Lovecraft was also very very VERY racist. Like, at times the racism in some of these stories was so bad I was actually physically cringing. The story "The Street" is pretty much worthless because it offers no artistic value in addition to its extreme xenophobia.
However, I also think Lovecraft's prose was very readable, as in I was able to read it very fast, which is weird because I've seen people complain otherwise so I guess everyone's mileage may vary. And even when he goes on and on for forever, it usually doesn't ruin the pacing of the story. Whenever a story felt too long, it was a problem embedded into the story itself and not because of his diction.
So this was an interesting read for sure and I am happy it is over but I will miss reading about very messed up creatures, people, and even other worlds/dimensions. I like Lovecraft's own Cthulhu mythos and how some of the stories connect in interesting ways.
Most overrated story? "At the Mountains of Madness" - This one was way too long for almost nothing happening and nothing special about it.
Most underrated story? "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" - This one is very polarizing, but I loved it. The imagination displayed here is remarkable as the story itself is very little but the events and settings are a perfect blend of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. The imagery of some of the stuff in this story is still ingrained into my mind.
The best story? "The Dunwich Horror" - This one has it all. The imagery is vivid, the story is interesting and exciting, the pacing is spot-on, and it all leads up to the best climax Lovecraft ever wrote. This also may be the most truly scary story.
Other honorable mentions:
The Colour Out of Space
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Rats in the Walls
The Call of Cthulhu (mostly for its influence)