lamesjayman 's review for:

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

5.0

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Lovecraft Country follows an African-American family in the 1950s through a series of horror-tinged adventures, where some of the horror stems from the family's fortuitous connection to a cult that seeks to unlock ancient knowledge of dark magic rituals, and other terrifying events are simply a result of being a black family in 1950's America. The story is told episodically, shifting perspectives from different family members, with each sequence playing off of a different classic horror trope (e.g. a Jekyll and Hyde-style formula, a creepy possessed doll, and, as suggested by the title, a Lovecraftian pursuit of elder gods). As someone who is hesitant about horror stories, I found this to be perfectly calibrated to my tastes--some scary and bad things happen, but it's never mean-spirited in the way that horror books/movies tend to strike me. For all the danger and fear inflicted on the protagonists, Lovecraft Country is fairly gentle with its characters. The ending was a bit abrupt and perhaps too neat, relying on a bit of a deus ex machina for the resolution, but then again, the story was full of both deus-es and machina-s, so it was not exactly inappropriate. A really enjoyable read.