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A review by zach_collins
Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft
3.0
Lovecraft had some great thoughts on humanity's fragile, transient existence and the sheer size and complexity of the cosmos. Instead of ghosts, witches and vampires, Lovecraft's tales include entities that defy comprehension. There is a certain brilliance to this line of thought; we all fear what we don't know, but that fear vanishes instant we can label and name the unknown other.
However, Lovecraft's stories themselves are fairly bland and formulaic. Most of the stories end with a main character (who is invariably a dry, academic, white male) witnessing some sort of monstorous, indescribable horror that instantly drives him insane. While the idea is unique, it is quickly bludgeoned to death through endless repetition. After a while, the stories begin to blur together as they all have roughly the same plot and the same dry narrative voice. Lovecraft also repeats the same words incessantly; the first time he describes something as "eldritch" was kind of cool, as I had never seen or heard that word used before, but after its tenth use in the same story I started to grimace every time I came across it.
With the exception of The Outsider and The Music of Eric Zahn, the stories in this collection are bloated with minute details that quickly kill both the pacing of the story and the interest of the reader. I skipped whole pages of the "short" story At the Mountains of Madness after realizing I really don't care about the differences between Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian rocks.
Lovecraft had some interesting ideas, but most of his stories are a bit underwhelming. Out of this collection, I consider The Outsider, The Music of Eric Zahn and The Shunned House worth reading; these three stories are original and engaging. The rest are boring, overwritten tales that overstay their welcome.
However, Lovecraft's stories themselves are fairly bland and formulaic. Most of the stories end with a main character (who is invariably a dry, academic, white male) witnessing some sort of monstorous, indescribable horror that instantly drives him insane. While the idea is unique, it is quickly bludgeoned to death through endless repetition. After a while, the stories begin to blur together as they all have roughly the same plot and the same dry narrative voice. Lovecraft also repeats the same words incessantly; the first time he describes something as "eldritch" was kind of cool, as I had never seen or heard that word used before, but after its tenth use in the same story I started to grimace every time I came across it.
With the exception of The Outsider and The Music of Eric Zahn, the stories in this collection are bloated with minute details that quickly kill both the pacing of the story and the interest of the reader. I skipped whole pages of the "short" story At the Mountains of Madness after realizing I really don't care about the differences between Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian rocks.
Lovecraft had some interesting ideas, but most of his stories are a bit underwhelming. Out of this collection, I consider The Outsider, The Music of Eric Zahn and The Shunned House worth reading; these three stories are original and engaging. The rest are boring, overwritten tales that overstay their welcome.