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readerforever's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Lovecraft is racist and it shows in his work. He’s imaginative and can write ornately which makes his racism especially dangerous. While I can appreciate cosmic horror, the fact that his is inspired by fear of his fellow human beings doesn’t sit well with me. I however love the work recently that takes Lovecraft and turns his work on its head like NK Jemisin’s great city duology and Lovecraft country.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
ed_moore's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
The Call of Cthulhu: 1.75 Stars
For an iconic horror story that has inspired so much, and the most famous work of the man who coined the term ‘Lovecraftian’, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ was extremely lacking. The narrative perspective was perhaps the greatest flaw, this being in the first person view of Thurston, however all the “action” happens only through him reading his great uncle Angell’s manuscripts and hearing recounts, in some cases recounts of recounts and then main terrifying plot element occurred within a dream of a character who is interviewed within the manuscript, placing the reader about 3 people away from any engaging events and hence nullifying any response or connection to the story. It all reads like a bland recount, and opens with an overly dramatic, almost non-fiction in tone analysis of the idea of occult which also removed any believability from the story. There is so much without explanation, the figure of ‘Cthulhu’ is very limited in appearance and not a major threat (though the cult of Cthulhu seem to be framed as the main antagonists, even still they have little fear factor and are easily subdued), and the present plot line was extremely mundane. The writing was entirely uninspiring and not to mention Lovecraft makes many racist remarks and insinuations which do absolutely nothing to help his case, just making an already weak story extremely problematic. The most unsettled I was reading this was when random classical music blurted out between chapters in my audiobook which caught me completely off guard, which is zero credit to Lovecraft’s writing.
The Dulwich Horror: 1.25 Stars
The Dulwich Horror tells of Wilbur Whateley, a boy who ages at an abnormal rate who is harbouring and summoning an entity to terrorise the town of Dulwich. This was written so poorly, it was difficult to follow, unbelievably mundane, the horror wasn’t at all threatening and the characters depicted as ‘outsiders’ and hence played the roles of the worshippers of the satanic were so heavily racialised and written in such an offensive manner. The story was so mundane and the ending came to such a swift conclusion with far too much ease in comparison to the threat that Lovecraft created.
Dagon: 2.75 Stars
This was the shortest of the three stories in the collection by a significant margin and largely benefitted from such, there was no room for Lovecraft to make a threatening entity seem extremely mundane, allowed for more individual imagination by the reader, and had little space to weave in any racist remarks. Dagon is the encounter of the speaker with a huge fish entity, that encapsulates the idea of the Lovercraftain megalophobia far better than ‘Call of Cthulhu’, ultimately Dagon is a suicide note, this encounter driving the speaker into madness, and therefore the story has enough mystery but unlike the other two resolves in at least some manner. That being said, it was still noting remarkable.
My total rating of Lovecraft’s stories is an average of each individual review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Racism and Gore
keltaklo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Suicide
Moderate: Cannibalism
blubel's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
romi98's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism
readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, and Antisemitism
jigwam82's review
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
The thing about reading Lovecraft is that he was really in need of a good editor. Some of his prose is stunning and the ideas are astonishing, but sometimes his prose is too dense or repetitive. So a mixture of glorious and terrible. He was a hideous racist even for the time period, it's disgusting. But it's important to not erase writing like this lest we deify writers who had unconscionable opinions without knowing that was the case.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, War, Gore, and Violence
oddityoverseer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I really wanted to like this. I love the idea of cosmic horror... Unknowably large and mysterious beings that could crush us out of existence with barely a thought... That idea is terrifying!
Unfortunately, the writing style was hard for me to follow. There were many words I had to look up, and many phrasings that had me rereading sentences or even paragraphs to follow what happened. Hell, in the climax of the namesake story in this book, I MISSED a crucial part, because it was described so strangely. I only realized later when I read a review online!
That said, I know this is classic writing, and I know it inspired many later horror writers, so I have to give some credit there.
THAT said, I also learned Lovecraft was a very racist person, and it showed through in some of the stories.
I did not read all the stories here. I recommend not starting at the first one, but instead doing research about which ones people liked. Out of those I read, I'd say Rats In The Walls was probably my favorite.
Unfortunately, the writing style was hard for me to follow. There were many words I had to look up, and many phrasings that had me rereading sentences or even paragraphs to follow what happened. Hell, in the climax of the namesake story in this book, I MISSED a crucial part, because it was described so strangely. I only realized later when I read a review online!
That said, I know this is classic writing, and I know it inspired many later horror writers, so I have to give some credit there.
THAT said, I also learned Lovecraft was a very racist person, and it showed through in some of the stories.
I did not read all the stories here. I recommend not starting at the first one, but instead doing research about which ones people liked. Out of those I read, I'd say Rats In The Walls was probably my favorite.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
briereader's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
My first time reading any of Lovecraft's work, and I wasn't really impressed. Even beyond the blatant xenophobia that pervades his work, I simply didn't find the horrors he described quite that horrifying. I don't think time treated the wok kindly (once more, even beyond the BLATANT and PERVASIVE xenophobia)--the once titillating and unimaginable horrors are honestly well within my understanding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Xenophobia, Violence, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Suicide