21 October 2017

Review: Lovecraft Country

Lovecraft Country Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Considering my love of all things Lovecraft, I knew I had to go for this eventually. The wrinkle is that the book is one of a few that have come out with Mythos-related content designed to “take on” or “confront” Lovecraft’s racist viewpoints. Without getting into that debate at all here, my concerns of that aspect being heavy-handed were not borne out, and the result is a solid Lovecraftian take that is truly different than a lot of the stories I’ve read.

Where it succeeds is taking the existing Lovecraft tropes and pasting them onto the traditional “old boys club” that many think of when they think of the more exclusionary, class-based segregated areas of the past. The setup makes for the execution and the madness to come in and the story quickly becomes more standard, but I truly enjoyed the effort and take.

If you’re looking for a real overt blasting of Lovecraft here, you might not find it. Taken on the basic surface of Lovecraftian escapism, though? This certainly deserves a spot on the modern shelf.

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