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Lovecraft Country

Matt Ruff (Goodreads Author)

4.06 · Rating details · 17,029 ratings · 2,335 reviews

The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy

Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, twenty-two year old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road tri ...more

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Kindle Edition, 387 pages

Published February 16th 2016 by Harper

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Mar 05, 2016 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic, horror

”The sphere suddenly burst open like an orange turning inside out, dark rind splitting to reveal a wriggling white pulp. Dozens of pale tentacles shot out, wrapping around the man’s limbs, torso, neck, and head, and yanking him forward to be swallowed whole before he could cry out.”

There you are, Mr. Lovecraft.

I see you trying to slide out of the frame.

Okay, I picked this book up expecting the pages to be brimming with all those fascinating creatures that came from the demented mind of H. P ...more

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Feb 10, 2016 Dan Schwent rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Dan by: Kdawg91

Shelves: 2016-books, pants-shittingly-awesome, 2016, lovecraftian

Lovecraft Country is a collection of inter-connected stories about an extended African American family in the mid to late 1940's and their encounters with things not of this world, notably sorcerers, a gateway to another world, and a haunted house.

Holy. Shit. Lovecraft Country is an early front-runner for the best book I've read in 2016. Here's how it all went down.

Lovecraft Country is the story of the Green/Turner family, an African American family trying to make ends meet in the Jim Crow era. ...more

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May 01, 2017 Sr3yas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hall-of-fame-2017

❝ From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.❞
-------- H. P. Lovecraft-------

Do you know what the irony here is?

Despite the supernatural elements like black magic, haunted houses, mysterious coven and nameless realms which populate this tale, the real horrors that haunt these pages are the injustices of Jim Crow era; The blind racism which raged through Uncle Sam like a wildfire consuming lives, proving once again that It's not the ghosts you need to fear, but the man himself. ...more

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Apr 21, 2018 Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: weird-fiction, 21st-c-amer, fiction

This is a difficult book for me to review. I think I love it in spite of itself. Or maybe I love it in spite of stuffy old me.

You see, if I filled out a checklist of what I like in a novel, Lovecraft Country wouldn’t get many checks. The prose itself isn’t much (no spare elegance, no stylistic flourishes); the characters, though amiable, lack depth and definition; the plot is rambling, episodic, and not all that interesting in itself; and, although it’s got the name Lovecraft in the title, the s
This is a difficult book for me to review. I think I love it in spite of itself. Or maybe I love it in spite of stuffy old me.

You see, if I filled out a checklist of what I like in a novel, Lovecraft Country wouldn’t get many checks. The prose itself isn’t much (no spare elegance, no stylistic flourishes); the characters, though amiable, lack depth and definition; the plot is rambling, episodic, and not all that interesting in itself; and, although it’s got the name Lovecraft in the title, the supernatural element of the book isn’t really scary at all.

So don’t read it, right? Wrong!

Lovecraft Country is the story of Atticus Turner and his family, a bunch of bookish, nerdy African Americans—including one would-be comic book artist/writer, one would-be astronomer, one science fiction fan, and one publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—who live in Chicago in the 1950’s. In the course of a road trip to find missing father Montrose, the Turners experience all the challenges of a racist America (Jim Crow, “sunset towns,” vicious local sheriffs, etc.) only to discover along the way that they have a sinister connection to the Braithwhites, a family of white wizards—not Klu Klux Klan wizards, the devil-summoning kind—residing in an obscure part of Massachusetts. It seems the Braithwhites have plans for Atticus and his family,and they are very evil plans indeed.

Ruff writes a fast moving, energetic prose which catches and keeps your attention, and fills his book with varied incidents and frequent changes of scenery. His characters, although not deep, are extremely likable, and he makes us care about their fates. Although the book’s occult elements aren’t terrifying—not even very suspenseful—the descriptions of racist America in all its ‘50’s glory are horrific. Ruff has done his historical research well, and he presents us with an America filled with obstacles and fraught with danger for every person of color.

The real miracle of the book, though, is that Ruff manages to accomplish all this with both lightness and reverence, fashioning an adventure saga about Black Americans confronting a racist world without a hint of liberal tentativeness or lofty condescension. Lovecraft Country is a work of cultural appreciation, not appropriation, and is also an excellent adventure novel too.

There’s a great moment near the end of Lovecraft Country when the wizard Braithwhite tries to threaten the Turners, and the entire clan roars at him with laughter.

”What?” Braithwhite shouted, looking at them as if they were crazy. “What’s so funny?” But for a long while they were laughing too hard to answer.

“Oh, Mr. Braithwhite,” Atticus said finally, wiping tears from his eyes. “What is it you’re trying to scare me with? You think I don’t know what country I live in? I know. We all do. We always have. You’re the one who doesn’t understand.”

...more

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Jul 05, 2016 Bradley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cthulhu-goes-ph-nglui-mglw-nafh-ct, fantasy, 2016-shelf, horror, 2020-shelf

Re-read, 7/22/20:

I'm going to go ahead and give it another star. It's really holding its own for me and enjoyed it, even more, the second time. Ah, the Great White hope, indeed.

F*** this S***.

:)

Suffice to say, the '50s racism, if it was even half as bad as it is portrayed here, still seems rather freaking familiar as the kind we have today. Without the riots OR the solidarity, of course.

Original review:

There are two ways that I enjoyed this novel.

The first was the racism angle and the happy endi ...more

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Jun 12, 2017 Larry H rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm between 2.5 and 3 stars, but I rounded up because I'm a Matt Ruff fan from way back.

Yeah, Tina, that's how I felt after reading this book. This was one crazy, creative, confusing ride!!

In 1954, the U.S. was still deep in the throes of segregation and blatant racism. When Korean War veteran Atticus Turner finds out his estranged father Montrose has gone missing, accompanying a young, confident-looking white man to a small town in New England, Atticus knows he must find him and see what trouble he has gotten himself into.

Accompanied by his Uncle George, publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide, and his childhood friend Letitia, the trio experience more than their share of racist and dangerous encounters along the way, as they travel in and out of less open-minded communities.

"White people in his experience were far more transparent. The most hateful rarely bothered to conceal their hostility, and when for some reason they did try to hide their feelings, they generally exhibited all the guile of five-year-olds, who cannot imagine that the world sees them other than as they wish to be seen."

When they arrive in the small town of Ardham, Massachusetts, and the sprawling manor home of Samuel Braithwhite (who happens to be the ancestor of those who owned Atticus' grandmother), they are somewhat shocked to find Montrose kept prisoner in the cellar of an Ardham building. Braithwhite and his son Caleb are part of a secret order called the Order of the Ancient Dawn, and the group has very interesting plans for a ritual to regain their power—a ritual that involves Atticus. And while Atticus may have a trump card to play, using it may unleash years of danger upon his family and friends.

What follows are interconnected chapters involving Atticus, George, George's wife Hippolyta and his son Horace, as well as Letitia and her sister, Ruby. The chapters involve all sorts of magic, occult, ghosts, racism, space and time travel, social commentary, and threats of violence, as one who was once in power tries to establish his dominance again. These are wild stories for which you'll need to seriously suspend your disbelief, but Matt Ruff tries to provide pointed commentary on how racism can destroy the fabric of our country and cause people to do things they know they shouldn't.

Lovecraft Country pays homage to the horror novelist (and racist) H.P. Lovecraft. It's well-written and creative, but it just gets too unhinged after a while. The narrative in each section seems disjointed and the pacing at times moves slower than I would have liked. But when the book starts barreling toward its conclusion, it makes you feel a little breathless, as you wonder how Ruff will tie everything up.

Matt Ruff's first novel, Fool on the Hill, a fantasy totally unlike this book, is one of my favorite books of all time. His subsequent books definitely challenge your perceptions of reality and are tremendously thought-provoking. I know that this was the objective here, too, but it just didn't quite click for me. But if a combination of social commentary, allegory, and the occult sounds irresistible to you, definitely pick this up, because combined with Ruff's storytelling talent, it may be a home run for you.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

...more

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May 21, 2020 Tim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, horror, 2010s

Forgive me for going with an obvious joke, but to re-phrase a Hunter S. Thompson quote:

"We can't stop here! This is Lovecraft Country!"

In this case, what is Lovecraft Country? Well, from a typical trope standpoint, Lovecraft Country is a twisted version of rural New England, where a good portion of author H. P. Lovecraft's fiction took place. It's a place where monsters lurked, where horror reigns supreme, where the world is uncaring and indifferent to your suffering.

In other words, very much l ...more

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Nov 01, 2016 Richard Derus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Rating: 4* of five

MARCH 2020 NEWS Author Ruff will have a Reddit AMA on the 27th! https://www.reddit.com/r/books/commen...

MAY 2018 NEWS The mooted HBO series picks up steam to my joy. What a great thing this *could* be, the richness and beauty of the story well-served by the episodic treatment...but of course there's the "nothing good is ever guaranteed" gnome gnawing my hope-bone....

MAY 2017 NEWS The book will come to HBO as a series! W00t!

I voted for this book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awar ...more

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Sep 23, 2017 Lyn rated it liked it

H.P. Lovecraft, like many of his time (1890-1937) was by today’s standards, a racist.

His ideas about “inferior” races comes across in many of his stories in varying degrees. Most readers of his work cite The Horror at Red Hook as the low point of this element of his canon. That paranoid and prejudiced story reveals in Lovecraft a viewpoint of “us and them” that goes beyond isolationist philosophy and may shed light on motives for the eldritch, dark themes of his writing.

Many writers since, thoug H.P. Lovecraft, like many of his time (1890-1937) was by today’s standards, a racist.

His ideas about “inferior” races comes across in many of his stories in varying degrees. Most readers of his work cite The Horror at Red Hook as the low point of this element of his canon. That paranoid and prejudiced story reveals in Lovecraft a viewpoint of “us and them” that goes beyond isolationist philosophy and may shed light on motives for the eldritch, dark themes of his writing.

Many writers since, though, have taken up his occult subjects and ran with them, creating the sub-genre of fantasy / horror now known collectively as “Lovecraftian”. Lovecraft was, like all of us, a mixed bag of good and bad, pluses and minuses, successes and failures. Like Philip K. Dick and an unfortunate crowd of writers over the centuries, Lovecraft’s success came largely after his death. Those influenced by him have taken his gloomy inspiration and created Lovecraftian works that continue to entertain and scare readers today.

Matt Ruff’s 2016 work Lovecraft Country, pays homage to Lovecraft’s arcane work while also casting a satirical tone on the racial elements of Lovecraft’s work and protesting those elements in an entertaining and provocative novel.

Members of an African-American family in the 1950s encounter and engage Lovecraftian components in a tale that Lovecraft himself would likely not have written. Readers follow along to encounter secret societies, ancient allegiances and occult magic. More than this, though, Ruff uses the Lovecraftian themes to describe racism in our society, and history, to be the real horror, far more scary than something old HP could invent.

Reminiscent of Victor la Valle’s excellent 2016 novella The Ballad of Black Tom, this takes more time to get where it's going and the narrative quality of Ruff’s message is diluted with too much over the top commentary. Whereas La Valle’s work is a fast and exciting story that delivers an anti-racial message couched in a good story, Ruff’s work is more ambitious but struggles under its own weight.

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May 05, 2019 Auntie Terror rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-urban

There are many things that took me by surprise with this book, first and foremost: the style of story-telling.
I had expected a classical novel with a more or less (after all, this is meant to be "Lovecraftian") straight line towards a catastrophe. What I read was a collection of Lovecraft-inspired short stories which supplied little dots you could connect to form a central story. Some of these stories played out longer and in more (unimportant) detail than would have been necessary, I feel. Also There are many things that took me by surprise with this book, first and foremost: the style of story-telling.
I had expected a classical novel with a more or less (after all, this is meant to be "Lovecraftian") straight line towards a catastrophe. What I read was a collection of Lovecraft-inspired short stories which supplied little dots you could connect to form a central story. Some of these stories played out longer and in more (unimportant) detail than would have been necessary, I feel. Also, the writing was a lot more humourous than I anticipated - which wasn't a bad thing, only an unexpected element to the mix of Lovecraftian elements and racism criticism.

There are, as I have mentioned, Lovecraft elements such as doors between worlds across the universe, shapeless horrors haunting the shadows and covens of (elderly) white men trying to summon powers they don't seem to fully understand. But they don't supply the horrid and terrifying bits - that is wholly achieved by the disgusting racism the group of main chacarters encounters at every turn in a not so distant past in the US. Jim Crow definitely beats old Shoggoth in horror and ugliness here.
This book being set in the rural South of the US in the 1950s offers ways to show the effects of racism that wouldn't be plausible if the story was set in a contemporary US. While racism is still a problem there today (as in the whole world, actually and sadly), the discrimination against and segregation of people of colour in general and black people in particular is no longer written down as official state law. While people of colour still have to worry a lot more about being pulled over by cops than white people, at least the cop can no longer pull them over legally on the grounds of their skin colour and the time of day (or night, as happens to the characters in the book). Of course, the racism shown in the book reflects back on the reality of today, but the exact way racism influences Ruff's story development in his setting of the 1950s wouldn't be credible today. He'd have to tell certain aspects differently, in the same way an author telling a story the development of which is influenced by the presence of antisemitism in Germany would have to present incidents of antisemitism differently, depending on whether they set the story in contemporary Germany, 1930s Germany or medieval Germany. Antisemitism was there, sadly, in all these time periods - but the outward form it was legally allowed to take would differ greatly.

By presenting the incidents of racism as he does, Ruff enables the reader to draw the obvious conclusion that racism is absolutely wrong, and also stupid. What annoyed me at times was the schoolmasterly tone employed on top of that: "And this, kids, is why racism is bad." This just isn't necessary and might even hurt the valid point he's making because people in general are a lot less likely to consider a proposition or opinion as correct if the person presenting it gives them the feeling they think the audience is just too stupid to get it if it isn't spelt for them letter by letter. Neither Colson Whitehead in The Underground Railroad nor Jodi Picoult in Small Great Things felt the need to spell it out for their readers, and still I can't imagine anyone with even half a braincell to read the first and think "awww, the good old times in the US South" or to read the second and think "yes, of course it's right to drag that nurse to court, I wish she'd been found guilty". Both authors show instead of telling, and trust their readers to be enough of a human being to still get it.

Still, the book is a good and surprisingly fun read despite the serious issue of racism underlying the whole plot. ...more

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May 16, 2020 Johann (jobis89) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

“But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn't make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though.”

Lovecraft Country is a perfect example of how expectations can really dampen a reading experience. My expectation was a Lovecraftian novel that also delved into and explored Lovecraft’s despicable racism, but what I got instead was a series of loosely connected stories that didn’t tick any real Lovecraftian boxes. Lovecraft re ...more

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Aug 20, 2016 Jessica Sullivan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, sci-fi-fantasy, diverse-books, horror

Being a fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction means also having to face the uncomfortable truth that Lovecraft the man was an unabashed racist and xenophobe. Needless to say, I was thrilled to come across Lovecraft Country, which promised to confront this head on, employing Lovecraftian tropes as a vehicle for examining race and racism in 1950s America.

It’s such an exciting premise, but it just didn’t deliver in quite the way that I had hoped. The story follows 22-year-old Atticus Turner and his famil ...more

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Oct 05, 2015 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, paranormal, horror, review-copy, historical-fiction

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/05/09/...

Lovecraft Country was not what I expected, but it was a good kind of different. I’ve never read Matt Ruff before and only know of him by his reputation of being a cult novelist, and perhaps I thought I was going to be in for a pulpy horror read, considering the title and the cover. It turned out to be all that, plus a lot more substance.

Told in a series of interconnected short stories that form an overall bigger narrative, 4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/05/09/...

Lovecraft Country was not what I expected, but it was a good kind of different. I’ve never read Matt Ruff before and only know of him by his reputation of being a cult novelist, and perhaps I thought I was going to be in for a pulpy horror read, considering the title and the cover. It turned out to be all that, plus a lot more substance.

Told in a series of interconnected short stories that form an overall bigger narrative, much of this book takes place in the 1950s following the lives of several members of a black family who find themselves entangled with a cabal of sorcerers in “Lovecraft Country”—a term that has more to do with the rampant racism in that part of the US at the time, rather than the Lovecraftian horror subgenre.

The novel begins with the title story. After serving his country, Atticus Turner returns home to Florida to find that his father Montrose has gone missing, prompting a road trip to Chicago to find out what happened. Soon, his journey brings him to New England with his uncle George and a childhood friend named Letitia. Together, they discover that Montrose has been captured and held prisoner by the Order of the Ancient Dawn, a secret society led by the enigmatic sorcerer named Samuel Braithwhite. Trapped at the estate, Atticus and his family are ultimately rescued by Braithwhite’s son, Caleb.

It turns out, however, that Caleb may have his own agenda. Through the rest of the stories in book, we’re introduced to the other characters in Atticus’ extended family and circle of friends. Each section of the novel is a tale of a supernatural encounter with the Order of the Ancient Dawn or Caleb Braithwhite, who has remained in the shadows, hounding their every step.

There are definitely plenty of Lovecraftian themes in this book, which is what initially led me to pick this up. But while the hallmarks of cosmic horror and paranormal elements abound, that’s not what really disturbed me. The thing you should know about Lovecraft Country is that it takes place in an era where racial segregation and Jim Crow laws are still very much alive, and Ruff’s depictions of the terrible ways African Americans were treated back then are as stomach-churning as you would expect. If the characters react pragmatically in the face of the supernatural horrors and cosmic creatures in this book, well, maybe that’s because the dangers they have to deal with in the real world are a lot worse in many ways. Violence and abuse fueled by racism, ignorance and hate is something that hangs over them every single moment of their lives, coming from monsters that are all too human.

To be sure though, there are also strange events and unseen monsters lurking at every turn, and I thought Lovecraft Country was an intriguing, creative blend of pulp horror with social commentary. The speculative elements made this one a fun read, but the story also made me reflect upon the deeper themes the like identity and history, how both have a hand in shaping a society and the people who live in it. It’s a very “connected” novel, and I don’t simply mean the way it’s structured so that the book reads more like a collection of related short stories with multiple character arcs instead of just the one traditional plotline, because all the themes and ideas in the individual sections come together in the end to form a cohesive whole as well.

Speaking of the structure though, I wasn’t expecting the short story format when I picked this up, and I admit I was initially thrown off by the frequent transitions. Even though this book is not your typical collection, it still has a few of the same issues, mainly that some stories are better than others. Not all of them captured my attention the same way and I fell into a lull with one or two, but that’s probably the only criticism I have for this book. As with most anthologies and collection-type books, not all the stories will have the same quality or appeal to me the same way.

Audiobook comments: Finally, I want to mention that I listened to the audio edition of Lovecraft Country. It is narrated by Kevin Kenerly, who did a great job bringing the all the different characters to life. Though, it feels kind of like a missed opportunity that they didn’t get an additional reader or two on board, since multi-narrator productions are pretty common these days for anthology/short story collection audiobooks that feature stories with way more than just one central character. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Kenerly’s excellent performance. If I had to do it all over again though, I might have opted for the print version, or even read/listened to the print/audio versions in tandem, because some of the stories in here definitely required more time to digest. Audiobooks are not exactly well suited to frequent pauses mid-chapter to reflect, but I still very much enjoyed my experience in this format. ...more

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May 03, 2016 Christopher rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-bending, fantasy, oh-so-meta

Okay, I loved "The Mirage" so much that I bought this book in hardback and was really looking forward to it. The fact that this novel had received almost unanimous praise made me more excited and it is obviously Ruff reacting to the controversy over a bust of Lovecraft being given at the World Fantasy Awards, even to writers of color, despite the fact that Lovecraft was a vile racist who even had people in his life, including his wife, break ties with him over his racism in the 1920s. I was disa ...more

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Feb 22, 2016 Ioana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-lit, race, fiction, favorite-headtrips, fantasy, noir, cults, horror

An absolutely visceral description of experienced racism, and a powerful allegory of institutional racism in the US, set in first half of the 20th century US. Also, a most impressive creative rendering and inversion of H. P. Lovecraft's (racist & misogynist) work.

Lovecraft Country blew me away. I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so complex and so ... connected-each theme, each arc, each character so compelling in their own right, but also so clearly coherent and related to ot An absolutely visceral description of experienced racism, and a powerful allegory of institutional racism in the US, set in first half of the 20th century US. Also, a most impressive creative rendering and inversion of H. P. Lovecraft's (racist & misogynist) work.

Lovecraft Country blew me away. I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so complex and so ... connected-each theme, each arc, each character so compelling in their own right, but also so clearly coherent and related to others in the context of the whole. This book gives new meaning to the adage, "the whole is larger than the sum of its parts".

First, the characters are so empathetically drawn. And I don't mean sympathetically, which would imply pity or some other emotion that would be akin to a patronizing tone. I mean, we are drawn into their experiences through poignant descriptions of external events, not through an analysis of the characters' emotions, in such a way that we are called on to imagine their emotions. And, of course, this is itself an emotive, not purely cognitive experience.

A more concrete example: the novel opens with a man, Atticus, driving home. He is stopped and harassed by a cop. He has to use a restroom but he is turned away from public ones reserved for whites, and so he takes a moment on the highway in the bushes. He then worries about which roads to take, because on some, he will certainly meet violence. He consults a publication he hangs on to for dear life, "The Safe Negro Travel Guide", to locate a place he can sleep the night, otherwise he will have to do so in his car. No preaching from Ruff, no philosophizing, but still, the reader is right there with/ as Atticus, and one can't help but feel the absolute despair/ anger at the injustice/ compliance/ resistance/ silencing effect of the situation. He's just trying to get home, what the hell...

Second, the structure of Lovecraft Country is brilliant and works so well to both convey the story and to mirror its message. The novel consists of interconnected stories, all featuring the same cast of (~12) characters, the ancestors of a black family and of their previous white "owners". Each of these stories is fascinating in its own right, and offers a "twist" on Lovecraftian lore- there is metamorphposis (a potion that can turn a black person white), time-travel (to distant planets, on which blacks have been exiled), hunted houses (with ghosts "tamed" and befriended by a determined black woman who moves in and refuses to be deterred by ghosts from the past), nightmares that reflect past horrors not experienced by the dreamer but by his ancestors (lynchings), and more. Throughout it all, it soon becomes clear that the "monsters" Ruff conjures are only mirrors or incarnations of racism -both "personal" and institutionalized.

The broader arc that ties these narratives together is the relationship between the characters, especially that between the ancestors of the slave-owners and of the former slaves. In true Lovecraftian style, there are lodges of power-hungry whites eager to use the black family (who are in fact descendants of the slave-owners as well as those of slaves) for their own ends. And, although in each story, it seems as if the black family only comes out unscathed due to the protection of one of these white men, in the end it is their prioritization of family and relationships that prevails, even over their patronizing "protector". So, as each vignette is a reflection of the particulars and manifestations of racism, the grander arc is an indictment of systemic racism.

HIGHLY Recommended!
...more

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Aug 19, 2017 Apatt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I have heard Lovecraft Country mentioned quite often recently, I think in connection to the impending TV series adaptation. The title alone intrigued me because I enjoy Lovecraft when he is at his best (at his worst, not so much) as my long-winded review of The Best of H.P. Lovecraft will attest. I thought Lovecraft Country is going to be a Lovecraft pastiche of some kind, with Cthulhu and friends driving people insane just by giving them a funny look. I peeked at the synopsis and I was surpri ...more

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Apr 10, 2017 Gabrielle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american, horror, read-in-2017, fantasy, historical, reviewed, own-a-copy, weird, speculative-fiction, goodreads-made-me-do-it

I remember an early episode of "Supernatural", in which the Winchester brothers have to deal with a family of rednecks who hunt, torture and kill humans for sport. Dean finds a Masson jar filled with human teeth in their cottage, and he says something like: "Demons, I get. But this?! This is messed up!". I couldn't agree more with him: monsters and weird creatures from the beyond are scary, but their motivations are relatively easy to figure out: they want your blood, your soul or perhaps your s I remember an early episode of "Supernatural", in which the Winchester brothers have to deal with a family of rednecks who hunt, torture and kill humans for sport. Dean finds a Masson jar filled with human teeth in their cottage, and he says something like: "Demons, I get. But this?! This is messed up!". I couldn't agree more with him: monsters and weird creatures from the beyond are scary, but their motivations are relatively easy to figure out: they want your blood, your soul or perhaps your skull. Human cruelty, however, is something that completely defies my understanding.

This might be what makes "Lovecraft Country" work as well as it does. We get the wonderful and spooky creature H.P. spawned with his mind, but we can also see them contrasted with some of the things humans did to each other and have to wonder: which is scarier? Which is worse? Which would I rather have to deal with?

Atticus Turner is a veteran, freshly returned from Korea. He gets a cryptic message from his father Montrose, asking him to meet him in his hometown of Chicago because he found something about Atticus' mother's ancestry that he needs to tell him. But when Atticus gets to Chicago, his father has disappeared, leaving behind clues that he might be somewhere in New England. Together with his science-fiction loving uncle George and his childhood friend Letitia, Atticus decides to go find his father.

George is the publisher of "The Safe Negro Travel Guide", a book listing gas stations, restaurants, hotels and shops across the country that will welcome black customers - because in the era of Jim Crow, the open American road is still not safe for everyone to travel. Atticus, George and Letitia follow Montrose's trail to the manor of Samuel Braithwhite, the leader of a strange group called the Order of the Ancient Dawn. It soon becomes obvious to Atticus that his father was merely bait: he is what these men wants, in order to fulfill an occult goal they have been working on for over a hundred years.

It is a rare book that brings together the fun of pulp and the thought-provoking insight of a writer with a strong social consciousness. It's no secret that the more we dig up on dear Mr. Lovecraft, the more he turns out to have been a huge bigot; I know many fans of his work who don't really know how to process this, bringing up once again the age old debate of separating the individual from their body of work. Matt Ruff took what I've always loved about Lovecraftian horror and put it in a brand new light, by pairing them with more mundane horrors: the dangers of driving the roads when the police officers are hostile, the impossibility of buying and retaining property without risking your life, the enticing possibility of stepping through the looking-glass... Each chapter is a short story, but they only work as a continued narrative: each story focuses on one member of Atticus' family and how both the eldritch and day-to-day horrors of the world knock them about. This story takes place in an America that is not as far back in the rearview mirror as we would like to think and the characters are good, flawed people, frustrated by the daily injustices they struggle with. They have to summon a great deal of cleverness and determination to face the Order.

It must be noted that Ruff is quite a sci-fi/fantasy erudite himself: right off from the beginning, there are references not only to Lovecraft, but to other amazing authors such as Bradbury, Heinlein, Stevenson and other masters. Just the sort of stuff to make a genre fiction lover such as myself feel all excited to keep reading.

A lot of books about racial predjudices have made their way into my library lately. Am I reacting to the bigotted political climate that has been making headlines over the past few months? I don't know, but it is definitely something that is weighing on my mind these days. "Lovecraft Country" now sits next to my Octavia Butler books and just like her work, I can't recommend it enough. An eye-opening wink to a great story teller (who was not a very nice guy), beautifully executed. ...more

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Nov 02, 2017 Eric rated it really liked it

Shelves: cultural, my-ebooks, horror, pulp, science-fiction, historical-fiction, drama, urban-fantasy, fantasy

While George busied himself in the kitchen, Atticus went out to the front parlor, which in childhood had served him as both library and reading room. The bookshelves were divided into his and hers, Aunt Hippolyta’s interests running primarily to science and natural history, with a smattering of Jane Austen. George gave a nod to respectable literature but reserved his deepest passion and most of his shelf space for the genres of pulp: science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and detective stories, hor While George busied himself in the kitchen, Atticus went out to the front parlor, which in childhood had served him as both library and reading room. The bookshelves were divided into his and hers, Aunt Hippolyta’s interests running primarily to science and natural history, with a smattering of Jane Austen. George gave a nod to respectable literature but reserved his deepest passion and most of his shelf space for the genres of pulp: science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and detective stories, horror and weird tales.

Atticus’s shared devotion to these mostly white-authored genres had been a source of ongoing struggle with his father. George, as Montrose’s older brother, was largely immune to his scorn and could always tell him to keep his opinions to himself. Atticus didn’t have that privilege. If his father was in a mood to debate his tastes in reading, he had no choice but to oblige him.

There was usually plenty to argue about. Edgar Rice Burroughs, for example, offered a wealth of critical fodder with his Tarzan stories (was it even necessary to list all the problems Montrose had with Tarzan, starting with the very idea of him?), or his Barsoom series, whose protagonist John Carter had been a captain in the Army of Northern Virginia before becoming a Martian warlord. “A Confederate officer?” Atticus’s father had said, appalled. “That’s the hero?” When Atticus tried to suggest it wasn’t that bad since technically John Carter was an ex-Confederate, his father scoffed: “Ex-Confederate? What’s that, like an ex-Nazi? The man fought for slavery! You don’t get to put an ‘ex-’ in front of that!”

Montrose could have simply forbidden him to read such things. Atticus knew other sons whose fathers had done that, who’d thrown their comic books and Amazing Stories collections into the trash. But Montrose, with limited exceptions, didn’t believe in book-banning. He always insisted he just wanted Atticus to think about what he read, rather than imbibing it mindlessly, and Atticus, if he were being honest, had to admit that was a reasonable goal. But if it was fair to acknowledge his father’s good intentions, it also seemed fair to point out that his father was a belligerent man who enjoyed having cause to pick on him.

Uncle George wasn’t much help. “It’s not as if your father’s wrong,” he said one time when Atticus was complaining.

“But you love these stories!” Atticus said. “You love them as much as I do!”

“I do love them,” George agreed. “But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though.”

“But you don’t get mad. Not like Pop does.”

“No, that’s true, I don’t get mad. Not at stories. They do disappoint me sometimes.” He looked at the shelves. “Sometimes, they stab me in the heart.”

4 stars ...more

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Mar 13, 2017 Craig rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Werewolves don’t scare me. Neither do the walking dead (zombies), Voldemort, body-snatchers, Chuckie, Jason or Freddie.

People who have lost or buried or under-developed their empathy. Who see black and brown and female and trans bodies as things to be used, or scorned or destroyed. Those are the true monsters.

Reading Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country isn’t just a look at the bigotry of the past. Jim Crow isn’t dead. He just got a new suit, had a makeover. Now he wears thousand-dollar suits, has a ...more

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Feb 22, 2016 Richard rated it it was ok · review of another edition

What a great premise! Matt Ruff is on to something that's definitely needed. But this isn't it (or at least what I was hoping for; admittedly I came at this with high hopes - not very Lovecraftian!). What we needed was a Lovecraftian story that directly takes on and subverts that author's vehemently racist views - a kind of magical ritual to exorcise the genre of the most troubling element of Lovecraft's fiction (or at least call forth its tentacled mass for an autopsy). What we get is a book th What a great premise! Matt Ruff is on to something that's definitely needed. But this isn't it (or at least what I was hoping for; admittedly I came at this with high hopes - not very Lovecraftian!). What we needed was a Lovecraftian story that directly takes on and subverts that author's vehemently racist views - a kind of magical ritual to exorcise the genre of the most troubling element of Lovecraft's fiction (or at least call forth its tentacled mass for an autopsy). What we get is a book that does provide some powerful looks at racism, but does so in a simple, morally uncomplicated way, while also failing (possibly intentionally?) to present any actual Lovecraftian horror beyond a light superficially pulpy set dressing. This is a shame, because some of the themes underlying Lovecraft's tales - existential alienation, dread - might be also be interestingly tied into the experience of living in/being trapped in a racist society.

The book gets part of it right - it does take on Jim Crow era racism (in the South and North) and puts the reader in the proper state of paranoia and dread African Americans must have felt (and still feel on occasion) knowing they can be stopped and lose control of their lives at any moment. So here is the dread - not in a sublime, existential-crisis-inspiring creature, but in navigating a world where you know everything can be taken from you at any moment on the slightest of pretenses (or no pretense at all). So this could be the point - that there's nothing to fear from the supernatural, and that these elements are intentionally toned down to show that the real horror, the real dread, is all around us. But, I don't think that's the intent, and even if that's the case, the book unnecessarily wastes an opportunity to actually thoughtfully explore Lovecraftian horror by both spending a lot of time on it and dismissing it.

There's never any sense of awe, dread, or even danger from the supernatural elements - the black protagonists are constantly being put into and then rescued from precarious situations by white deus ex machinas (or their ghosts!). The protagonists, drawn from two black families, aren't allowed much agency and they never seem to face any repercussions from their encounters with the supernatural or racism - no one dies or changes drastically (which is one of the powerful and disturbing elements of Lovecraft - no one gets away unscathed). For example, a character is shot in front of his son before they can reconcile - a potentially powerful moment that's wasted when the bullet is magically stopped. Characters are also constantly being threatened with jail, harm, and death but are rescued by chance, magic, or unlikely plot contrivances at the last minute. Besides the father and son, the main protagonists don't experience much conflict with each other - and the conflicts they do have are all morally easy to navigate since they are mostly with clearly evil/misguided/corrupted white people; the exception being a genuinely creepy episode that follows a woman, Ruby, who is tempted to work for a white occultist who controls her by offering doses of a potion that will turn her white for limited times.

Overall, I was hoping for something a little more complicated and engaging, and maybe even a little bit disturbing (plenty of opportunities for that when dealing with racism and supernatural horror.) But Lovecraft Country was, for the most part, a weird (not Weird) and unsatisfying mash of light pulpy adventure (with no real consequences), mixed in with occasional harrowing and weighty examples of racism (also with no real consequences).
...more

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Oct 28, 2018 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sword-and-laser, horror, around-the-usa, read2018, 2018-sword

This is a bit of a white lie because I really only read the first 100 pages and was satisfied. But if you want to explore Lovecraftian tropes in the Jim Crow south (and you do! You just don't know it yet) this is a good read.

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Mar 04, 2016 Joe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"Lovecraft Country" was the genre mashup I didn't know I needed, but I assure you, I very much needed it. It's basically "Devil in a Blue Dress" meets H.P. Lovecraft. At first blush that would seem an odd pairing but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. What is at the core of the fear in Lovecraft? The other, separateness, and (honestly) racism. Well, 1950's America was the last bastion of legal (and illegal) racism in America and a very tough time to be an African-American. Much lik ...more

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Apr 23, 2018 Tom Mathews rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2019, fantasy, horror, group-reads, short-stuff, read-in-2018

While I have always been fascinated with the Cthulhu mythos and the bizarre world created by H. P. Lovecraft, I find the man himself thoroughly repugnant. His writing style puts me to sleep and his attitude towards people of other races is totally repellent. This makes Matt Ruff’s choice of African American characters the heroes of this engaging thriller that is chock full of magic and menace with members of two black families doing everything in their power to fend off attacks from two families ...more

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Jul 23, 2020 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I only found out about this book thanks to seeing the trailer for the Netflix adaptation. The way bookworms sometimes find great stories is almost creepy. *lol*

We’re in America in the 50s. Slavery might be over but racism certainly isn’t. If you think what you’re seeing nowadays is bad, strap yourself in, because this will be a very uncomfortable ride for you. As it should be because all the frisking, all the crimes black people didn’t commit but were punished (even killed) for, the everyday dis I only found out about this book thanks to seeing the trailer for the Netflix adaptation. The way bookworms sometimes find great stories is almost creepy. *lol*

We’re in America in the 50s. Slavery might be over but racism certainly isn’t. If you think what you’re seeing nowadays is bad, strap yourself in, because this will be a very uncomfortable ride for you. As it should be because all the frisking, all the crimes black people didn’t commit but were punished (even killed) for, the everyday discrimination, … truly horrible and horrific.
We first meet Atticus, an Army veteran in search of his father. That way, we’re introduced to a cult of (white) men called Adamite Order of the Ancient Dawn that has actual abilities (like putting glamours on cars so you won’t be bothered when driving through a certain area or changing someone’s appearance). They need Atticus because he comes from a powerful bloodline necessary for a ritual they want to perform.
Thus begins a wild romp through different smaller stories, each featuring what were at first secondary characters. They all get their spotlight and I’m happy to report that the females shone as brightly as the males. But the center stage is reserved for this weird area of the world (hello, Cairo, old friend), where what appears to be magic - or significantly enough advanced tech - results in portals to alternate dimensions being opened and used, rituals going wrong (depending on your point of view) and the wrong power being unleashed. Superhero / supervillain style.

Ruby, Leticia, Atticus, Caleb* and many more try to survive this mosaic-like plot as well as haunted houses, fighting for a future in a world where magical monsters populate the woods just as much as racist sheriffs.
(* It was interesting that Caleb of all people was making, through his actions, the point that the color of one’s skin really doesn’t matter.)

The writing style was very engaging and kept me at the edge of my seat, trying to get my bearings. But it also made me laugh out loud (Leticia and her shotgun in the haunted house). I loved all the nods to classics of the supernatural and horror genre (not just Lovecraft’s) and was quite fascinated by the magic system, the atlas, the entire set-up and how the author combined all those elements perfectly.

This accurate depiction of the 50s in America from the point of view of black people getting mashed together with this kind of supernatural horror resulted in a deliciously surreal tale and emphasized the strange world people had to live and survive in.

A wonderful, fantastic tale! Can’t wait for the screen adaptation. ...more

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Apr 25, 2016 John Devlin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Long time lover of HP, so this book started out intriguing with what seemed to be a black take on Shadow over Innsmouth(A fantastic story). Initially, I was concerned that the parallels were too tightly drawn, but the story breaks away from the Lovecraft association fairly quickly.

This is where the problems begin. The whole story's arc is an on the nose illustration of how much blacks have suffered at the hands of whites. Almost every opportunity is taken to cast a white person in a racist light ...more

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Jan 04, 2017 Elle Maruska rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: lovecraftian-horror, horror, 2017-reads

I really wish I could've like this book more than I did. The concept was really interesting and the characters were very interesting as well. But I feel like this story wasn't the author's to tell; it made me incredibly uncomfortable to read a white man speaking through black characters about being black in the 1950s. I respect books that feature diverse characters but there's a difference between telling a story with black characters and telling a story about being black; white authors can and ...more

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Mar 31, 2016 Mindi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Yassss. So good. Matt Ruff has written a very Lovecraftian novel that explores what it's like to be an African American science fiction fan in 1950's Jim Crow America. Lovecraft would have hated it, and I'm fairly certain his bones are doing backflips in his coffin right now.

I often ask myself, can you truly separate art from the artist? H.P. Lovecraft was the master of weird tales, but he was also incredibly racist, misogynistic, and anti-semitic. Damn, that man could write a story, but in real ...more

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Nov 11, 2018 Mike rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, reviewed, horror, supernatural

This was a great book so many reasons.

First off I really liked the choice of setting for the book. The story revolves around a group of African-Americans in the 1950's who get drawn into the (white) world of arcane secret societies very much against their will. In addition to having to deal with Jim Crow and the pervasive racism of America at the time they must also contend with the supernatural. They become unwilling pawns of a power struggle between rival "natural philosophers" and must do wha ...more

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Oct 26, 2017 caravaggion rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

i picked up this book believing it would be a fun halloween read but i did not expect it to be SO WOKE

instead of lovecraftian horrors this book deals with something way scarier than any monsters could ever be: White Supremacy

istg this book was So Good 100% would recommend you all should read this it was brilliant

(see in times like these i wish i were more eloquent and could write a better review but my words sadly fail me u just have to take my word for it its a rlly good book,,,, ;A; )

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Mar 14, 2016 Shaun Hutchinson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Tackling racism in and through the works of HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft himself would have hated this, but I absolutely loved it.

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About Matt Ruff

Matt Ruff

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I was born in New York City in 1965. I decided I wanted to be a fiction writer when I was five years old and spent my childhood and adolescence learning how to tell stories. At Cornell University I wrote what would become my first published novel, Fool on the Hill, as my senior thesis in Honors English. My professor Alison Lurie helped me find an agent, and within six months of my college graduati ...more

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Quotes from Lovecraft Country

“But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though. "

"But you don’t get mad. Not like Pop does."

"No, that’s true, I don’t get mad. Not at stories. They do disappoint me sometimes." He looked at the shelves. "Sometimes, they stab me in the heart.” — 26 likes

“But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn't make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though. But you don't get mad.” — 11 likes

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