Lovecraft Country (Lovecraft Country, #1) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jul 05, 2016 Bradley rated it it was amazing

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

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 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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Sep 23, 2017 Lyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

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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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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Mar 26, 2016 Ctgt rated it really liked it

8/10

This is a series of connected stories that all involve the Turner family. Set in the fifties in Chicago, the stories jump from family member to family member as they encounter strange happenings from a haunted house, to a missing father. The Braithewhite family and the Order of the Ancient Dawn are the connecting thread throughout the book. Seems the Braithewhites and the Turners have a bit of an ancestral common ground. The interesting twist the author throws in...the Turners are an African ...more

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Mar 25, 2016 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

This book was slightly weird. You have the story start off with Atticus headed out to try to meet his father with a couple of other people tagging along. In this particular pair of chapters, you get the whole story set up. And then it just goes strange. You get these incredibly lengthy chapters about one individual character at a time. This makes for some interesting character development and they each almost become short stories within the overall story. In those last chapters (and Epilogue) th ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

3.5 stars. The first story focusing on Atticus was brilliant and terrifying, the racism more than the supernatural theme (5stars). The other stories weren’t as good.

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Oct 11, 2017 Cobwebs-Iced-Across-SpaceTime rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: october_2017-reads, 2017_indie, 2017_new-weird, 2017_horror_tbr_challenge, 2017_frightfall_lovecraft, 2017_mount-tbr, 2017_october_horror, 2017_a-z_new-weird, a1-i-own-books, 2017_horror

Review of LOVECRAFT COUNTRY by Matt Ruff

I adore this novel from start to finish. Not one aspect would I alter. Seamlessly interwoven multiple themes and levels of meaning provide hours of thoughtful impact, and the novel will not be forgotten. I recommend it to every individual capable of serious thought. {I only wish those who could most benefit from serious reflection would read and comprehend.}

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY is a wild geographic, philosophical, astronomical, and metaphysical roller coaster ...more

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Jul 03, 2016 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, audio

It took me a bit to get into the groove of this novel's organization with it being set up almost as a collection of short stories with overlapping characters, which finally all come together in the end. The combination of horror and racism made for interesting an angle, definitely unique. ...more

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Jan 10, 2016 Christina Pilkington rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-of-all-time

This is an amazing novel that combines reimagined tales of H.P. Lovecraft with the interwoven stories of an African American family living in the 1950's. I wish I would have read the stories that inspired this novel, but nevertheless I was still blown away by what this novel accomplished.

Besides tackling a variety of hard-hitting topics such as racism, occultism, misogyny, this book was spectacularly imaginative in the way it combined some of my favorite horror and supernatural tropes of secret ...more

5 likes · Like · see review