Book Review: The Necronomicon: The Collected Works of Lovecraft.

[FunkyTown]

Saturday, I was really excited. I came upon a handsome leather tome resting precariously atop a bookstore's shelf like the last few hairs clinging to an old man's head. It's title was an embossed gold, and the image of C'thulhu in relief made my heart glad.

Lovecraft: The man who invented the modern horror. This writer crafted such authors as Stephen King and Ray Bradbury. This is a writer whose lovingly forged words have echoed through time.

And I have been completely bored with it. It's formulaic. It's predictable. It inevitably involves the masses ignoring the massive threat that only a single, crazy being is aware of.

Don't get me wrong: I get it. When you want someone scared, you let their imagination take control. However, his almost non-existent characterization(Which is tricky in short stories, admittedly) leaves me utterly uncaring as to their fate. I don't find myself placed in their situation, nor do I feel transported by the worlds he creates.

Am I doing something wrong? Is Lovecraft really an overblown author who nobody really reads but everyone talks about it, or am I missing something?

[mirkwood]

It depends on the story. Which ones have you read?

[Delanie]

I really enjoy some of his stories, but I think in many ways Lovecraft has become this icon who is more famous than his stories. He was scary and racist and genre-defining. He's what you read if you're a literature snob wanting to look like a literature snob.