The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
WOW! I just finished The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft. I don't have enough good words for this critique.
Just to give you a little background....Lovecraft was a horror writer in the early 1900's. I had always heard of the Cthulhu story, but never heard much about him. What really got me interested was the quote on the inside of the jacket cover by Stephen King (whom I love): "I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale".
I'll be honest and say that after the first two stories I was disappointed and didn't know why King gave such high praises. But I pushed through and got to some of the most AMAZING stories!
The main downfall, in my opinion, is the editor of this book. He is over the top obsessed with Lovecraft's works and it really makes the book harder to read. He has an abundance of footnotes that are stupid details about how Lovecraft eats while on vacation, or that a certain sentence was accurate in real life...things that I found myself flipping to the back of the book for and ended up with no reason to have really needed that information to further the story line.
Even though I LOVED LOVED this book, there are some things you have to get used to in order to enjoy it. The first is the author's large, and sometimes antiquated, vocabulary. It often slowed me down or distracted me from the story. Second would be the type of horror you should expect. These stories were written during a time when there was a more vague description of the scary things (think Alfred Hitchcock), it's left up to your imagination.
Ok...I could go on and on about this book. I will cut it short here and say I recommend it to anyone who likes creepy/scary stories and I recommend them to be read around the campfire!
P.S. I hope someone, someday, gets inspired to turn these into a television mini-series!!!!!
Malia's Pizza Rating
Cathulhu's Pizza Kitchen!