Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
AUTHOR’S JOURNAL | (Updated) PEN DATE 2.09.22 | TW: Violence, Death, Language, Racism
Have you read “Lovecraft Country” or seen the show? Let me know what you thought, or what you might be looking forward to!
In hindsight, it’s a bit tough for me to recall everything that I loved about this book, but I am glad I watched the HBO show first because it gave me a picture of the characters for stories that never happened in the show.
If you’ve seen the HBO Original, I think you’ll love this book because it’s different enough that it stands on its own. Simultaneously, it doesn’t detract from the work the show did to bring the novel to life on the little screen.
|Flash SYNOPSIS|
We follow several characters throughout the novel as our main protagonist Atticus Turner returns from Korea. He and his loved ones must navigate the anxiety provoking world of Jim Crow Laws, as well as supernatural horrors straight out of an H.P. Lovecraft story.
Each chapter progresses the overall story from a different character’s point of view as they deal with their own horrifying episode with the “Sons of Adam.” A cultish group dedicated to the mystical preservation of male superiority and white power. We do not like the Sons of Adam, and you’ll cheer any time they lose.
|THE GOOD|
In this literary version, Ruff does an amazing job to highlight multiple agents’ stories and culminate them into one final showdown. He relies more on the thrilling and suspenseful nature of what isn’t seen, while juxtaposing the racially motivated fears so easily observed in the 1950s.
However, Ruff’s writing doesn’t make it any less suspenseful, but reader’s will need to rely on their imagination to fill in the blanks.
The characters are well crafted and unique with significantly different storylines to the show. Highly recommend this engaging, suspenseful, and somehow humorous read that will make an easy binge for any avid reader.
Four stars for this one!
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