Audiobook Review – Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, Narrated by Kevin Kenerly (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Horror
Length: 12 hours and 14 minutes
Publisher: HarperAudio
Release Date: February 23, 2021
ASIN: B08GN9839C
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Lovecraft Country
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this as an ebook from NetGalley for review.
Thoughts: I liked this but also found it a bit scattered. We jump from family member to family member and eventually the story does come together. In the end this is the tale of a number of members of Atticus’s family and how they get entangled with the Braithwhite family. The Braithwhite family is messing with eldritch powers they can’t comprehend and fighting with other factions of this mysterious order. Atticus (and his family as a result) get drawn into the whole mess when he finds out he has a connection to the Braithwhite’s.
I listened to this on audiobook and it was very well narrated. I thought the narrator did an excellent job.
The book starts with us following Atticus. However, the book switches to different POVs as it continues and we also here from some of his extended family members (Hippolyta (SP?), Leticia, Horace, and Ruby) and his father (Montrose).
The book really focuses on racism and the trials and tribulations of living in that “Jim Crow” era. Much of the book focuses on this and Ruff doesn’t shy away from the fact that the real life Lovecraft was a huge racist himself. A lot of this book comes off as more political commentary than horrific Lovecraft story.
I think that’s part of why I didn’t love this. It’s well enough written but I was really hoping for more depth into the Lovecraft mythos; there isn’t a ton of horror here (unless it’s the poor treatment of humans to each other or the idea of racism itself) and definitely no evil Eldritch lords.
I also didn’t really love the characters that much. They are very morally grey and all of them do both despicable and admirable things. I just didn’t engage with them well. Even the evil white dude, Caleb, is fairly likable and not nearly evil enough to be interesting.
My favorite part of this book was Leticia, she is something. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her whip a haunted house into shape. That part was highly entertaining.
I guess it all depends on what kind of book interests you but in this case I found calling this one “Lovecraft Country” a bit tongue in cheek; it was more about the evils of racism than the madness incited by Eldritch entities…unless of course that is the point…that the Eldritch entities created the madness of racism…
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fine read. It’s well written and gives us an excellent look into what that era was like for black folks just trying to make a living. The supernatural/Lovecraft stuff was included but definitely takes a back seat to the social commentary and doesn’t delve very deep into the Lovecraft mythos at all.
